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:

1. Cook potatoes in a pressure cooker with about 4 cups water, until 2 whistles come
2. Take a blender, add roughly chopped onions & chilli and blend for like 10 seconds (just until its a little mashy but not a paste)
3. 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)
4. In the same blender, add tomatoes & capsicums, roughly blend and add it to pan
5. Add turmeric powder, coriander powder, jeera powder and cook until the oils separate to the sides and the mixture becomes a dark brown
6. Peel the cooked potatoes and crumble it into the mix (you can either use strong fingers or a fork)
7. Add chilli powder, salt & garam masala and mix and mash until it’s allllll mashed well
8. Add 1.5 cups water and let it boil boil boil until it gets thick and mashy
9. Serve with chopped onions, garnish with coriander and one tiiiiny cube of butter to melt over it because it tastes super yum then.
10. 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.