Pav Bhaji with Home Made Pav Bhaji Masala

Some days ago when I was craving for an authentic Pav Bhaji, I posted on my FB Page asking which is the Pav Bhaji Masala people prefer, there were a variety of responses and it seems like there was a divide between MDH and Everest. Both parties backing their stuff more than anything, but then Smitha came and said she makes her own Pav Bhaji Masala and I thought why not try, couple of messages exchanged with her, a little google surfing done and I set out to make some pav bhaji masala

I have always been a sucker for home made and fresh stuff, long ago I moved to fresh homemade sambhar powder and there has been no looking back ever since, its a standard way of making sambhar at our house mostly and when I read about the fresh pav bhaji masala, I had a strong feeling its gonna be the same way this will go

Recipe – Pav Bhaji Masala

Source – Many recipes combined into one

Ingredients

• Black cardamoms –  4
• Coriander seeds –  1/4 cup
• Cumin seeds –  1/8 cup
• Whole black pepper –  1/8 cup
• Panch Phoran Seeds – 2 tbsp
• Whole red dry chillies –  6
• Cinnamon –  5  1/2 inch pieces
• Dry mango powder –  2 tbsp
• Nutmeg – 1 grated or 1 tsp powder
• 1 tsp black salt

Method

• Dry roast all the whole masalas till they are nice and fragrant, turn down the gas and add the powder masalas to the it. Roast for another minute and turn off the gas
• Let it completely cool and then grind to a powder and your fresh pav bhaji masala is ready… Yup its so easy and after all this why would anyone want to buy it

Now that my pav bhaji masala was ready, guess what I did next. Yes 100% marks I made pav bhaji ofcourse and if any of you were thinking something else, go get your brain checked 😉

Recipe – Bhaji for Pav Bhaji

Ingredients

• 4 Potatoes , boiled and mashed
• 6-7 large tomatoes, chopped
• 2 large Onions, finely chopped
• 1 Capsicum, finely chopped
• 1 cup grated cauliflower
• 1 cup green peas, boiled and mashed
• 1 tbsp ginger-garlic paste
• 3 tbsp freshly made pav bhaji masala
• 1 tbsp deggi mirchi (for the color)
• Salt to taste
• Butter, butter and some more butter… ok kidding about 2 tbsp butter for frying and some more for garnish

Method

• In a pan heat some butter, add onions to it and fry till they become nicely brown and translucent
• Add the ginger – garlic paste, saute for one minute and add half the tomatoes
• Stir fry till the tomatoes are nicely done and the butter starts leaving the sides
• At this stage put all your vegetables and a water so that all of them are nicely immersed in water
• Add one tbsp of butter and bring to a boil and let it simmer on medium flame for about 15 minutes
• Using a potato masher, mash your vegetables nicely, add the chilli powder, rest of the pav bhaji masala and roast for 2 minutes
• Add the rest of the tomatoes, mix and let it cook for about 15 more minutes stirring occasionally, if u like your bhaji really mashed… keep mashing it as you stir
• Your bhaji is now ready

I served it freshly baked pav at home using the dinner roll recipe

While browsing the net for some more pav bhaji tips, I saw a video which was shot at a pav bhaji vendor at Chowpatty, Mumbai and the vendor said while heating the pav for the bhaji add a little bit of pav bhaji masala in the butter… I followed this tip and the difference it made was so huge to the final boost… I think with this I have finally found my perfect pav bhaji in Bangalore and yes its served at my house now

pav