Visiting Mumbai without eating Pav Bhaji would be like Frankfurt without green sauce or Naples without pizza. The typical curry of that Megacity is really easy to prepare, very tasty and really fills you up.
Next to Chaat, Pav Bhaji is probably the most typical dish for Mumbai. It can actually best be described as a vegetable stew, because it consists of a variety of vegetables cooked and mashed together. And an incredible amount of butter.
Pav Bhaji translates to bun with vegetables, and that’s quite accurate. Typically, Pav Bhaji contains potatoes, cauliflower, onions, tomato, bell pepper and is served together with a buttered soft bun. In addition, there are countless variations with, for example, carrot, beetroot, with or without fenugreek and other spice variations. Also the quantities are not to be taken too accurately, everyone as they like or what’s in the fridge. It is mainly spiced with Pav Bhaji Masala, the spice mix named after the dish. Again, there are a lot of different variations of that mix.
Where to get the ingredients?
To keep it simple, I’ve used the ready-made spice blend here in the recipe, which you can also buy outside India in Indian grocery stores or online. Pav Bhaji does have some heat to it, but it tends to be on the lower end of spice levels in Indian cuisine.
Pav, the bun, is unfortunately almost never available outside of India, even in Indian grocery stores. Turkish flatbread is different in terms of consistency, but tastes great with it. In Germany, I’ve always used that to substitute.
When I’m in the kitchen cooking for the blog and I’m not done by lunchtime, I often order myself a serving. It’s cheap, tasty and fills you up without being heavy on the stomach.
Pav Bhaji – typical vegetable curry from Mumbai
Ingredients
For the Curry
- 3 potatoes
- 1 cauliflower small (as much as the potatoes)
- 3 onions chopped
- 250 ml pureed tomatoes or 4 fresh tomatoes
- 1 bell pepper green
- 1 cup peas
- 1 Tbsp. garlic crushed
- 1 Tbsp. ginger grated
- 2 tsp. Pav Bhaji Masala
- 2 tsp. red chili powder
- 1 tsp. coriander seeds ground
- 1 tsp. turmeric ground
- 2 Tbsp. butter
- 1 Tbsp. dried fenugreek
- some oil
- salt
For the plate
- 1 onion finely chopped
- some coriander green chopped
- some lime
- Pav or other bread
- some butter
Instructions
The Curry
- Boil the potato and cauliflower and then mash them. Optionally, carrots and beet can also be added.
- While the vegetables are cooking, dice the peppers and heat the oil in a deep pan or wide pot.
- Cook the chopped onions until soft and then sauté the garlic and ginger briefly. Then add the spices (chili powder, pav bhaji masala, coriander and turmeric) on top of the onions, mix and sauté for about a minute. Add the bell peppers and cook for about 10 minutes.
- Then add the tomato puree, simmer briefly and remove from heat if necessary until the mashed vegetables are ready. If you use fresh tomatoes, cook them with the onion-pepper mixture for a few minutes until soft. Now also mash this vegetable mixture again until it is a little soft, but it can remain a bit chunky.
- Then add the potato-cauliflower vegetables to the pan and add a little water (1-2 cups) so that you have a somewhat creamy consistency to the vegetables. Add the peas, season with salt, add a little bit of fenugreek, I use no more than a tablespoon, and simmer for a few minutes until the peas are cooked. If necessary, add a little more water in between.
The plating
- Arrange the curry in a bowl, sprinkle with finely chopped onion and cilantro, and drizzle with a little lime.
- This is usually served with Pav, lightly fried with butter in a pan, preferably together with a little Pav Bhaji Masala.
- If you find frying the bread too much, I also like to eat Pav Bhaji with cold butter on the bread and a little salt.Bon appetite!
Please rate my recipe before you leave 🙂:
The recipe for Pav Bhaji – cooked with lots of love ♥ on From zero to curry.
2 thoughts on “Pav Bhaji – easy to make, very tasty vegetarian curry”
You can use dinner rolls instead of pav. Or hamburger buns – though pav does not have that slight sweetness that these breads have, but I’ve found it works reasonably well as a substitute.
You can, but as you said, I find them too sweet and honestly not very good. Try fresh Turkish flatbread if you have a chance to get it.
Thnaks for your review!