Ads 468x60px

Featured Posts

  • Italian Bread

    Crispy exterior with a softer inside, Italian bread is an excellent accompaniment with hot soup or pasta

  • Chickpea Kofta

    Mouthwatering Chickpea Koftas that instantly melt away in your mouth, served with a tangy Yogurt-Corriander dip

  • Chocolate Chip Cookie

    Chocolate chip cookies with healthy oats. An excellent anytime-snack

  • Walnut-Fig Honey Wheat Loaf

    Beautiful and enticing honey wheat bread stuffed with walnut and figs

  • Stuffed Bread

    Braided bread stuffed with peppery chicken, mushroom and onion filling

  • Mutton Chettinad

    Mutton cooked in Chettinad style enjoyed with steamed rice and poppadoms

  • Classic White Bread

    Enjoy homemade white bread, make your favorite sandwich or simply have it with jam/peanut butter/nutella.

  • Spinach and Mushroom Quiche with baby Potatoes

    Delicious fillng in a rich and buttery pastry that just melts in your mouth.

  • Pav Bhaji - Indian Street Food

    A wholesome meal, pav bhaji essentially is a delicious aromatic vegetable mash curry enjoyed with pav toasted in butter is pure bliss...

  • Tortilla Wrap

    Corn tortilla wrap with fresh tomato salsa and a mouth watering shredded chicken filling

  • Popcorn Prawns

    Crunchy mouthwatering popcorn prawn coated in grated coconut

  • Pudina(Mint) Paratha

    Cool and refreshing pudina leaves incorporated in a wonderful paratha

  • Mutton Rogan Josh

    Succulent and juicy mutton chunks cooked in a red spiced sauce

  • Kulfi

    Coffee infused badam kulfi served with coffee-toffee sauce

  • Chicken Tikka

    Succulent and juicy chicken tikkas grilled to perfection just melts in your mouth

  • Chicken Stuffed Bun

    Oven hot buns stuffed with minced chicken cooked in a spiced redition

  • Vegetarian Pizza

    Home baked vegetarian pizza with paneer and veggies topping

  • Walnut Brownie

    Classic brownie, rich with chocolate and roasted walnut.

  • Chicken Lollipop

    Spiced chicken wings enjoyed with oriental dipping sauce

  • Butter Chicken

    World renowned Indian curry next to chicken tikka masala. Silky smooth curry with a creamy buttery texture, Butter Chicken is universally enjoyed with Naan.

  • Naan - Indian Bread

    Classic Indian bread traditionally baked in a tandoor, garnished with sesame and a dollop of butter on top

  • Croissant

    Classic French puff pastry with a buttery aroma

  • Pasta in White Sauce

    Pasta served in creamy white sauce with perfectly cooked veggies

  • Spaghetti and meatball

    Deliciously spiced meatballs simmered away in magical tomato sauce served over spaghetti

  • Chocolate Muffin

    White chocolate and cocoa flavoured muffin with a thick chocolate icing on top

  • Vegetable Biryani

    An ensemble of spicy vegetables and aromatic rice bringing together irresistible flavours that is absolute divine music to your taste buds

  • Pasta with Tomato & Basil Sauce

    Perfect choice for a saturday brunch, satisfies your stomach and soul

  • Crispy Golden Fried Prawns

    Juicy and crispy prawns with almond crust complimented with an oriental sweet chilly dipping sauce

  • Kaju Katli

    Home made Kaju Katli garnished with pistachios

  • Galouti Kabab

    A Lucknowi delicacy, minced meat kabab with aromatic spices that will just melt in your mouth

  • Laal Maas

    Juicy lamb meat cooked in a fiery red gravy tempered with ghee and garnished with fresh coriander leaves

  • Chocolate Sponge Cake

    Delicious chocolate sponge cake with two layers of icing cream

  • Mutton Biryani (Thalassery Style)

    Mouth watering flavours and a mesmerising aroma together in a dish that blows your senses away

  • Chholey

    A typical north india curry, Chana masala or Chholey is enjoyed throughout India. Traditionally accompanied with Bhature

  • Khandvi

    Traditional healthy Gujarati snack made out of chick pea flour

  • Kalmi Kabab

    Juicy chicken thigh marinated in spices and yoghurt grilled to perfection

  • Honey Wheat Bread

    Homemade healthy wheat bread with honey flavour

Saturday, December 21, 2013

Crispy Fried Chicken

I'm back with a bang. Here's yet another mouth watering recipe from your very own Smoking Tava. Well, to tell you the truth, I was only able to achieve the crispy texture after several failed attempts. And, there's a trick to get the flaky texture. I have come across many recipes that use either corn flakes, oat meal or even breadcrumbs, well, most of these don't get the desired texture.
Chicken cooked this way is very juicy and succulent and I can guarantee, its finger lickin' good.
 
