Pav Bhaji - Anytime, Anywhere

Seldom is one's better half good at cooking. Seldom would you find him beat you in a particular dish. And rarely would you enjoy watching him sharing the recipe with rest of the world. My husband's exceptionally good dish - Paav bhaji. It is tough to resist the temptation of having paav bhaji. Enjoy it with crispy paav and you are sure to have you stomach filled with great dish and heart filled with content (forget calories for one day). This dish needs a bit of patience, but is worth trying since the results would be great. Since my better half has excelled in the recipe, he is going to share with you the preparation in his own words :)

Ingredients:

·         3 Roma tomatoes

·         3 – 4 potatoes

·         1 medium size egg plant

·         1 medium size cauliflower

·         2 medium size onions or 3 small onions.

·         7 cloves of garlic

·         Pav-Bhaji Masala

·         Green chillies

·         Lemon juice

·         Vegetable oil

·         Ginger as per taste

·         Pav or soft white burger buns

·         Salted butter

·         Peas

·         cilantro

Method.

1) Wash and peel skins of potatoes, and egg plant. Dice them.

2) Wash and dice the cauliflower

    

3) Pressure cook the potatoes, eggplant and cauliflower – usually 5 – 6 whistles

     

4) While the vegetables are being cooked in the pressure cooker the gravy can be made – for the gravy finely chop onions, mince garlic and grate ginger. Finely chop tomatoes – tomato skin can be removed if you do not like it.

5) In a wok (kadhai) heat 2 tbsp of oil

6) When the oil heats up add the chopped onions, fry till they turn brown – salt can be added to expedite the process

7) Once the onions turn light brown add the minced garlic and fry for 3 minutes, the garlic will also turn golden brown

8) It is now time to add the tomatoes, keep stirring at regular occasions.

9) Wash peas and set them in a microwave safe bowl with water for 3 minutes. They will be partially boiled.

10) Remove the microwave safe dish and strain the water.

11) Keep an eye on the gravy, make sure it doesn’t burn, keep stirring.

12) If the pressure cooker has clocked 5 -6 whistles then it is time to turn it off and remove from the heat.

13) While the pressure cooker cools down you can simmer the gravy, if the tomato in the gravy starts to leave oil, then it is time to lower the heat.

14) Open the pressure cooker and strain all the water.

15) Now mash all vegetables – potatoes, egg plant and cauliflower and mix to make it a smooth paste

16) Toss these mashed vegetables in the wok on top of the gravy, 

17) Add the peas

18) Increase the stove heat 

19) Add 3 tea spoons of pav bhaji masala (you may increase or decrease this based on how much flavour you need), one table spoon of red chilly powder, chopped green chillies and half a cake of salted butter.

20) The red chillies powder should bring a nice colour to the bhaji. 

21) Add salt as per taste and keep checking the taste while this cooks, add salt or red chili powder to make up for taste as per your requirement.

22) Simmer and cook for a few minutes

24) On another stove, place a flat pan and start heating it, add a spoon of butter and lightly fry the the pav or burger buns on it, so that they have a golden brown texture, no need to fry the entire pav.

Your Pav-bhaji is ready, before serving and once the bhaji is removed from flame, squeeze some lemon juice on it. Serve with cilantro and raw onions.

Bread toast with veggie stuffing

Good old bread. You can do a lot with it. Make it sweetish, make it like a toast, prepare pakoda or bread crumbs. This time I decided to have a quick fix with bread. My mamma makes it often and it is a sure winner in my home. This needs
 

Ingredients
1/4 tsp mustard seeds
1 onion chopped
2 tomatoes chopped
2 Green chillies chopped
1 tbsp cooking oil
salt to taste
Turmeric powder
chopped coriander leaves
Bread
Salted butter
Tomato Ketchup

Method

1) Take a frying pan. Add some oil in it.

2) Add some mustard seeds. Once they crackle, add some onions. Let the onions get translucent.

3) Add turmeric powder, green chillies, tomatoes and salt to taste.

4) Fry until tomatoes get cooked. Add chopped coriander leaves.

5) Take a tawa. Apply  a bit of butter on the tawa.

6) Take a bread. Place the onion tomato stuffing in it. Place another bread on the top of it.

7) Put it on the Tawa and cover it with a lid. Check after 45 seconds to ensure that the bottom of bread does not get burnt but is roasted.

8) Once done, turn the remove the bread with tongs and turn bread upside down and close the lid to let it roast the other side too.

9) Once done, remove the bread from the tawa and slice it diagonally. Serve with ketchup.

Mixed Veg curry (South Indian Style)

Sometimes, we have a bit of every vegetable. The best way to finish them all is to make a mixed vegetable curry. For this you need

Ingredients needed

1 carrot sliced into thin pieces

1/3rd cup beans cut lengthwise

1 potato chopped into cubes

1/2 cup peas

1/2 cup chopped cauliflower

1/2 tsp mustard seeds

Hind

turmeric powder

Salt to taste

1/4 tsp chilly powder

1 tbsp cooking oil

Method

1) Fry mustard seeds in oil and add beans to it. Cook it for 10 mts or until beans gets almost half cooked.

2) Now add potato, carrot, cauliflower and peas.

3) Add turmeric powder, hing, chilly powder and salt. Stir well.

4) Cook it well and serve it with dal or any gravy along with plain rice.

Spring Rolls

Chinese cuisines always draw us to the world of Noodles and Soup. However, this time, my thought went to spring rolls. This appetiser though eaten many a times was never tried. So thought of preparing it at home.

You can make about 13-15 spring rolls. For this you would require

Vegetables used for stuffing

1/4 of a cabbage chopped

1 red bell pepper or green bell pepper chopped

3 carrots grated

1 green chilly

3/4 cup chopped green beans (chop into very small pieces for easy cooking)

To spice vegetable stuffing

1 tbsp Soy sauce

Salt to taste

1/4 tsp green chilly sauce or red chilly sauce (generally found under Chinese section)

1/4 tsp Pepper

*Spring roll wrappers to wrap

Oil for frying

1 tsp Maida (all purpose flour) in 2 tbsp water

Method

1) Keep spring roll wrappers outside to bring it to room temperature before separating them.

2) Boil some water and add chopped vegetables to it to cook it well but ensure that it does not overcook or get mashed up.

3) Once the vegetables get cooked, put them in a muslin cloth or a clean, soft, thin cotton cloth and wrap it. Squeeze the bundle until all water comes out and put it in a bowl.

4) Add the spices given above to the vegetables and mix it well.

5) Take a tbsp of stuffed vegetables and place it lengthwise near the corner of spring roll wrapper.

6) Wrap it tightly beginning from the corner and fold in the sides. When you are done halfway, then keep rolling it till then end. Add maida water to glue the corner.

7) Fry them in oil until they turn golden brown in medium high flame. Serve alongwith imli/tamarind chutney or ketchup.

*Note: 
~Spring Roll Wrappers are available in the grocery store under the frozen section with the name spring roll pastry.

~ You could add vegetables of your choice like peas, corn, mushroom etc.