Pav Bhaji is a famous street food dish in India made from a range of curried vegetables that are slow-cooked with spices, and served with pan-fried,  heavily buttered soft bread roll. It’s mostly always garnished with lemon seasoned onions to add that bit of zest against the spice. 

In translation: Pav is the soft butter bread roll, and Bhaji is the curried vegetables. I’ve made this pavless (breadless) and replaced it with olive oil roasted mushrooms. It works out great when you’re on a calorie restricted diet, but this also is a fun appetizer for when you have guests over in the house!

Pav bhaji is honestly the best comfort food, I hope you love making this simplified recipe!

Serves 4 | 1 hour | 

Ingredients:

• 2 medium sized potatoes (diced)
• 1 cup cauliflower (minced)
• 1 cup carrot (chopped)
• 1/2 cup green peas
• 1/2 cup capsicum (minced)
• 2 cups of tomatoes (chopped or grated)
• 1 medium onion (diced)
• 1-2 green chillies chopped
• 5-6 cloves of garlic (minced)
• 1.5 tbsp of ginger (minced)
• 1 tsp cumin seeds
• 1 tsp turmeric powder
• 3 tbsp pav bhaji masala
• 1 tsp red chilli powder
• 3 tbsp organic ghee
• Brown button mushrooms (as many as you wish)

Method:

1. In a pressure cooker, add the potatoes, cauliflower, carrots, green peas and 2.5 cups of water. Pressure cook until completely cooked and soft, set aside. This will take 5-7 whistles (15 mins)
2. In a large pan, add the ghee or butter. As it melts, add the cumin seeds and let it crackle.
3. Add onions, and stir until golden brown.
4. Add garlic and ginger, stir again until fragrant.
5. Add chillies, stir for 1-2mins
6. Add tomatoes and place on a low simmer to cook for about 5-10mins
7. Add the capsicum, and let it cook for another 5-10 mins until tender
8. Sprinkle the turmeric, red chilli powder and pav bhaji masala. Give it a nice stir until it’s all thoroughly blended.
9. Now add the cooked veggies in the pressure cooker along with any remaining water, and mash it all together with a potato masher.
10. Add salt to taste as per required
11. Let it cook on low to medium heat for another 10 mins
12. In the meantime, destem, wash and roast the brown button mushrooms in the oven for 10-15 minutes under a temperature of 180°C. I always spritz a generous amount of olive oil over anything I roast to help the veggies from over-drying.
13. Once ready, spoon the bhaji into the mushrooms and serve with lemon seasoned onions and coriander. You can stir in a bit more ghee in the bhaji before spooning it into the mushrooms, as that always adds a bit more flavour!
14. Serve warm.

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