Add little spice to the Pandemic lockdown

This pandemic has been so much overwhelming, with so much uncertainty. To keep myself sane, I started participating a program organized by my work community "Support One Another during this unprecedented times". And in this week, I made a presentation on India's first street food as well as fast food i.e. Pav Bhaji. It is so amazing to learn that how the humble food of textile mill workers achieved such a celebrated status in India.

Pav Bhaji Recipe i.e. Indian Veg curry with dinner rolls

Pav: dinner roll; Bhaji: Veggie curry

Serves: 2-3 persons.

Prep Time: 10-15 min

Cooking: 10-15 min.

Ingredients:

1.       2 Boiled medium-sized potato or sweet potato

2.       2 Tomato: Finely chopped

3.       1 Red Onion: finely chopped

4.       Capsicums/green pepper: chopped in small-size cubes

5.       Green peas

6.       Yellow/red /orange pepper optional: chopped in small-size cubes

7.       Carrot: chopped in small-size cubes

8.       Salted Butter and/or cooking oil

9.       Pav Bhaji masala(optional): can be easily bought from any Indian Grocery store

10.   Green chilies(optional)

11.   Cilantro and ginger julienne for garnish

12.   Dinner rolls

In case you don’t have Pav Bhaji Masala:

Make a mixture of red chili powder, coriander powder, cumin powder, black pepper powder, dry mango powder, cinnamon powder

Procedure:

1.       Heat some cooling oil or butter in the cooking pan and sauté the finely-chopped onions and ginger-garlic paste until onions are translucent

2.       Add chopped tomatoes, boiled potatoes, green chilies, 1 cup of green peas, carrot, peppers(red/green/orange/yellow)

3.       Add salt as per taste, 2-3 tbs of pav bhaji masala

4.       Add 1 cup of water and mesh all the veggies, and let it cook with covered lid for 10 min. on medium flame until you get a desirable consistency, curry should not be runny. The gravy taste best if little spicy and tangy, so you can squeeze some lime/lemon for extra tanginess.

5.       Add a generous amount of butter on top of the veggie curry.

6.       Just before serving, cut the dinner roll in half and lightly toast them with butter and pinch of Pav Bhaji spice on a heavy-bottom skillet.

7.       Spoon the veggie curry with a slice of Lime, finely chopped raw onions and toasted dinner roll.