Pav Bhaji
Spiced mashed vegetable curry with buttered rolls.
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Join HomecookedIngredients
- 3 Potatoes
- ½ Cauliflower
- 150 g Frozen peas
- 2 Onion
- 4 Tomato
- 1 Bell pepper
- 1 tbsp Chaat masala
- 1 tbsp Garam masala
- 80 g Butter
- 8 Burger buns
- 1 tsp Salt
Method
- Boil the potatoes, cauliflower, and peas in salted water until very soft, then drain and mash coarsely.
- While the vegetables boil, finely chop the onion, tomato, and bell pepper.
- Cook the chopped vegetables in the butter with the chaat masala, garam masala, and salt over medium heat, then mash in the boiled vegetables and simmer to a thick bhaji.
- Split the buns and toast them cut-side down in butter until golden and crisp.
- Serve the bhaji hot with the buttered buns alongside.
Nutrition per serving
Estimated from ingredients; varies with exact portions and brands.
About Pav Bhaji
Pav bhaji is Mumbai street food at its most iconic — a thick, spiced mash of vegetables served with soft, buttery rolls. Born as a fast, filling meal for the city's mill workers, it turns everyday vegetables like potato, cauliflower, peas, and bell pepper into a rich, buttery bhaji cooked down until the individual ingredients dissolve into one savory whole. The pav, meaning the pillowy dinner roll, is split, toasted in butter, and used to scoop up the curry, making it as much an eating ritual as a dish.
The flavor is deep, buttery, and tangy, with garam masala for warmth and chaat masala lending that distinctive sour-savory street-food zing. Coarsely mashing the boiled vegetables and then simmering them into the spiced base is what gives the bhaji its signature soft, almost spreadable texture, and generous butter is not a garnish here but part of the character. It's typically served hot with the toasted buns alongside, often with a squeeze of lime, chopped raw onion, and a knob of butter melting on top. Vegetarian and built for sharing, it's ideal casual fare — a hearty lunch or a lively centerpiece for feeding a table of friends.
Pav Bhaji: frequently asked questions
How many calories are in Pav Bhaji?
One serving of Pav Bhaji has about 751 calories, with 14g of protein, 104g of carbs, 32g of fat and 11g of fiber. These are estimates based on the ingredient amounts in this recipe and will vary with your exact portions and brands.
Is Pav Bhaji gluten-free?
As written, no — it contains Burger buns. You'd need a certified gluten-free swap for that ingredient to make it gluten-free.
Is Pav Bhaji dairy-free?
Not as written — it uses Butter. Swapping it for a plant-based alternative makes it dairy-free.
How long does Pav Bhaji take to make?
About 40 minutes start to finish, but only around 24 of those are hands-on — the rest is largely unattended cooking time you can step away from. In the Homecooked app the timers and parallel steps are sequenced for you so the hands-on part feels even shorter.
How many servings does Pav Bhaji make?
This recipe makes 4 servings. In the app you can scale it up or down and the ingredient amounts adjust automatically.