Pav Bhaji with home made Dinner Rolls

I am over the moon today! I baked my first bread. I know I have bored all of you many times about how scared I am about baking, I think I am slowly winning my battle...

Pav Bhaji is I think one of the most popular Chats. Mumbai's own but adapted and served in all Indian towns and abroad. Perfect for a rainy day!

The recipe I followed for the rolls is from Radhika's blog. I have tried many recipes from her site and always am successful. So I was very confident when I started to bake. Plus, I had mailed her and made sure my doubts were cleared. She was such a sweatheart to answer all my mails inspite of her busy schedule. Thank you dear. No words can describe how excited I am and how thankful I am to you.

After I finished dinner, I just popped into the nearby grocery store to buy something quick. I was literally singing the whole time in my mind ' I made bread, I made bread'. As I was walking out the store, the baker rolled in a shelf of the day's bakes for sale (they do not sell it the next day, so they just put a sale up at the end of the day). I was curious as everyone was running to the shelf. I got the shock of my like. The breads and yes rolls were all prices at 10p a pack (regular price £1). 10 p guys - just 8 rupees. We do not even get a lolly here for that price. So all this effort was worth 10 p. Question is - was it worth it? I still think it was cause of the happiness it gave me :-)

Interesting tip : If you want to enjoy the bread next day, just pop it into the microwave for 30 seconds. It just comes out nice and warm and super soft as if it were baked 5 minutes ago. 

Pav Bread/Dinner Rolls



Ingredients
All Purpose Flour 3.5 cups
Instant Dry Yeast 21/4 tsp (7g packet)
Salt 3/4 tsp
Sugar 2 tbsp
Milk 1 cup
Water 1/4 cup
Butter 3 tbsp
Oil for greasing

Method of Preparation

1. Warm the milk and mix the butter. Warm the water as well and mix to this. Add salt and sugar as well.

2. Take 1 cups of flour in a mixing bowl and add yeast to it. Pour the milk mix to this and stir.

3. Add another cup of flour and incorporate. Then add the 3rd cup.

4. Now work with you hand and knead well for 6-7 minutes adding the rest of the flour. I added a little bit more water while kneading and left out a little flour. Next time, I will try adding a little more milk.

5. Grease a vessel and place the dough in it. Apply oil to the surface of the dough as well. Cover with a damp cloth. Let the dough rest for 1-1.5 hours. Let it double in size.

Look how much it raised for me in less than an hour



6. Punch down the dough and split into small balls. I got around 13 balls from it.

7. Line a baking sheet/tray and then keep the balls with some space in between. Let it rest for another 30 minutes. It will rise again.

Before and After (Notice how the gaps have reduced when the balls swelled up)



8. Preheat an oven to 180 C. Brush the top of the dough with some milk. Bake for 20 minutes or till the surface is nicely browned.
Fresh out of the oven. They were so spongy on the inside. 


Bhaji Recipe

Ingredients

Onions 2
Tomatoes 4
Ginger 1 inch piece
Garlic 4 pods
Potatoes 2 medium
Carrot 1
Green pepper 1
Peas 1/4 cup
Pav Bhaji Masala 4 tsp
Chilli Powder

To Serve
Onion 1/2
Coriander Leaves
Lemon/Lime wedges
Pav Bread
Butter







Method of Preparation

1. Heat oil in a pan. Add the finely chopped onions and saute till is starts to brown.

2. Make a paste of ginger and garlic. Add to the pan. Saute till the onions  are nice and brown.

3. Add chopped tomatoes and saute till it is cooked well. Make sure in this step that the gravy is all combined and mushed up at this stage. Very Important.

4. Add the pav bhaji masala and chilli powder. Mix well.

5. Cook potatoes in the microwave for 3-4 minutes till fully cooked. You can boil it as well.

6. Finely chop carrots and pepper and cook them in the microwave separately till it is well cooked. Each will take about 3 minutes.

7. Add all the cooked vegetables and peas to the pan. Mash it all together very well with a vegetable/potato masher. Add 1 cup of water (or less) and some salt.

8. Cook in low flame till the mixture starts to come together.

Serve Pav's buttered and toasted (I skipped this step) along with the bhaji topped with some onions, coriander leaves, dollop of butter and a lime wedge.

My little one enjoyed the pav with some jam for the next day breakfast as well. I even sneaked a little late night snack with some nutella. The options are many!

Linking this to Let's cook - Bread
Linking this to I love Baking

Linking this to Celebrate - Olympic games Event by Jagruti, hosted by Priya
Linking this to Toddler Snacks - Event by Nithu, hosted by Pari