No Onion No Garlic Pav Bhaji

Why No Onion No Garlic Pav Bhaji?

Pav Bhaji is one of the popular street food of Mumbai, Gujarat and many other parts of India. Just like Vada Pav, Tawa Pulao, and Ragda Pattice, the local people love this pav bhaji as one of their staple lunch dishes. However, some people don’t prefer to consume onions and garlic on regular basis or when they are fasting. So this recipe is perfect to try for them. Sometimes even if I ran out of onions and garlic, I too make this no onion no garlic pav bhaji and everyone just loves it.

It is prepared with a blend of vegetables cooked in tomato onion gravy and seasoned with pav bhaji masala. The taste is almost similar and there isn’t much difference. In fact if you won’t tell, nobody is going to notice the absence of these aromatics.

Ingredients Needed to make Pav Bhaji

• Vegetables: A combination of vegetables i.e. carrots, beans, capsicum, potato and cauliflower are used to make pav bhaji. I also prefer adding courgette in the gravy.

• Tomatoes: To add tanginess and a bit of color in the bhaji.

• Pav Bhaji Masala: It is widely available on Asian grocery stores.

• Butter: Pav bhaji tastes amazing when cooked and served with butter.

• Coriander leaves: To add refreshing flavors.

• Lemon juice: To balance the sweet and spiciness of bhaji.

How to make Pav Bhaji?

First step is to cook the vegetables in steamer or boil them in a sauce pan or pressure cooker. Now, once the vegetables are soft, mash them using potato masher or hand blender to make a lightly chunky mixture.

Finally, for making tempering, heat oil and butter in a pan and add ginger, green chillies, and tomatoes. Add in red chilli powder, pav bhaji masala, salt , fenugreek powder and cook until tomatoes are soft and oil comes out from it.

Now comes the time to add the mashed vegetables. Add in 1/4 cup water and cook on simmer until the vegetables are completely blended with the spices for about 20 minutes. Keep stirring in between.

Garnish with dollop of butter, lemon juice and coriander leaves and serve with toasted pav buns.

Serving Suggestions and Variations

Serve the bhaji with butter toasted pavs, or fill them inside the pav buns to make Indian style sloppy Joes. You can also use the bhaji to serve as a filling in wraps and rolls.

This bhaji also makes a wonderful side dish to pair with toasted bread, chapati and or paratha as well. For bringing variations, try adding your favorite seasonal vegetables like pumpkin, eggplants, and even cucumbers too. Alternatively you can try the regular pav bhaji recipe.

Pro Tip

For that deep red restaurant style color of bhaji, use kashmiri red chilli powder.

Toast the pav buns with butter and a bit of pav bhaji masala to make it more delicious.

To make the pav bhaji more flavorful, add dry fenugreek leaves powder.

Save the leftover bhaji in refrigerator for 2-3 dys or freeze in freezer safe bags for upto a month.

Skip using butter if you are planning to make it VEGAN.

Other Street Food Recipes

• Indian Style Masala Bhutta
• Jal Jeera Recipe
• Samosa Recipe
• Veg Chowmein Noodles
• Ram Ladoo
• Multani Moth Kachori

Looking for more such lunch recipes to get some ideas for your meals? Do not miss my Falafel Pita Salad Bowl and Soya Chaap Masala and the best one’s Bread Upma.

*If you ever try this recipe don’t forget to share your photos with me on Facebook, Pinterest, Twitter or tag me on Instagram @cookingwithsapana using the hashtag #cookingwithsapana and stay connected* I would love to see your creations from my space!!

Always let me know how these recipes turned out in the comments below and give a ★ rating. I will be so excited to hear how you enjoyed your No Onion No Garlic Pav Bahji and please do share your tips and tricks with me.

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Best Regards,
Sapana Behl