So, keep watching this space for the recipe...coming soon...
And don't forget to leave your comment.

Saturday, October 12, 2013

Italian Bread

Another mouth watering bread recipe from your humble Smoking Tava kitchen. The classic Italian loaf can be enjoyed as a sandwich or an accompaniment to hot soup or pasta. I had made cheesy garlic bread slices out of this wonderful recipe. Unfortunately couldn't capture any photographs of the garlic bread for reasons beyond one's control :).
Ingredients:
All purpose flour (Maida) - 3 cups
Water - ¾ cup, lukewarm
Milk - ½ cup, lukewarm
Oil - ¼ cup
Active dry yeast - 2 tsp
Sugar - 2 ½ tsp
Salt - 1 ¾ tsp
Egg - 1, White separated
Cold water - 1 tbsp.
 
Method:
In a bowl, add milk and water, dissolve the sugar and yeast in it. Leave the yeast mixture for around 10 minutes. Whisk in the oil, add salt. Take flour in a large bowl, form a well in the middle, add the yeast mixture little by little, keep mixing the flour with the help of a fork. Use the dough maker if you have one and run it on medium speed. You can also use a hand blender with kneading attachment. If you feel the mixture is quite loose, cover it with a damp towel and leave it for couple of minutes before you start working on it again. Dust a flat surface with flour and knead the dough thoroughly on the surface to activate the gluten. Do this for around 10 minutes. Leave the dough in a bowl, cover it with a damp cloth for 3 - 4 hours (depending on the weather; yeast requires warm and humid surrounding conditions to do its thing and rise the dough).
Your dough would have now doubled (or even more) in size. Lightly dust a flat surface and knock out all the air from the risen dough, knead it couple of times. Split the dough into two equal portions and shape it to form two lovely Italian loafs. Lightly dust baking tray and place the dough in it. Cover the tray with a damp cloth and leave it to further rise for around an hour.
 
Meanwhile, pre-heat oven to 180º C. The dough would have nicely risen by now. Lightly make few slanting scores with a sharp knife or blade. Please take care, the loafs are quite sensitive at this point. Mix the egg white and cold water in a bowl mix well to make a simple egg-wash. With the help of a pastry brush, lightly brush the egg-wash on the loafs. If you would like, you can sprinkle some sesame seeds on top of the loaf.
Bake the loafs for 35-40 minutes @ 180º C.

Sunday, September 29, 2013

Chickpea Kofta with Yogurt-Corriander Dip

Posting a recipe after a long gap. This recipe is from a Turkish recipe book gifted to me by friends at work. An easy to make healthy snack, Chickpea Koftas are extremely delicate and they will just melt in your mouth. It was total hit with the family.



Ingredients:
Kofta -
Chickpea - 250 gms canned (these are already cooked) or soaked overnight and pressure cooked.
Extra virgin olive oil - 2 tbsp
Red onion - 1 medium sized, finely chopped
Cumin seeds - 1 ½ tsp, coarsely crushed
Coriander seeds - 1 ½ tsp, coarsely crushed
Paprika/Chilly powder - 1 tsp
Lemon zest - from 1 whole medium sized lemon
Coriander Leaves - handful, chopped
Chickpea flour - 2 tbsp
Pepper powder
Salt to taste
Little water to avoid kofta mixture from drying
Oil for shallow frying the koftas'
 
Dip -
Yogurt - 1 cup
Coriander - 1/4 cup, chopped
Lemon - 1/2
Garlic - 2 cloves, minced
 
Method:
Grind chickpea into a paste in a food processor. Add chopped onion, cumin seeds, coriander seeds, paprika, lemon zest, coriander leaves, chickpea flour olive oil. Sprinkle freshly crushed pepper powder and adjust seasoning. Mix to incorporate all the ingredients. Sprinkle water if the mixture is dry. The mixture needs to be sufficiently moist to hold the kofta shape. Now make koftas out of the mixture. This should fetch you around 15 koftas.
 
Heat oil in a flat pan, and shallow fry the koftas on both side until golden brown. Handle the kofta with care, since they are quite delicate.
 
For the dip, mix together all the ingredients. Enjoy these lovely koftas' and don't forget to leave in your comments on what worked and what didn't.

