Ingredients

Sauce

1. Oil – 2 tbsp
2. Butter – 2 tbsp
3. Cloves – 5
4. Green cardamom – 4
5. Onion (medium) – 150 gms or 2
6. Garlic cloves (big, chopped or paste) – 4
7. Tomato – 200 gms or 2 (big)
8. Water – 1/2 cup
9. Red capsicum – 100 gms
10. Yellow capsicum – 100 gms

Spices

11. Cinnamon powder – 1/2 tsp
12. Chilli powder – 2 tsp
13. Roasted cumin powder – 2 tsp
14. Roasted coriander – 1/2 tsp

Vegetables

15. Carrots – 100 gms or 3
16. Potato – 300 gms
17. Peas – 1/2 cup
18. Gobi – 150 gms
19. Yellow capsicum – 50 gms
20. Green capsicum – 50 gms
21. Red capsicum – 50 gms

Other items

22. Green chillies (finely chopped) – 2
23. Ginger powder – 1/2 tsp
24. Black salt – 1 tsp
25. Garam masala – 1/2 or 3/4 tsp
26. Water – 1 cup
27. Butter – 3 to 4 tbsp
28. Coriander leaves – 3 to 4 tbsp
29. Pav (buns) – as required
30. Butter for frying

Garnishing

31. Chopped onion
32. Chopped Coriander leaves
33. Lime or lemon wedges

Method

1. Make a puree of 2 tomatoes (grind in a mixer) and keep it aside.
2. Chop all the vegetables and keep it ready.
3. Boil potato, carrot, cauliflower, peas, mash and keep it aside. Can keep the water in which vegetables were boiled.
4. Chop capsicum into tiny bits for adding into the sauce.
5. Chop green chillies and coriander leaves finely.

Preparing sauce

6. Take a wider vessel; add oil and butter, when hot add onion and garlic cook till soft and transparent.
7. Add tomato puree, mix well, and cook for 2 to 3 mins.
8. Add red and yellow capsicum, mix well.
9. Add all the dry spices cinnamon, cumin, coriander, chilli and mix well, roast for 1 to 2min.
10. Add water, mix well, cook for 10 to 12min, and then simmer for 5min, closing the lid.
11. The mixture is well cooked, switch off and allow cooling.
12. Put all the ingredients in a mixer and grind it to a fine smooth paste, it will be a bright orange colour.
13. You can add water if required.

Cooking the sauce and vegetables together

14. Preheat the same vessel; add butter 2tbsp, and the sauce, once the boil comes, add the vegetables and water (as per the requirement) mix well, mash well in the sauce , till all the vegetables are combined well.(mash the vegetables as per your taste like very small or chunky bits to be seen)
15. While mashing simmer the flame and mash as the sauce should not split on you.
16. Add the spices again, ginger powder, black salt and garam masala, boil for 5min, add the capsicum all colours, then cook on simmer for 30 mins, by closing the lid.
17. In between stir the sauce and I added 2tbsp butter again, and cook by closing the lid.
18. Add chopped coriander leaves in the middle of cooking.
19. After 30min of simmering, can see that the colour of the sauce has changed to darken and has left melted butter on top.
20. My pav bhaji masala will be saucier with little tiny bits of vegetable seen.
21. Garnish the bhaji with coriander leaves and chopped onions.

Serving with pavs

22. Make the pavs in to half or slice them.
23. Heat a pan or tava, add butter 1tbsp, let it melt, place the pavs on the butter so that it can absorb all the butter, cook on both sides for 30sec each side or more as per your taste how crispy your pav you want.
24. Serve the hot pavs with bhaji (vegetable sauce) and chopped onion, wedges of lime or lemons.
25. You can have it for lunch or dinner as a one meal or can have as a snack in the evening.

Notes

1. Taste the pave bhaji masala while simmering whether any spice to be added like mango powder or cinnamon powder.
2. Red capsicum is a must for colour and sweetness.
3. Can add more vegetables in the sauce as per your taste.
4. I have mashed the vegetables lightly before adding to the sauce and later in the sauce mashed as per my taste. (I love to keep my vegetables little chunky rather than completely mashed).
5. If sauce consistency is thin and more liquid is there, cook on medium flame without closing the lid, till it thickens. Keep stirring the sauce with vegetables.
6. Instead of buns or bread, can use baps or dinner rolls.
7. With the remaining pav bhaji masala, I prepared some other dishes also like stuffed paratha, stuffed capsicum, sandwich, tomato stuffing, samosa stuffing, wrap it in a tortilla or chapathi but it should be dry. If you keep it in the fridge the masala will become dry the next day. Made special chaat masala dosa, stuff in the chillies or capsicum and fry it or can make stuffed chilli tempuras, veg cutlets if the sauce is thick and many more.
8. You can have it for lunch or dinner as a one meal or can have as a snack in the evening.