Pav bhaji, No oil or dairy

Pav bhaji is a thick spicy curry with softened vegetables, served with a bread roll called pav and onions soused in lemon juice.

The components are...

Beans, haricot - 150g

Broad beans - 150g

Carrot - 4

Green capsicum - 1

Peas, frozen - 1/2 cup

Water - just enough water to immerse the vegetables in the pressure cooker + 2 Tbsp for cooking onions

Cumin seeds - 1/4 tsp

Onion - 2

Green chili - 2

Ginger - 1/2 inch

Garlic - 3 cloves

Tomato - 2

Salt - 1/4 tsp

Nutritional yeast - 1/2 tsp

Turmeric powder - a bit

Chili powder - 1/4 tsp

Coriander powder - 3/4 tsp

Garam masala - 1 and 1/4 tsp

The modus operandi...

Immerse vegetables in clean water with a pinch of salt and a drop of apple cider vinegar for a few hours. This will remove any external pesticides. Wash them again in clean water. Peel carrot, trim the ends of beans and deseed capsicum. Chop them small. 

 

 

 

 

Pressure cook the vegetables with water and a smidgeon of salt for 8 to 10 whistles. The vegetables will turn soft and mushy. 

 

 

 

Strain vegetables and set aside.

 

 

  

Peel onion, ginger and garlic. Cut up onion into thin slices. Mince ginger, garlic and chili. Cube tomato roughly. Heat a deep-bottomed steel pan on medium flame and toast cumin seeds. Throw in onion, ginger, garlic, chili and a splash of water. Let it cook until the onions soften. Fling in tomato and stir around for a few minutes.

 

 

 

 

 Add in salt, yeast flakes, turmeric powder, chili powder, coriander powder and garam masala. Mix until the raw smell of the masalas subside. Turn off heat and allow to cool. 

 

 

 

 

 

Grind to a rough paste.

 

 

 

 

 

Heat up the pan on low heat again. Cast in cooked vegetables, ground mishmash and a splash of water. Stir to combine everything. Cook for about 5 more minutes or until all the water dries up and the vegetables are well incorporated with the masala. 

 

 

 

 

Serve warm with homemade oats pav and onions doused in lemon juice. Whoop it up!

Recipe courtesy : Divya Dwivedi