Tuesday, February 12, 2013

Chocolate Chip Cookie

Here's a quick and easy cookie recipe. The chocolate chip cookie is everyone's favorite and the classic accompaniment is hot milk...yumm. Though I like cookies a lot, I have never dared to enter the cookie-territory. Primarily because of my experience with baking cakes (I had my ups and downs...quite literally). This recipe turned out to be quite an easy one and once again I had surprised myself [pat pat]. Follow the recipe and I can guarantee nothing will ever go wrong....well almost ;)
Ingredients:
Butter - 120 gms
Castor sugar - 120 gms
Egg - 1, medium sized
Porridge oats - 105 gms
Milk - 1 ½ tbsp
Cocoa powder - 1 ½ tbsp
Vanilla essence - 1 ½ tsp
Plain flour - 130 gms
Baking powder - ½ tsp
Chocolate chips - 100 gms
Salt - a pinch

Method:
Preheat the oven @ 180º C.
In a bowl, combine sugar and butter, mix until fluffy. Beat in egg, mix thoroughly. Now add oats, milk, vanilla essence, mix till nicely blended. Sift the flour, baking powder, cocoa powder and salt into the mixture. To this add and mix the chocolate chips.
Place spoonful of the mixture on baking sheets, slightly flatten with a fork, leave some gap in between (cookie may spread and occupy more space while baking). Bake @ 180º C for around 15 minutes or until the cookies are slightly firm. Remove from the oven and leave it to cool over a wire rack.
This will yield around 13 to 14 delicious and mouthwatering cookies. You may store these in an airtight jar but i would recommend quick consumption as they are quite tempting :)

Sunday, October 28, 2012

Walnut-Fig Honey Wheat Loaf

Another variation to the humble loaf. Walnut and figs are match made in heaven.
Ingredients:
Whole wheat flour - 2 cup
All purpose flour (Maida) - 1 cup
Water - ¾ cup, Luke warm
Milk - ½ cup, Luke warm
Vegetable oil - ¼ cup
Dried active yeast - 2 tsp
Honey - ½ cup
Salt - 1 tsp
Walnuts - 80 gms, chopped
Figs - 80 gms, chopped
Semolina to sprinkle on baking tray
 
Method:
In a bowl, add milk and water, honey and yeast in it. Leave the yeast mixture for around 15 mins. Whisk in the oil, add salt. Take flour in a large bowl, form a well in the middle, add the yeast mixture little by little, keep mixing the flour with the help of a fork. Dust a flat surface with flour and knead the dough thoroughly on the surface to activate the gluten. Do this for around 4-5 minutes. Leave the dough in a bowl, cover it with a damp cloth for 2 - 3 hours (depending on the weather; yeast requires warm and humid surrounding conditions to do its thing and rise the dough).
 
Your dough would have now doubled (or even more) in size. Dust a flat surface and knock out all the air from the risen dough. Incorporate the walnuts and figs and shape the dough into the desired shape. Leave the dough to rise for around 2 more hours. Take a baking tray and sprinkle some semolina. Gently transfer the risen loaf into the baking tray. Pre-heat the oven @ 180º C. Bake the bread for about 40 minutes.
Once done, take it off the oven, brush some oil on the top to avoid a hard crust. Transfer the loaf onto a wire rack for cooling. This bread needs no accompaniments, but my personal favorite is peanut butter (gives it a nice nutty flavour).

Monday, July 30, 2012

Stuffed Bread

Another exciting bread recipe from your favourite home cook and friend. My parents who had visited us recently were pleasantly surprised with my newly acquired bread making skills.
Hope you would definately enjoy this recipe - Spicy, peppery filling with chicken, mushroom and onion stuffed in braided buttery bread is a match made in heaven :)
Ingredients:
Bread-
All purpose flour (Maida) - 3 cups
Water - ¾ cup, Luke warm
Milk - ½ cup, Luke warm
Butter - 100 gms, melted, cooled to room temperature
Dried active yeast - 2 tsp
Sugar - 2 ½ tsp
Salt - 1 ¾ tsp
Egg - 1 small, beaten with 1 tbsp water (egg wash)

Filling-
Onion - 2 large, finely sliced
Pepper - 3-4 tsp
Coriander powder - 1 tsp
Garam masala - ¾ tsp
Curry leaves - 3 strings, chopped
Chicken - 200 gms (breast or boneless thigh) , cut into thin slices
Button mushroom - 200 gms, sliced
Lemon - 1 medium sized, squeezed
Oil - ¼ cup
Jeera - 1 tsp
Coriander leaves - ¼ cup, chopped
Garlic - 10-12 cloves, ground
Garlic - 2", ground
Salt to taste

