Pav Bhaaji - Indian Street food!

Pav bhaaji is something you find in food carts in almost any city in India. Bhaaji means vegetable and Pav means bread. It's a simple combination of bread toasted lightly with a lot of butter, and a spicy tomato based gravy with tons of vegetables. Served with some raw onion and lemon wedges and a dollop of butter, you just can't get enough of this. I can almost guarantee you will end up overeating just like we did today!

Prep Time: 1 hour
Serves: 4, or 3 very hungry people :)
Ingredients: 

1 medium onion
1 tablespoon ginger garlic paste
1 14 oz can of diced tomatoes ( I use canned tomato for this recipe because it's usually more reliable than fresh tomato. You need juicy ripe tomatoes for this recipe which can be hard to find. )
2 medium green peppers
1-2 large potatoes
1.5 cups cauliflower
1 cup peas
1/2 cup carrots
1.2 cup beans
1 teaspoon cumin seeds
1.5 tablespoons Pav Bhaji masala
1 teaspoon chilli powder
Salt
1 load of dinner rolls or "Pav"
Tons of butter! - Okay, 1 stick or 1/2 cup of butter for the vegetables and a little bit for the dinner rolls. If you want to eat clean and try a healthy version, you can totally go easy on the butter and use just enough to fry your onions.
Lime, onion and cilantro for the garnish

Method:

1. Heat about 1/4 cup of butter and add the cumin seeds until they splutter.

2. Add the onions and fry until golden brown.

3. Add the ginger garlic paste and fry until you lose that raw smell.

4. Add green peppers and saute for a few minutes before adding the diced tomatoes, pav bhaji masala, chilli powder and salt. Fry this mixture until you see the oil separate from the masala.

5. Add the potato, cauliflower, peas, carrots and beans with about 2 cups of water and let this boil for about 15-20 minutes or until well cooked. Stir and mash the vegetables with your ladle occasionally. The bhaaji is ready when all the vegetables are nicely smashed but there's still a little chunkyness left in the mixture. Add another 1/4 cup of butter (if you decide to live on the edge :)) in the end and mix well.

6. To toast the dinner rolls or pav, add some butter in a frying pan. Coat the dinner rolls in this butter and lightly toast them on the pan.

Garnish with lime, cilanto and raw onions. Serve with a dollop of butter and lightly buttered toasted dinner rolls.