Pav Bhaji, Indian street food

Posted by petra08 on October 3, 2014 · 14 Comments 

A friend of mine, Ms M introduced me to Dishoom, a fab Indian restaurant in London serving Bombay street food “tapas” style.  Ms M ordered some Pau Bhaji and said I would love it. It was delicious, a vegetable mash served with buttered, toasted bread. I would also recommend their black lentil dal, the paneer tikka, the raita and their naan bread especially as I have been back many times.

 

A typical spread at Dishoom.

 

I have been thinking about the Pau Bhaji for some time and thought it can not be too complicated. Some research revealed that it can also be called Pav Bhaji, like this recipe. Reading through this and other recipes I thought I would give it a go and serve it as a snack. I can see how it makes great street food and I thought it most likely is a mix of what vegetables you have at home and spices. Here is my version.

 

My style Pav Bhaji 

preparation time 10 minutes

cooking time 15 minutes

serves 2

Ingredients

• 1 potato
• 1 carrot
• 1 dl or 1/2 cup of Lentil Dal, I had some left over from the other day, recipe here 
• roasted squash, I had some leftover
• 1 orange pepper
• 1 onion
• fresh grated ginger
• 3 cloves of garlic
• 1 chilli
• 1 tsp cumin
• 1/4 tsp cayenne pepper
• 1/2 tsp turmeric
• 3 tomatoes
• salt to taste
• oil for cooking
• a small knob of butter (optional)
• water if necessary
• coriander for garnish

Cube the potatoes and the carrot and boil for 10 minutes or until soft. Chop the onion, the tomatoes and the pepper. Heat oil in a pan and add the cumin seeds. Let it fry until they start to sizzle.

 

 

Add the chopped onion. 

 

Fry until the onion until soft and add the pepper, tomato and chilli.

 

Add the turmeric and cayenne. Mash the potato and carrot and add it. Add the lentil dal and the cold roasted squash. Let it simmer for a few minutes, add more water if it is too thick. Warm up some naan bread. Add a little butter last minute, it makes the dish a little richer without using a lot of butter. Dip the bread and enjoy.

 

 

I didn’t have any garam masala, I will make some for the next batch, I really like cooking Indian food, the spices, the complexity and balance and of course the flavour!

 

I am bringing a big bowl of this to Angie’s always happening Fiesta Friday! Angie has prepared Crepas de Mole, I have never made my own mole sauce and Angie makes it look so easy! The co hosts this week is Selma brought a delicious looking Sublime Rolled Roast Shoulder of Lamb & Potatoes, just what we need when the days are getting a little shorter and colder weather is lurking. Elaine has made a mezze and has some amazing looking Sweet potato flatbreads!

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Filed under Allotment/Veg, Carrot, Chilli, Garlic, Herbs, Onion, Pepper, Potatoes, Recipe, Snack, Tomatoes, Vegetarian · Tagged with cumin, Dishoom, Indian food, pau bhaji, pav bhaji, street food