Method:
In a bowl, mix milk, water and butter, dissolve the sugar, salt and yeast in it. Leave the yeast mixture for around 15 minutes. Take flour in a large bowl, form a well in the middle, add the yeast mixture little by little, keep mixing the flour with the help of a fork. You can also use a hand blender with kneading attachment. If you feel the mixture is quite loose, cover it with a damp towel and leave it for couple of minutes before you start working on it again. Dust a flat surface with flour and knead the dough thoroughly on the surface to activate the gluten. Do this for around 4-5 minutes. Leave the dough in a bowl, cover it with a damp cloth for 3 - 4 hours (depending on the weather; yeast requires warm and humid surrounding conditions to do its thing and rise the dough).

Heat 1 tbsp of oil in a pan. Now add the mushroom, saute for a while. Let it sweat out all the water, add 1 tsp black pepper and salt. Saute till all the water has been evaporated. Now sprinkle some ½ of the lemon juice. Take it off the flame and let it cool down completely. Once cooled, spread it on a cutting board and roughly chop the mushroom.
Marinate chicken in the rest of the lemon juice and some salt for around 30 minutes. Heat 1 tbsp of oil in a pan, add the marinated chicken, saute and cook till just done. Switch off the flame. Once cooled, spread it on a cutting board and roughly chop.

In a shallow pan, heat the rest of the oil, splutter some jeera, add in the sliced onions. Saute till translucent and just about to turn brown. Throw in the ginger and garlic paste, saute till it gives off the raw flavour. Now add the curry leaves, saute for another 2-3 minutes. Add coriander powder, garam masala and rest of the pepper powder, mix for a minute. Add mushroom and chicken. Adjust the seasoning, cook for another 5 minutes. Switch off and let it completely cool down.

Your dough would have now doubled (or even more) in size. Dust a flat surface and knock out all the air from the risen dough, knead it couple of times. Divide the dough into two equal parts. Roll each of the dough balls into rectangular shape roughly sized 8" by 12" and about 1 to 1.5 cm thick. Leaving around 3" in the middle (3" by 12" for laying the filling), make inclined cuts to form 1" finger strips on either sides. Now place equal amount of filling in the both the dough batches, sprinkle the chopped coriander over the filling. Fold the top and the bottom edges of the dough on top of the filling. Now fold the finger strips laying it over the filling to form braid like structure. Place it over a baking tray and let it proof for around 1 to 2 hours.
Now brush the egg wash gently (do not apply pressure, they are very delicate at this point). Pre-heat the oven to 180ºC. Bake the bread @ 180ºC for around 35 minutes. Once done, take it off the oven, brush some oil on the top to avoid a hard crust. Take the bread out of the tray and on to a wire rack for cooling.

Friday, July 13, 2012

Mutton Chettinad

Chettinad style recipes originates from the Chettinad region in Tamil Nadu. Its one of the most aromatic curries from South India and is a culmination of variety of ground spices. It has the most distinct flavour among all the Indian curries one would have tasted. Yesterday I tried out the recipe with mutton. My preparation turned out to be quite delightful with the home crowd :).
It has a bit of sweetness coming in from the onions with a light tangy flavour from tomatoes. Though the recipe has a whole gang of spices in it, every bite seems to brings an unique flavour experience. The best accompaniment to this dish would be steamed rice, but it goes well with dosas as well.

Ingredients:
Mutton - 750 gms, cut into medium chunks, boneless preferred but not necessary
Ginger - 2"
Garlic - 10-12, medium sized, if large cloves 5-6 should do just fine
Onion - 2 medium sized, finely chopped
Tomato - 3 medium sized, finely chopped
Curry leaves - 1 string
Shallots (small onions) - 110 gms, peeled
Cinnamon - 2"
Cloves - 4
Cumin seeds - ½ tsp
Fennel seeds - ½ tsp
Pepper corns - 1 tsp
Black stone flower - 1 tbsp, Its a kind of fungus (look for it in google images)
Marathi moggu - 3, i don't have the English name (look for it in google images)
Star anise - 2
Chilly powder - 1 tsp
Coriander powder - 2 tsp
Turmeric powder - ½ tsp
Oil - 3 tbsp + cup
Coriander leaves (optional) - cup, roughly chopped
Salt to taste

Method:
To prepare the marinade, grind all the ingredients into a coarse paste except onion, tomato, curry leaves and oil. Add mutton to the paste, mix thoroughly, add salt and keep it aside for around an hour.

