Original Pav Bhaji - Mumbai Juhu Beach Style - Authentic Recipe

Mumbai (Bombay) is famous for its Chaat Recipes. I guess it is safe to say that Chaat has spread its wings all over the country and even abroad. Most of us love eating an evening Chaat as a snack. These days even when you are shopping in a mall, getting a plate of Chaat is becoming a tradition.

So where did all this begin. Chaat is quite famous in the beaches of Bombay. The other day I was talking to some of my English friends about Beach! Here as you know people go to beach during the day and mainly to lounge in the sand and picnic.

Soft Dinner Rolls - Laadi Pav

Dinner rolls are just perfect for soups or just to pass around the table, to eat with butter or just to dip in some olive oil as a pre dinner snack. And here is the perfect recipe for a super soft fluffy dinner roll.

As an Indian, the dinner roll ofcourse takes a whole new meaning. Yes, Pav. Pav Bread is used for the famous chaats of Mumbai like Pav Bhaji, Misal Pav, Vada Pav etc. Check out the recipes for all the chaats in my site. Hope you try some of them

If you are looking for a hard rolls (no they are not hard inside, harder shell and soft inside) for sandwiches, check out here.

Recipe from here

Ingredients

Bread Flour (Or All Purpose Flour) 420 gms to 480 gms (3.5 - 4 cups)
Instant Yeast 1.5 tsp
Salt 1 tsp
Sugar 1 tbsp
Milk 1.5 cups
Butter 1.5 tbsp
Butter for Brushing 1 tbsp

Method of Preparation

1. Take the flour (420 gms - 3.5 cups), yeast, salt and sugar in a bowl. Mix well.

2. Warm the milk and butter together till it is warm and the butter melted. Mix well.

3. Add the milk to the bowl and knead well till it starts to come together. I use my stand mixer to do this. You can do by hand as well.

4. When it starts to pull together, add the extra flour as needed till you get a soft dough, just short of being sticky. I needed 3 tbsp of flour.

5. Shape into a neat round and place it in a well oiled bowl. Cover and let it rest till it is doubled in size (about an hour or 2).

6. Punch out the air and divide the dough into 15 equal portions. I find it easier just to weigh the dough and divide the weight by the number of pieces I want. Then divide each portion to that weight. I know it kind of sounds obsessive. But once you do 3-4 pieces you get an idea and you do not need to weigh and you get really uniform bake on the rolls.

7. Grease a 9*13 baking tray with some oil.

8. Shape each portion into a perfect round. Place it on the baking tray in a 5*3 rows and columns, fairly close to each other, but leaving a little space



9. Cover and let it rise till doubled. It will take another 30-45 min.



10. Preheat the oven to 220 C.

11. Bake the rolls for 10 min. The top would start to brown by now.

12. Take it out. Brush with the melted butter.

13. Bake for another 5 min till it is nicely browned on the top.



14. Let it cool on the tray for a few min and the cool on a wire rack.

Serving Suggestion - Check out the recipe for Bhaji here (coming soon). Its a popular Mumbai street food using this bread!

Chaat Pulao

Do you love Bhel Puri? Then this is a recipe for you. I had plans of making Bhel Puri and then ofcource, that cannot be dinner. So I thought I will make some Vegetable Rice as well. Then it occured to me, Why not combine both these and make a dinner out it? I usually am a person who finds recipes and follows it. I do not get such brain waves often. I am just glad I got this idea. It was loved by one and all in our house.

It kind of gives the feel of eating bhel puri without it being predominantly all the oily fried stuff. The rice and vegetables up the health quotient of the Chaat without affecting the taste. Try it to believe it.



Ingredients

Rice 1.5 cups
Mixed Veg 3 cups

Oil
Peanuts 1/4 cup
Channa Dal 2 tbsp
Urad 1 tbsp
Cumin 1 tbsp
Turmeric 1 tsp
Hing 1/4 tsp

Mint handful
Green chilli 2-3
Water 1/4 cup

Tamarind chutney 2 tbsp

To serve

Onions
Mamra
Sev

Method of Preparation

1. Pressure cook the rice adding enough water. Make sure the rice is not sticky. Transfer to a big bowl and let it cool. Do not use a spatula as it will become mushy.

