Pav bhaji (Whole wheat pav)

Pav Bhaji!! A lip smacking street food of Mumbai, has become very famous all over India. Myself and my hubby are the biggest fan of street foods. But the place where we are staying right now is not very famous for this and we hardly find any street food vendors. Or I can say we do not get any of such foods here.
I am totally in love with this dish, since the time I had it for the first time. It is more than a snack and of course increases your hunger as you eat it more and more. Ya!! Its like that for me. When I have something very delicious, my hunger keeps increasing!! 
Pav / Buns for this dish can be brought from store or you can easily prepare this at home. I usually make this using maida/ all purpose flour. But this time, for a healthier option, I used whole wheat flour to prepare this. I can say, they came out super soft, just as soft as you prepare them using maida
Bhaji is traditionally prepared using boiled and mashed potatoes and tomatoes, but today varieties of vegetables are added for this preparation. I use almost all vegetables like carrot, potato, beans, peas, cabbage, cauliflower, turnip, eggplants, etc in this. Then, these are served piping hot garnished with raw onions, coriander leaves, along with pav / bread toasted in butter.
Do try this recipe. I am sure, if there are any street food lovers like me and my hubby, you are definitely going to love this.

Ingredients

For the pav buns

• Whole wheat flour - 1 cup
• Active dry yeast - 1 tsp
• Salt - 1 tsp
• Sugar - 1 tblspn
• Warm water - to knead the dough, approx 1/2 cup
• Butter -1/2 cup

For Bhaji

• Butter - 1 tblspn
• Cumin seeds - 1 tsp
• ginger-garlic paste - 1 tblspn
• Green chillies - 3, finely chopped
• Onion - 1, finely chopped
• Tomato - 2 cups, finely chopped
• All vegetables - Carrot, beans, potato(must), brinjal, peas, beans, cabbage, etc
• pav bhaji masala - 1 tblspn
  Fennel powder - 2 tsp
• Garam masala powder - 1 tsp
• Salt - to taste
• Sugar - 1 tsp
• Coriander leaves - 1 tblspn, finely chopped
• Lemon juice - 1 tblspn

Other Ingredients

• Onions- 1 cup, finely chopped
• Lemon wedges - 2 nos
• Coriander leaves - 1 tblspn, finely chopped

Method

For the pav

• In a bowl, combine wheat flour, salt, active dry yeast and sugar. Give it a good mix until everything is combined.
• Add warm water, slowly, and knead it i to a smooth dough. Make sure your water is warm and not hot. Around 70 deg is sufficient for this preparation.
• Pour 1 tsp of melted butter to it and knead again.
• Cover it with a damp cloth, inorder to avoid forming a layer on the dough. Let it rest in a warm place for about 1 hour.
• After 1 hour, the dough should have doubled in size, because of the yeast present i it. If it doesn't rise in its volume, it means either the temperature is too low or yeast was not active. You have to start the entire process again.
• Punch out the air pockets from the dough and knead it once again.
• divide the dough in to a big lemon sized balls. Make a perfect round balls and arrange everything on a baking tray.
• Cover again with the damp cloth and let it rest for another 1/2 hour to 1 hour.
• Preheat your oven @190 deg C before 10 minutes of baking
• brush some melted butter or milk on top of the buns and bake it for 30 - 35 minutes or until you see a golden brown crust on the top of the buns.
• Take your wheat buns out of the oven and let it cool for 10 minutes
• Brush some melted butter on top of your buns. 
• Your pav is now ready

For Bhaji

• Pressure cook all the vegetables for 6 or 7 whistles, or until it is mushy. Let the pressure release out completely. Open the cooker and mash the boiled veggies with a potato masher or back of a spatula.
• Heat butter in a pan and crackle cumin seeds. Add onion, ginger garlic paste, salt and sugar. Let it cook until onion becomes transparent and raw smell of the ginger and garlic vanishes away.
• Add the green chillies and tomatoes. Cook till tomatoes are mushy.
• Now add the boiled and mashed veggies. Mix well and mash it again.
• Check for salt and add accordingly.
• Add pav bhaji masala, fennel powder and garam masala. Cover the lid and let it cook on a slow flame for 5 minutes.
• Turn off the heat and  squeeze some lime juice.
• Sprinkle coriander leaves. Cover the lid again and keep for 10 minutes before serving

How to proceed

• Slit open your pav buns.
• Heat some butter in a tawa and toast the pav buns on both the sides. Transfer to a plate.
• in the same pan, heat 1 tsp butter and place 2 ladle full of bhaji. Let it cook for a minute. sprinkle some finely chopped onions and coriander leaves.Transfer it to the plate where you have your pav.
• Place few onion rings and onion rings on the plate and serve hot.