Paav Bhaaji

After almost 5 years of hiding, I decided to revive my blog this year. A lot of things happened on the personal front in the last 5 years - marriage, our 3 year old son and now a second child along the way. A lot of role changes and responsibilities came along due to which blogging took the back burner. I'm ready to kick start 2017 with a post. I don't promise to post on a regular basis, but hoping that this post will help me get back to blogging even if it is slow :-).

This recipe for paav bhaji was inspired by a very dear friend of mine, Aarti Patel, while I lived in New Hampshire. I have been following only this recipe ever since I tasted her paav bhaji.

Ingredients (about 4 - 5 servings):

Potato - 1 peeled and cubed (I try to keep this to a minimum and incorporate other less favorite veggies)

Broccoli - 1 small cup

Cauliflower - 1 small cup

Carrots - 2 peeled and chopped into chunks

Green beans - a handful, roughly chopped

Capsicum/green pepper - 1 roughly chopped

Green peas - a handful

Onions - 1 big or 2 small finely chopped

MDH or Baadshah Paav Bhaji masala - 2 tablespoons (you can use any brand of paav bhaji masala if you don't have the ones mentioned)

Salt to taste

Cooking oil - 5 teaspoons

Butter - 2 tablespoons

To grind into a paste:

Tomatoes - 1.5 big or 2 small cut into chunks

Ginger - 1 inch stick cut into pieces

Green chillies - 3 (can vary this based on your taste)

For seasoning:

Coriander/cilantro - a handful, finely chopped

Lemon - 1, cut into small wedges

Onion - 1/4, julienned

Procedure:

1. Pressure cook all the veggies in the ingredients list except the onions. Mash them well and set aside.

2. Grind the tomatoes, ginger and green chillies into a paste and set aside.

3. In a wide pan, add the cooking oil and butter and let the butter melt and mix with the oil.

4. Once the oil is hot, add the finely chopped onions and fry until golden brown.

5. Now add the ground paste from step 2 to step 4 and fry until the raw smell of the tomatoes goes away. This will take about 10 minutes on medium heat.

6. Add salt, paav bhaji masala to step 5, fry for a few seconds and then add the mashed veggies. Adjust salt and paav bhaji masala if needed, mix everything well and let it simmer for about 10 minutes. You can put a lid on during this time.

7. Turn off the stove after 10 minutes and garnish with finely chopped cilantro.

8. Serve the gravy with any kind of toasted bread with a lemon wedge and some julienned onions on the side.

Enjoy your paav bhaji!!! :-)