2. Heat a little oil in a pan. Add Peanuts, Channa Dal, Urad dal.

3. When they start to colour, add Cumin, Turmeric and Hing.

4. Add mixed vegetables. Saute till they are cooked. Mine was frozen. I thawed it in microwave for a 10 minutes before adding. Add some salt as well. 

5. In a mixie, add the mint leaves, green chilli and a little water. Make a paste. Add to the pot.

6. Add tamarind dates chutney used for chaats. If you do not have any handy, mix a little tamarind paste, sugar/jaggery and water. Add to the pot.

7. Mix it all well till the water is mostly absorbed. 

8. Switch off. Finally mix in the cooked and cooled rice.

9. For serving, add this rice to a plate. Top it it with loads of mamra and sev. Add some chopped raw onions. You can also add some coriander leaves and/or chutneys (mint/tamarind) if desired.

Enjoy!

Kacchi Dabeli

Street food has always a place in everyone's heart. Every part of the world have their favourites. In India Chaats are quite popular. Though it started in Maharastra, it has spread all over the country and every place has their variation of the Chaat. I thought I have tasted all the important ones when I had eaten Bhel Puri, Pani Puri and Pav Bhaji. How wrong was I? When I ate Misal Pav for the first time, I knew this was it. Nothing can be as good as Misal Pav. I still stand by that.

But this Dabeli bowled over all of us. What an amazing combination of flavours. I had never eaten Dabeli and when I saw the Recipe here, I knew I had to try it. Please do yourself a favour and make this. You will thank me for it.



Ingredients

For Assembly

Pav Bread
Garlic Chutney - recipe below and here
Tamarind Date Chutney - recipe here
Potato Masala - recipe below
Spicy Peanuts - recipe below
Sev - recipe here
Pomegranate 1
Onions 1
Coriander leaves

Potato Stuffing

Ingredients

Potato 5
Onion 1
Tomato 1

Turmeric 1/2 tsp
Lemon Juice 1 tbsp
Coriander leaves a little

Dabeli Masala -

Coriander Seeds 2 tbsp
Cumin Seeds 1 tbsp
Cinnamon 2 inch piece
Clove 2
Dry Red Chilli 4

Method of Preparation

1. Boil and peal potatoes. Mash/Grate the boiled potatoes.

2. In a pan, dry roast the ingredients for Dabeli Masala - the coriander seeds, cumin seeds, cinnamon, clove and dry red chilli. Cool and powder.

3. Heat oil in a pan. Add onions. Saute till it is browned.

4. Add finely chopped tomatoes and turmeric. Saute till tomatoes are cooked well.

5. Add dabeli masala, mashed potato and salt. Mix everything well and switch off.

Spicy Peanut

Ingredients

Peanuts 1/2 cup
Red Chilli powder 1/2 tsp
Hing a litte
Oil and Salt to taste

Method of Preparation

1. Heat a little oil in a pan. Add the peanuts. Roast till it is slightly browned.

2. Add red chilli powder, hing and salt. Mix well. Keep ready.

Garlic Chutney (hare lasun ki chutney)

Ingredients

Garlic 8 pods
Red Chilli 5
Lemon Juice 2 tbsp
Salt and little water

Method of Preparation

1. Soak the red chillies in water.

2. Add soaked red chillies, raw pealed garlic, lemon juice, salt and water as required to the mixie.

3. Grind into a smooth paste. Keep ready.

Final Assembly

1. Take a flat plate with rims. Add potato stuffing on the plate.



2. Top it with spicy peanuts, sev, raw onions, pomegranate and coriander leaves.



3. In a pan, add a little butter and pav breads and toast it.

4. Apply tamarind chutney on on side and garlic chutney on the other side.

5. Cut a slice of the potato masala to it. Add some more spicy peanuts, sev, raw onions, pomegranate and coriander leaves if needed.

6. Close with the other side of the pav bread.

Enjoy!!

