Sunday, October 4, 2009

Pav Bhaji and Mango Lassi


Sloppy Joes are more or less easy to make, Pav Bhaji (pow bah-gee), on the other hand isn't so simple.

Not that it's complicated but it requires your full attention for two + hours of stirring as burning is not an option, duh.
It's one of my favorite meals, a potato, cauliflower mash with peas served with a toasted and buttered hamburger bun. To really enhance the dish, top your heap with diced red onion, cilantro and some lime juice.
It's just awesome. Punto.

And now I know I can whip this bad boy up whenever...as long as I have a window of 4 hours available to me. There's prep, cooking and cleaning. Pav Bhaji needs to sit and make love to itself in all its spicy goodness.

And as for the mango lassi, well hot damn, this is an amazing creation. In the spring time, when mangoes are readily available to us here in south Florida, I'll have a field day using the real thing. Alas, the can of mango puree works just fine. For the party last night I used 4 cups of plain fat free yogurt, 4 cups of water, 1 16 oz can of mango puree and sugar to taste. Whisk the yogurt by itself in a pitcher, about two minutes, it will get a little froth like. Add water, whisk, add mango puree, whisk, add sugar, whisk and taste. Serve over ice, add vodka if you so desire (it was a party). I'd like to keep a smaller amount of this in house during the week because now that the lassi has been had, well Momma wants more.

2 down, now what? I'd like to whip up 1-2 dishes a week and maybe over time increase this amount. My little white girl palate will eventually creep up to my in-law counter parts in regards to its spice tolerance, I gotta man up, yo!

Oh and in case there was a curiosity as to how one may recreate the Pav:

1 lg onion, diced
1 green pepper, diced
1 jalepeno, diced
2 peeled carrots, grated/diced
4 heads of garlic, chopped
½ tbsp chopped ginger
1 12oz. can of diced tomatoes
2 potatoes, steamed
1 head of cauliflower, steamed
half bag of frozen peas
4 tbsp of Pav Bhaji Masala spice mix
additional spices:
• Smoked paprika
• Oregano
• Thyme
• Tumeric
• Curry powder
• Garam Masala
• Coriander
• Ground cumin
• Chili powder
• Salt & pepper



Stove top at Med-Med Hi. Heat oil, vegetable or canola oil, and add onion. Sautee onion until it carmalizes, browns. About 10 min. Stir often to avoid burning. Add more oil if sticking occurs. Add salt.

Add pepper and jalepeno. Stir together for about 5 min. Add a bit of s/p.

Add carrots and a little more s/p.
Add garlic and ginger and stir together.

Add Pav Bhaji Masala and extra spices.
Stir until is all thickens and then add tomatoes. Lower heat to LOW and add ½ can of water. Make sure water gets to bottom of mixture. You never want mixture to stick to bottom. Be very vigilant with stirring techniques. ☺

Add steamed cauliflower and steamed potatoes. Mash them up in the mixture but small chunks are desired.

Taste. Add more spices and s/p if desired. Add a little more water, ½ a can again.

Add peas and stir.

Raise heat to Med-Low and stir every few minutes, avoid bhaji sticking to the bottom.

Keep tasting the Bhaji. Add another ½ can of water and let it cook out. This will bring out more flavors. Add more spices if desired. Let Bhaji sit on low heat for as long as desired, the longer it cooks, the more the flavors will explode!

1 comment:

  1. Welcome to blogland! I love Pav Bhaji too! So very yummy.

    ReplyDelete