In a pressure cooker, heat 3 tbsp of oil, add the mutton and keep stirring for a minute. Put the lid on and pressure cook till one whistle on high flame and two on medium flame till just done (no need to add water).

In a pan, heat cup of oil, throw in the curry leaves and chopped onion. Add some salt and cook till onions are translucent. Now add the chopped tomatoes. Cover and cook till the tomatoes are pulpy. Add the mutton from the pressure cooker, mix thoroughly. Cook on high flame for 5 minutes (I'm assuming there is some water in the cooked mutton or else add ½ cup) with lid on. Adjust the seasoning, simmer and cook for another 10 minutes with the lid off. Optionally you can garnish with coriander leaves.

Mutton chettinad is ready. Enjoy this unique recipe with your loved ones and don't forget to write in your feedback and comments.

Monday, July 2, 2012

Classic White Bread

Simple and easy to do recipe for a perfect sandwich bread. The aroma coming out of the hot oven baking your bread is simply intoxicating and I just love it. Hope you enjoy the recipe as much as I loved baking it
Ingredients:
All purpose flour (Maida) - 3 cups
Water - 1 cup, luke warm
Milk - ½ cup, luke warm
Oil - ¼ cup
Active dry yeast - 2 tsp
Sugar - 2 ½ tsp
Salt - 2 tsp

Method:
In a bowl, add milk and water, dissolve the sugar and yeast in it. Leave the yeast mixture for around 10 mins. Whisk in the oil, add salt. Take flour in a large bowl, form a well in the middle, add the yeast mixture little by little, keep mixing the flour with the help of a fork. You can also use a hand blender with kneading attachment. If you feel the mixture is quite loose, cover it with a damp towel and leave it for couple of minutes before you start working on it again. Dust a flat surface with flour and knead the dough thoroughly on the surface to activate the gluten. Do this for around 4-5 minutes. Leave the dough in a bowl, cover it with a damp cloth for 3 - 4 hours (depending on the weather; yeast requires warm and humid surrounding conditions to do its thing and rise the dough). Your dough would have now doubled (or even more) in size. Dust a flast surface and knock out all the air from the risen dough, knead it couple of times and then get it into the desired shape. Lightly grease the bread tin. Place the dough into the tin. Cover the tray with cling wrap and leave it to further rise for around 2 hours. The dough would have nicely risen by now.
Pre-heat the oven @ 180º C. Bake the bread for about 40 minutes. Once done, take it off the oven, brush some oil on the top to avoid a hard crust. Take the bread out of the tin and on to a wire rack for cooling.
You can make your favorite sandwich or simply settle down with jam/peanut butter/nutella.

Wednesday, June 27, 2012

Spinach and Mushroom Quiche with baby Potatoes

Another classic French recipe from the Smoking Tava, Quiche is an open faced pastry-crust (shortcrust pastry) filled with savory custard and meat or vegetable filling. In this recipe I have used Spinach, mushroom and baby potatoes but you can go wild with your imagination and make your own filling. This is my first attempt and I'm quite impressed with the outcome.
Ingredients:
Shortcrust pastry-
All purpose flour (Maida) - 200 gms
Butter - 100 gms, chilled, cut into cubes
Egg - 1 medium sized, beaten
Pinch of salt

Filling-
Baby potatoes - 4-5, peeled and boiled until just done
Button mushroom - 150 gms, sliced
Spinach - 200 gms, large leaves with stalks removed.
Eggs - 4 medium sized
Double cream - 250 ml
Dried chives - 1 tsp
Chilly powder or Cayenne pepper - ½ tsp
Black pepper powder - 1 tsp
Nutmeg powder - a pinch
Parmesan cheese - 25 gms, grated
Olive oil (cooking) - 2 tbsp
Lemon juice - from ½ lemon
Salt to taste

Method:
For the shortcrust pastry, add flour, butter and salt into a food processor and run it briefly. Add half of the egg and run it again. Add more egg, just enough to make the mixture moist and to bring it together. On a flat work surface, make a ball out of the mixture and then flatten it until its around 1 cm thick. Wrap it in a cling film and place it in the refrigerator for around 30 mins. Pre-heat oven to 180º C. The pastry needs to be blind baked first before we can add in the filling. Line a 9 inch tart tin with the pastry and then with a layer of foil or butter paper. Fill with baking beans or dry pulses/rice (so that the edges of the pastry are held together and does not fall in). Bake in the oven for about 20 mins or till the pastry is just dry. Take out the foil/butter paper, brush the inside of the pastry with the leftover egg. Place it back into the oven for another 5 minutes. Once done take it out and let it cool.