Khasta Kachori - Kachori with moong dal stuffing

Gujaratis are a group of people who love food and hospitality. Eating and entertaining is a family ritual. My mom grew up there and we have spent a good portion of our summer holidays in Ahmedabad. Khakras though quite simple are my fav. Simple things like Shrikhand and Poori with Aamras still linger in my memory. Lets not forget the Dhoklas and Theplas.

Avant Garde Cookies this month decided to make Gujju Snacks. I have already made Khakras and have failed miserably in making Dhokla. When I saw this recipe for Kachori, I knew I wanted to make it.

Kachoris are traditionally Rajastani. But this variation with Moong Dal stuffing traces its origins in Gujarat. It was just out of the world. We all loved it.





Ingredients

Maida (APF) 2 cups
salt 1 tsp
Oil a little
Cold water

Stuffing
Moong dal (soaked and drianed, powdered) 1/2 cup
Fennel seeds 1 tsp
Coriander seeds 1 tsp
Red Chilli 1
Turmeric 1/2 tsp
Ginger powder 1/2 tsp
Hing a little
Salt

To serve
Boiled and cubed potatoes
Cooked Chickpeas
Yogurt
Tamarind Date Chutney - recipe here
Mint Chutney - recipe here
Onions
Coriander leaves
Sev/Bhujia  - recipe here
Chilli Powder
Chat Masala

Method of Preparation

Preparing the stuffing

1. Soak Yellow split moong dal for a couple of hours. Drain.

2. In a mixie, powder Fennel seeds, Coriander seeds and Red Chilli.

3. Add the drained moong dal and grind into a coarse paste/powder. Do not add any water.

4. In a pan heat some oil. Add the moong paste along with some Salt, Turmeric, Ginger powder and Hing.

5. Saute for a few minutes till the dal is cooked a little. Keep aside.



Preparing the dough

1. Take the Maida in a bowl along with some salt and oil.

2. Knead into a dough (like chappati dough) using the cold water. Make sure that you are careful with the water. Unlike wheat flour, maida does not need that much water.

3. Cover and refrigerate for 15-30 minutes.

Making the kachori

1. Divide the dough into 16 small balls.

2. Take a ball (keeping the others covered).

3. Flatten into a small disc with your hand.

4. Place a tsp of the stuffing in the center.

5. Fold the dough around the stuffing.

6. Roll into a smooth ball and then flatten into discs.

7. Repeat for the rest of the balls.

8. Keep these flattened dough wrapped in cling film for an hour in the fridge. Make sure that they do not tough each other. They will stick to each other.



Frying the Kachori

1. Heat oil in a pan. When the oil is heated up, a small portion of dough put into the oil will rise slowly up. If it rises too fast, it is too hot. If it sinks, it is not hot yet.

2. Add a few Kachoris at a time and fry in a low flame.

3. When one side is browned, turn and cook the other side.

4. Take out from oil and drain in a kitchen towel.

5. Repeat for the rest of the dough.



You can serve this with chutney. I made some chaat with it. Read on for the chaat recipe

To make chaat

1. Place Kachoris in a plate.

2. Add some potatoes and chick peas (channa).

3. Add some yogurt over it. The add some tamarind-date chutney and mint chutney.

4. Add chopped onions and coriander leaves.

5. Top with some sev.

6. Sprinkle some chilli powder and chaat masala.

Enjoy!!

Check out the other AGC thoughout this week 
Anusha, Jayanthi, Kavitha, Priya M, Radhika, Veena, Priya S

Ragda Patties

Ragda Patties is an awesome chaat recipe that we tried recently. Though not as popular as the pav bhaji, bhel puri or pani puri it is awesome. Had been in my list of things to make for a while and glad I tried.



Things required to make Ragda Patties

Ragda (the peas gravy - recipe below)
Patties (the potato patty - recipe below)
Green Chutney (recipe here)
Tamarind Chutney (recipe here)
Chaat Masala
Onions chopped 1
Coriander leaves chopped
Sev (optional) (recipe here)

To Serve Ragda Patties.

