Pav Bhaji is Mumbai's greatest gift to the world. Born on the streets of the city in the 1850s as a quick meal for textile mill workers, it's now one of the most searched Indian street food recipes globally — and for good reason. A thick, fiery-orange mash of mixed vegetables, swimming in butter, scooped up with soft, butter-toasted bread rolls. It's comfort food at its absolute peak. The reason most home versions don't taste like the Juhu Beach original comes down to three things: not enough butter, the wrong masala, and not mashing the vegetables aggressively enough. This recipe fixes all three.
At Pick N Save, Pav Bhaji Masala is one of our most consistent sellers — we stock MDH Pav Bhaji Masala, TFS Pav Bhaji Masala, and Shan Pav Bhaji, all of which are specifically formulated for this dish with a blend that includes coriander, cumin, dried mango powder, black pepper, cinnamon, and that distinctive deep red colour from Kashmiri chilli. You can't replicate this flavour with garam masala — Pav Bhaji Masala is its own thing entirely, and it's the single most important ingredient in the dish. We've been guiding our Harrow customers through the perfect Pav Bhaji since 1999, and the advice is always the same: use the right masala, use more butter than you think, and mash it like you mean it.
Roughly chop 3 medium potatoes (Potato White 2kg), ½ small cauliflower (Cauliflower 1pc — use half, save the rest), 1 cup of frozen peas, and 2 carrots (Carrots 500g) into small chunks. Place everything in a large pot, cover with water, add ½ teaspoon of salt, and boil for 10–12 minutes until all the vegetables are completely soft and mashable. You can also pressure cook them for 3 whistles — either method works. Drain the water but reserve about 100ml in case you need to adjust the bhaji consistency later. Mash the vegetables roughly in the pot using a potato masher — leave them chunky for now, you'll mash them properly in the bhaji later.
In a large, wide pan (or tawa if you have one — a flat pan gives more surface area for mashing), heat 3 tablespoons of butter (Anchor Butter Salted 500g) over medium heat. Yes, three tablespoons. This is Pav Bhaji — butter is not optional, it's structural. Once the butter is foaming, add 1 large onion, finely chopped (White Onions Prepack 4Kg), and cook for 3–4 minutes until soft and translucent. Add 1 tablespoon of ginger garlic paste (Fudco Ginger Garlic Paste 300g) and 2 green chillies, finely chopped (Indian Chilli 400g), and cook for 1 minute.
Add 1 large green pepper, finely chopped (Green Capsicum 500g), and cook for 2 minutes until slightly softened. Now add 3 medium tomatoes, finely chopped (Fresh Vine Tomato 500g), or half a tin of KTC Chopped Tomatoes (200g) if fresh tomatoes aren't at their best. Stir in the hero spice blend: 2 tablespoons of MDH Pav Bhaji Masala (yes, two full tablespoons — this is a boldly spiced dish), ½ teaspoon of Kashmiri chilli powder (TFS Kashmiri Mild Chilli Powder) for extra colour, ½ teaspoon of turmeric (TFS Haldi Powder Rajapuri), and salt to taste. Cook for 3–4 minutes, stirring frequently, until the tomatoes break down completely into a thick paste and the masala oil separates at the edges.
This is the step that separates street-style Pav Bhaji from the homemade version. Add the boiled, roughly mashed vegetables to the pan. Now use a potato masher — or even better, the flat back of a large ladle — to mash the vegetables directly into the masala. Mash hard. Mash repeatedly. The bhaji should become a thick, almost smooth, fiery-orange paste with very few vegetable chunks remaining. The more you mash, the more the vegetables absorb the masala and butter, and the more the flavours meld together. If the bhaji is too thick, add a splash of the reserved vegetable water. If it's too thin, cook for another 2–3 minutes uncovered to reduce. The final consistency should be like thick, scoopable porridge — not watery, not stiff.
Add another 2 tablespoons of butter to the bhaji. Stir it in until it melts and the surface becomes glossy and rich. Squeeze the juice of half a lemon (Lemon Loose Yellow Big 3 pcs) over the bhaji and stir. Taste and adjust salt, masala, and chilli.
Slice 8 soft bread rolls (Quickbury Sesame Seed Burger Buns 6 Pack or Quickbury Burger Buns Plain 6pc or Dulcesol Mega Buns Sesame Seeds 4pc) in half horizontally. Heat a flat pan or tawa over medium heat and add a generous tablespoon of butter. Place the pav halves cut-side down on the buttered pan and toast for 1–2 minutes until the surface is golden-brown and slightly crispy, with the butter absorbed into the bread. Toast in batches if needed. The pav should be golden and buttery on the cut side, soft on the outside. This step is non-negotiable — untoasted pav is not Pav Bhaji.
Spoon a generous portion of the hot bhaji onto each plate. Top with a thick slab of cold butter (let it sit on top and slowly melt — this is the authentic Mumbai serve). Garnish with finely chopped raw onion, a squeeze of lemon juice, and fresh chopped coriander (Fresh Coriander Bunch). Serve the butter-toasted pav alongside. The correct way to eat it: tear off a piece of pav, scoop up the bhaji, eat. Repeat until the plate is clean. Add extra butter if your conscience allows it.
Every single ingredient for this recipe is available at picknsave.co.uk with home delivery across London and the UK, or click and collect from our store in Harrow. Here's your shopping list:
*RI = Reference Intake. Values are approximate and may vary based on ingredients.