Now prep the filling - Put spinach leaves in boiling water, just as the leaves turn slightly dark and still green, take it off and immediately put in cold water. Squeez excess water and shred the spinach leaves into small bits using your hands.
Heat a pan, add olive oil. Now add the mushrooms, let it sweat out all the water, add ¼ of the black pepper and salt. Saute till all the water has been evaporated. Now sprinkle some lemon juice. Take it off the flame and let it cool down completely.
In a bowl, beat 4 eggs, add cream, chilly powder, black pepper, dried chives, parmesan cheese, nutmeg. Nicely blend the mixture. Add spinach to the cream mixture. Slice the boiled potatoes around ½ cm thick. Spread the potato slices on the pastry almost covering the bottom. Evenly spread the mushroom. Now spoon in the creamy spinach mixture until the pastry is about 95% filled (the mixture may rise further because of the eggs). Bake in the oven @ 180º C for about 40 minutes until its golden brown and is just set in the center. Remove from the oven, allow it cool for around 10 minutes.

Saturday, June 16, 2012

Pav Bhaji - Indian Street Food

I have lived in Mumbai for almost 23 years of my life and like any other Mumbaikar am a total sucker for Vada Pav, Misal Pav, Ussal Pav, Dhabeli, and Pav Bhaji. I have had tried several recipes for making pav (bread, also known as laadi paav) bhaji (healthy vegetable mash with aromatic spices), but none of them have come this close to match the flavours and aroma of a busy Mumbai street "Pav Bhaji Thelawala" (hawker selling Pav Bhaji on a cart, typically outside railway stations, parks or right on the beach). I have done some improvisation here to make the recipe as authentic and flavourful as possible. Hope you like the recipe as much as I loved cooking.
Ingredients:
Tomato - 800 gms, chopped
Coriander leaves - ½ cup, chopped
Ginger garlic paste - 2 tbsp
Kashmiri chilly powder - 2 ½ tsp
Green chilly - 4-5, roughly chopped
Potato - 300 gms, boiled, peeled and roughly mashed
Green peas - ½ cup, if frozen, thaw. If dried peas, soak overnight to re-hydrate
Capsicum - 2 medium sized, de-seeded and roughly cut
Cauliflower - 200 gms, grated
Kasuri methi (Dried fenugreek leaves) - 1 tbsp, crushed on palm of your hands
Pav bhaji masala - 1 tbsp
Butter - 175 gms
Turmeric powder - ½ tsp
Asafoetida powder (Hing) - ¼ tsp
Onion - 1 large, chopped
Lemon juice - from 1 medium sized
Salt to taste
Lemon for garnishing
Water for cooking vegetable
Laadi pav
Butter for toasting pav

Method:
Heat a large pan, throw in tomatoes, potato, green peas, capsicum, green chillies and cauliflower. Add 1 tsp of kashmiri chilly powder, 1 tbsp of ginger garlic paste, turmeric powder, ¼ of the butter. Add little water to cook the veggies on a medium heat. With the help of a masher, keep mashing the vegetables. You can add some water if the mixture gets too dry.
Once the vegetables in the mash are almost unrecognizable, add ½ tbsp of pav bhaji masala, salt to taste and ½ of the chopped coriander leaves. Mix thoroughly, continue to mash them. Once the mixture is totally mashed, lower the heat.
Heat the remaining butter in a pan, lower the flame, add ¾ of the chopped onion, 1 ½ tsp of kashmiri chilly powder, 1 tbsp ginger garlic paste, ½ tbsp of pav bhaji masala, kasuri methi, asafoetida, ¾ of the remaining chopped coriander leaves, lemon juice. Though I have avoided adding color, you can add red food color to the mixture (bhaji on the street shops add color to get the definitive red bhaji). Saute for few seconds and then add this mixture to the vegetable mash. Cook the mash for a minute or two and we are done.
Now, lets assemble. Slit open the batch of 4-5 paav from the middle, in a hot pan, add a butter, pinch of pav bhaji masala, sprinkle a little coriander leaves. Place the pav over the butter mixture and toast them lightly on both sides.
Garnish bhaji with remaining chopped onion and coriander, serve with the toasted buttery pav and a wedge of lemon.
Enjoy the mouthwatering pav bhaji. Please leave your comments, they inspire me to carry on.