1. Place 2 patties on a plate.

2. Pour the peas gravy over it.

3. Add chutneys (mint and tamarind) according to taste.

4. Sprinkle some chaat masala.

5. Top it with onions, coriander leaves and sev (if using).

Repeat for the other servings

Ingredients For Ragda

White/Yellow peas 1 cup (you can use green peas as well)
Potato 1 small
Cumin 1 tsp
Chilli Powder 1/2 tsp
Cumin Powder 1/2 tsp
Garam Masala 1 tsp
Turmeric 1/2 tsp
Tamarind Paste 1 tsp
Jaggery 1 tbsp
Oil and Salt to taste

Method of Preparation

1. Soak peas overnight and pressure cook adding enough water till it is a littel mushed up.

2. Heat a little oil in a pan. Add cumin.

3. When it sizzles, add the peas with a little water.

4. Add the rest of the ingredient and simmer for a little while till everything comes together

Ingredients For Patties



Potato 3
Salt
Chilli powder 1/2 tsp
Cumin powder 1/2 tsp
Corn Flour 2 tbsp

Oil for shallow fry

Method of Preparation

1. Boil or microwave the potatoes till cooked.

2. Peal and Mash it.

3. Add the other ingredients to it and mix well.

4. Divide into 6 portions. Roll into balls and flatten it.

5. Heat oil in a non stick pan. Place the patties on it and cook till one side is roasted.

6. Flip and cook the other side. I recommend non stick pan. Otherwise, when you are trying to flip, the roasted portion will stick to the pan.


Linking this to Lets Cook - Protein Rich Food Event by Radhika

Green Chutney And Tamarind Chutney for Chaats

Chaats are super famous Indian Street Food. Made super popular in Mumbai and then adopted by the whole India. Spicy Green Chutney and the Sweet and Tangy Tamarind Chutneys are a must go for most chats. They just take the chat to the next level. Could not take good clicks... believe me it tasted awesome.

Ragda Patties - recipe coming soon



I have posted a few in my blog already. Do check them out as well.

Misal Pav

Vada Pav

Pav Bhaji with homemade dinner rolls

Spicy Green Chutney
Ingredients

Mint 1 cup
Coriander Leaves 1/2 cup
Lemon Juice 2 tbsp
Green Chilli 2
Salt to taste



Method of Preparation

1. Add all the ingredients in a mixie and give it a run.

2. Add a little water to get it going. Make a smooth paste.

3. Adjust lemon juice, green chilli and salt according to taste.

Use as required in any chat recipe

Sweet and Tangy Tamarind Chutney
Ingredients

Tamarind paste 1.5 tbsp
Pitted Plum 1/2 cup
Jaggery 1 tbsp
Chilli Powder 1/2 tsp
Cumin Powder 1/2 tsp
Salt



Method of Preparation

1. Heat a little water in a pan and add the pitted plum. Pitted plum - you might ask. Usually dates are used. I did not have any and decided to experiment with this. It worked out great for me. If you have dates feel free to use that instead.

2. Add tamarind paste and jaggery. Also add in the chilli powder, cumin powder and salt. Mix well.

3. Boil for a few minutes till the plum (dates) get cooked.

4. Cool and make into a fine paste. Add a little bit more water if needed.

Use as required in any chat recipe

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

Vada Pav

When I was looking for recipes to post for Blog Hop Wednesday, I came across this recipe in Vaishali's website. Though we make potato bonda all the time, we have never tasted it as this combination of Vada Pav. I used the idea and most of the ingredients and put together this dish. We really loved it.








Dry Garlic Chutney

Ingredients
Garlic 4 pods
Coconut 1/4 cup
Salt
Little oil
Chilli powder 2 tsp


Method of Preparation

1. Heat a little oil in pan. Add the garlic and coconut and saute for a few minutes. I changed this cause I did not feel like eating raw garlic.

