Wednesday, December 19, 2012

PNW Pav bhaji



What is PNW Pav bhaji, you ask? Pacific Northwest Pav bhaji! I love everything Pacific Northwest - the place, the culture, the people - everything. The very fact that there's a special acronym for my region makes me feel so special :). Anywho, that's not the reason I call this PNW pav bhaji. The reason I named it so is because of its ingredients. If you looks at a typical CSA box in PNW, you will be staring at beets, brocolli, carrots and sometimes cabbage. That is not a sight that would make most people jump in excitement but pav bhaji would! Trust me this pav bhaji tastes as good if not better than the traditional version. Look at that rich red color - it's all natural thanks to these veggies!
 
Unlike a real chef, I can't quote exact measurements for the veggies but I can give you hand wavy numbers. So if you love experimenting then this is the recipe for you!
 
Ingredients:
  • 2 heads brocolli
  • half a red cabbage
  • 2 beets
  • ~ 3 carrots
  • 1 tennis ball sized onion
  • ~1/4 cup green pepper chopped
  • ~ 1 cup tomatoes
  • 3-4 small potatoes
  • spices - kitchen king, turmeric, red chilli powder, coriander powder
  • salt to taste
  • 5 tsp oil
  • chopped coriander for garnish

Method:
  1. Peel the potatoes and onion. Chop all vegetables.
  2. Heat the oil on medium heat in a pressure cooker and saute onion till golden brown.
  3. Reduce heat to low and add the spices except kitchen king. Quantities depend on personal preference.
  4. Increase the heat back to medium. Add tomatoes. Saute for 3 minutes or so till the tomatoes are mushy.
  5. Add all the vegetables and pressure cook with small amount of water. Enough to boil the vegetables but not make them into a runny curry.
  6. Mash the vegetables using a masher and add kitchen king. Again according to preference.
  7. Garnish with chopped coriander. Voila!

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