Pav Bhaji Recipe | Homemade Pav Bhaji

One of the favorite foods of Mumbaikars is the amazing Pav Bhaji snack. It is an integral part of the famous Maharashtrian street food in Bombay (today Mumbai). In the early days, this dish was a filling fast food for textile mill workers in Mumbai in the 1850s. Later, it became popular as street food throughout India. Pav is a Portuguese word for bread or small rolls, pronounced as “Pau” or “Pao”. Bhaji means a vegetable curry.

The Masala for Pav Bhaji uses a special blend of spices. You will find a variety of masalas in the market, but you can prepare it at home using good and fresh quality spices. Usually, using a good amount of butter to toast the Pav slices will make it soft and tasty. This snack item serves with onions, coriander leaves, lemon, and sev. Sev is an Indian noodle made of gram flour, which is used in most chats. Some street vendors in Mumbai don’t use sev, but I prefer to use it. Since it brings a different flavor. 

You will find this dish on the streets of Mumbai and most places in Maharashtra. It’s even more delicious when prepared at home and healthy too. The homemade one contains fresh vegetables, oil, spices, and homemade butter. It is easy to prepare if you have guests over or would like to carry in your lunch box. You can prepare this item for breakfast as well as an evening snack. I hope you enjoy cooking this mouth-watering recipe for your family and friends.  

You can look at my other related collections – Chat recipes, Breakfast/Brunch recipes, Appetizers recipes, and Evening Snacks which includes Pani Puri, Mushroom Manchurian, Veg Manchurian, Potato Cheese Nuggets, Paneer Bhurji, Bombay Sandwich, Tomato Cucumber Sandwich, Garlic Bread, and Cabbage Steamed Momos.

Recipe Card for Pav Bhaji

How to make Pav Bhaji step-by-step?

Step 1: Soak the dried green peas overnight. 

Step 2: In a pressure cooker, add the soaked dried green peas, potatoes, carrots, capsicum, and cauliflower together. Place the pressure cooker lid and wait for four whistles.

Step 3: After the cooker cools down, open the lid, take out the potatoes, and peel them. Add the peeled potatoes back to the pressure cooker and mash all the vegetables together.

Step 4: Heat 4 tablespoons of oil in a pan and add 3 finely chopped onions to the oil and fry until it’s slightly golden.

Step 5: Add turmeric powder, chopped tomatoes, ginger-garlic paste, and the mashed vegetables to the pan.

Step 6: Add ½ teaspoon of Pav Bhaji Masala, 2 teaspoons of red chili powder and salt to taste. Mix all the vegetables and let it blend with the other ingredients well.

Step 7: Add water, based on the thickness you prefer. I would make it a bit watery because as time passes it keeps getting thicker.

Step 8: Cut the Pav in the center and add 1 teaspoon butter on the pan (Tawa) and toast the Pav slices on both sides.

Step 9: Serve the Bhaji on the plate and sprinkle onions, coriander, and sev.

Step 10: Dip the Pav in a little bit of Bhaji and serve with Bhaji. And place a piece of lemon at the side or center to squeeze the juice while relishing.