Paav Bhaji...Maska marke..

hey buddies This is the first recipe i am posting here.It happens so that i have fresh snaps of this.... tried it just last week and was a hit...:) so posting up the recipe of how i made paav bhaji with the limited available veggies and stuff... It is so weird.. when i was unmarried and young in india....i was always pampered by my mom and dad. I used to cook just for occasions or if i see some new recipe in "sanjeev kapoor - khana khazana and need to try it out immediately....Never was a routine or daily cooking... and i used to fuss on getting all the ingredients given on the recipe....never used to adjust.....But now after getting married (i got married in Dec 2006) and coming down to US..trying to find out wt is wt....vegetables having weird name... which u have never heard of in india......(i never knew lady finger is "okra"....was my English teacher in 2nd std bad... that she didn't teach me what was okra?...well with all that mess and exploration..... where the hell can u get all the ingredients? hmmmm Anyways for few weeks i managed with the regular sambar and rasam that my mom and aunts taught me..... tomato rasam, gud rasam, melagu rasam, lemon rasam.....and sambar with all veggies possible.... hmmm....... and then came my saturation level with daily cooking wanted to try something new....socha... paav bhaji banayenga..... but whats this i had just few veggies to make paav bhaji..... yet went ahead explored and made this beauty....check out the snap


Well so here goes my limited ingredients paav bhaji...

You need :(or should i say i had)

Potatoes - 5 medium size (boiled and peeled)
tomatoes (diced) - 2-3 cups
Capsicum - 2
Green peas (frozen) -1 cup
Cabbage (i didn`t have cabbage so i used the frozen iceberg n lettuce salad leaves) - say 1/2 cup
onions - 1
some chopped garlic (i didnt have it...but sure will enhance the taste)
Fresh coriander leaves - handful
green chillies - 2
ginger- 1 inch
Red chilli pwd - 1tsp
garam masala - 1 tsp
paav bhaji masala - 1 tbsp
half a lemon juice
onions and coriander for garnishing
butter
Salt to taste
1 pack ham burger buns, or paav


Method:

Firstly cut all the vegetables (except tomato ,potatoes and onions )in big pieces and par boil them in a steamer or pressure cooker.
Once its done..u have to mash these vegetables.... now u can use a hand blender or an aunthentic vegetable masher.... i put the vegetables along with the ginger and green chillies and some coriander in my mixer and just grinded it coarsely.... so that the vegetable dont get completely mashed and disfigured.

In a pan put some butter , add the garlic and chopped onions and sautee till slightly pink in colour..now add the garam masala and chilli powder and sautee till u get a nice aroma....now add the diced tomatoes and cook till they r tender.....add the paav bhaji masala...(hey guys i rememeber i got this "shaan" paav bhaji masala from the indian store and it was a disaster. It smeels more like a chaat powder than a paav bhaji masala.... i put some extra bit of that powder yet no use....hence just be careful while buying these masalas... guess everest is the best... didnt get it though, anyways...) sautee the tomatoes well...

now add the vegetable mixture to it.Sautee a bit , till the mixture thickens.....add a glass of water to this... also add the boiled mashed potatoes, a pinch a salt (according to taste...) and as i said earlier chutki bhar pyaar....(my hubby is a foodie and i love cooking for him...)
let it boil and tighten a bit....add a big lump of butter to it.. and mix it well sauteeing it ....
after u have removed it from gas....pour in juice of half a lemon for that extra taste...ur paav bhaji is ready..

Garnish it with onions ,green coriander and lemon pieces...

eat it with slightly warmed and butter paav..:)

Chutki Bhar Pyar

Hello friends,

In this huge big world of bloggers iam just an unborn, trying to put in some of my thought with a blog of my own. Its just been two days that i came across this whole bloggers community and the reason i did was 2 avacados.... Avacados? you may say so... but its true...

My story goes this way........ I am a kerala iyer girl originally from chennai but brought up in suburbs of Mumbai, India . Did all my education in Mumbai. Got married recently and came to the United states of America, Los angeles, CA. Now as u all maybe knowing that after u get married you have a whole group of people coming down to ur place for lunch or u go to their place for lunch or dinner.... well me and my sweetheart were invited to such a lunch party in culver city. it was some relatives place , small sweet and cozy with a huge backyard which was actually a mini orchard. It was amazing...they had 2 types of guava trees, banana tree, peaches, sweet lime, lemon, oranges, papaya, blue berry, papaya,roses and lots and lots of avacados...........so then u see where the story goes?...

coming from india, i had never seen avacados..yeah, but had heard that, there in the universe exists something called avacado.....that day i had seen it too.... so when i enquired about wt to do with the avacado and my ignorance towards this fruit... the sweet relative handed over "2 avacados" to me and said.... when it ripens (becomes dark brown) cut it and eat it..

Now that was on 4th of july....Since then i had the avacados lying in my fridge...not knowing wt to do with them.....my hubby doesnt like to eat it as it is.....and as i havent tried it anytime....not even in any food item.... i dont wanna be my own guinea pig .......hence the only option i had was to search the world wide web for an answer for these avacados.........

and i got it thru these blogs...... i guess shilpa from aayis recipe had posted a recipe "avacado dosa" havent got time to make it though... will try it this weekend....Thus an entry into blogger community just by these 2 avacados..... i was fascinated by all the recipes and seeing what all people try and experiment with.....i try and experiment too...but never took cooking so serious. .Blogger community was a great motivation for me to indulge in cooking and also share it with others.....my inspiration for this blog are

Shilpa : even after such a hectic schedule and also being a mother manages to try out such lovely recipes and put them up for amateurs like me to try out.

Ammupatti : for her evergreen recipes and experiences. Being an iyer born and bought up in mumbai.....trapped in US (not well versed in our customs..) ammupatti's blog is a great help.

other blogs like saffron hut,cooking made easy and many many more....

My blog name is "Chutki Bhar Pyar" coz i feel for any kind of cooking the major ingredient needed is love. After all the recipes, ingredients and the cooking what adds that extra flovour to the food is love, pyar ....and hence the blog says "chutki bhar pyar"

iam gonna try out new recipes everyday and put it up on my blog too....even my blunders and disasters....(so that u dont end up making one disaster) ...hehhehehe...do keep posting ur comments and guide me .


Happy Blogging!!