The secrets to a super healthy pav bhaji
Pav Bhaji is Mumbai's most popular street food, that has reached hotels and restaurants alike. It tingles the tastebuds with a myriad of flavours. Serve with hot Amul buttered Pav! This is my version of HEALTHY PAV BHAJI.
Ingredients
- 70 grams soya chunks
- 8 to 12 chillies dried red (depending on how spicy the chilli is-I use a mix of Kashmiri Bedgi)).
- 8 cloves garlic , peeled .
- 1/2 cup water hot .
- 4 potatoes medium .
- 200 grams cauliflower florets .
- 400 ml tomato puree .
- 1 beetroot medium
- 1/2 cup peas frozen or fresh , boiled and kept aside
- 2 green capsicum medium sized , finely chopped
- 1 onion large , finely chopped
- 2 to 3 tbsps pav masala bhaji
- 2 tsps salt
- handful coriander chopped fresh
To Serve
- onions Finely chopped
- wedges lemon
- pav whole wheat bread or to serve
Instructions
- In a bowl, place the dried red chillies and garlic-cover with xbd cup hot water and keep aside for 15 minutes. Once the chillies have rehydrated, grind them with the garlic to a fine paste, using some water. Keep aside.
- Bring 4 cups water to boil with 1 tsp salt and the soy chunks. When the water is boiling, lower the flame and simmer for 5-7 minutes, until the soya chunks are cooked.
- Drain the water using a sieve, and press out all the extra water from the chunks using the back of a cup. Grind coarsely (use the pulse function so that you don't make it into a fine paste) and keep aside.
- Peel and roughly chop the beet, potatoes. Wash and clean the cauliflower florets. Place them all together in a small pressure cooker with xbd tsp salt, 1 cup water and pressure cook for 10 minutes.
- Open when cool enough and mash with steel masher until you get a coarse puree. Keep aside.
- In a large pan, heat the oil. Add the finely chopped onion and capsicum and sautxe9 on medium flame for 7-8 mins until the onion are soft. Add the chilli-garlic paste, pav bhaji masala and sautxe9 for 3-4 mins on low flame.
- Add the coarsely ground soya chunks, sautxe9 until the seasonings are absorbed by this. Then add the mashed cooked vegetables, tomato puree, salt and bring to a simmer.
- Garnish with fresh coriander- serve with toasted pav, with a sprinkling of finely chopped onions and a lemon wedge. Since we have made this so much healthier, you can go ahead and add a sprinkling of grated cheese to the bhaji before tucking in.
Notes
If you prefer this to be a smooth puree, then run all the mashed veggies and soya mash in a blender until smooth and then use in recipe. My recipe gives you a chunky bhaji. If you find that it's too dry, you can thin it down with some water and bring it to a simmer.
This bhaji can also be used to add a twist to a Masala Dosa by smearing the bhaji inside of a dosa and folding it over.
This dish is a perfect crowd pleaser, you can easily double the quantities and prepare this for a large party along with some other mumbai chaats like bhel puri, pani puri, added to the menu.