2. Pulse in a mixie with chilli powder and salt.

Coriander Chutney

Ingredients
Coriander Handful
Coconut 1/4 cup
Green Chillies 2
Salt

Method of Preparation

1. Pulse all the above in a mixie with a little water.



Potato stuffing

Ingredients

Potato 1 big
Peas 1/4 cup
Chilli Powder 1 tsp
Hing
Turmeric 1/2 tsp
Salt

Method of Preparation

1. Boil or Microwave the potato. Peal and mash. Transfer to a bowl.

2. Mash the peas and add it to the bowl.

3. Add the rest of the ingredients and mix well.

4. Split into balls and flatten them.



For the batter (outer filling)

Ingredients

Besan 1/2 cup
Rice Flour 2 tbsp
Baking Soda 1/4 tsp
Chilli Powder 1/2 tsp
Turmeric 1/4 tsp
Hing
Salt

Mix all the above with a little water to make a thick batter.

To make the potato bonda

1. Heat oil in a pan. Dip the potato stuffing in the batter and put into the oil.

2. Fry it is golden brown on both sides.



To Put together.

1. Add butter to a pan and toast the pav bread on both sides

2. Set in a plate. Add garlic chutney on one side and coriander on the other.

3. Place the fried bonda on that and sandwich together.





Enjoy this spicy snack! It is now one of our favourite food. I made my sons's version without the chutneys. He also liked it a lot.

Misal Pav

My husband and I had Misal Pav when were in Pune 3-4 years ago. We were instantly in love with the dish. I am surprised this is not as famous as other Chat items like Pav Bhaji, Bhel Puri, Pani Puri etc. I had never heard of it before we went to Pune. I hear it is quite popular in Maharashtra. I looked in the internet for a lot of recipes and found this recipe interesting and well described. So I tried to follow it.

I made it once during the last week of December and took these photos. We liked it so much that I decided to make it for the New Year Party with our neighbours. We had Misal Pav, Tomato sevai, idiyappam/kadala curry, dhokla, biriyani/raita and gulab jamun. Kudos to all the lovely ladies for their effort to make yet another memorable party. Our host had planned a few games. We also had a dance time. What a way to welcome new year.

Misal Pav basically has a few components that is put together to enjoy the dish. Usal (the dry sprout dish), Rasaa (the gravy), pav (the bread), Sev (a lot of other toppings can be used. I made only 1), onions and coriander leaves.



For Usal

Ingredients

Sprouted Green Moong 1/2 cup (The actual recipe is Matki beans. I do not have any. So we used Moong. It worked well).
Onion 1 finely chopped
Mustard 1/2 tsp
Turmeric 1/2 tsp
Hing

Oil and Salt to taste

Method of preparation

1. Heat oil in pan and add the mustard seeds. When it sputters, add the turmeric and hing.

2. When it sizzles add the onion. When it starts to brown, add the moong sprouts. Cook for a little bit by sprinkling water. The sprouts can be cooked as per your taste. Add salt and mix.

I did not add any other spice like chilli powder, garam masala etc as it is anyways going to be mixed with the Rasaa.

For Rasaa

Ingredients

Onion 1
Tomato 1
Coconut 3 tbsp
Ginger 1 inch piece
Garlic 2-3 pods

Sugar 1/2 tsp
Chilli powder 2 tsp
Garam masala 1 tsp
Turmeric 1/2 tsp

Salt and Oil to taste
3 cups boiled water

Method of preparation

1. Heat oil in a pan and add the chopped onion and saute for a little.

2. Add the ginger, garlic, coconut and saute for some more

3. Now add the tomato and saute till it is all cooked.

4. Cool and grind into a fine paste by adding some water.

5. Keep 3 cups of hot water ready.

6. In a pan, heat some oil and the sugar. The add the chilli powder, garam masala, turmeric. After a few seconds, add the paste and mix. Add the water and salt and mix well.

7. Boil and switch off.

For Sev

Follow the recipe for Omapodi in my blog or use store bought

For Pav

I used store bought Pav

To put together

You can serve all the components separate or you can mix everything and serve. To eat, add a couple of tbsp of usal, pour a laddle of rasaa, add the sev, onions and garnish with coriander leaves. Serve with toasted pav.

All ready to be mixed





Linking this to MLLA 43 (Susan's My Legume Love Affair Event), this month hosted by Claire