Backstory:
So I had put out a question on IG (@satshyaa) on what you were craving during lockdown and I LOVED the answers I got and I’ve decided to try to make easy recipes of all of them. And I got so excited seeing Pav Bhaji because it’s that perfect intersection of junk+home food, buttery but vegetable-y and ohhh soooo tasty. So here’s a fast, tasty recipe for all those pav bhaji cravings!

What you need: (serves 4)
- 5 tomatoes
- 5 potatoes
- 1 capsicum
- 1 onion, chopped
- 2 green chillies, chopped
- 3 tbsp salted butter
- 2 tbsp ginger garlic paste
- 1 tbsp coriander powder
- 1/2 tsp jeera powder
- 1/2 tsp turmeric powder
- 1 tsp garam masala powder
- 1.5 tbsp salt
- 2 packets pav bread
- 1 cup cooked peas (optional)
- 1/2 cup cooked cauliflower (optional)
How to:
- Cook potatoes in a pressure cooker with about 4 cups water, until 2 whistles come
- Take a blender, add roughly chopped onions & chilli and blend for like 10 seconds (just until its a little mashy but not a paste)
- Heat butter in a big vessel & add onions, chillies & ginger garlic paste and fry until the onion paste become golden brown and doesn’t smell ‘raw’ (if it keeps sticking to the bottom, add more oil/butter so it cooks well)
- In the same blender, add tomatoes & capsicums, roughly blend and add it to pan
- Add turmeric powder, coriander powder, jeera powder and cook until the oils separate to the sides and the mixture becomes a dark brown
- Peel the cooked potatoes and crumble it into the mix (you can either use strong fingers or a fork)
- Add chilli powder, salt & garam masala and mix and mash until it’s allllll mashed well
- Add 1.5 cups water and let it boil boil boil until it gets thick and mashy
- Serve with chopped onions, garnish with coriander and one tiiiiny cube of butter to melt over it because it tastes super yum then.
- Squeeze a little lime over it for that perffff balance and enjoy with some toasted pav
Tips:
- If you don’t have a blender, you can just chop all the veggies. I’ve included the blender tip because it saves time. Otherwise a lot of time goes in chopping and then mashing it down when it’s cooking
- Use a fork to mash the potato in, if you don’t have a masher (that’s what I did). Well mashed potatoes makes all the difference to the consistency of the bhaji
- You can add more veggies like cauliflower, peas, carrots etc but just make sure they are cooked well enough so that they can get mashedddd nicely.