Pav Bhaji- Spiced Vegetable Mash

This is an absolutely delicious, wholesome, nourishing, spiced bowl of comfort.

Yes, there are dishes, but it's worth it

I affectionately call it spiced veggie mush, but it’s so much more than that. This is apparently a common lunch in India, where it is served with a lovely soft bap on the side. I’m salivating just thinking about it, especially with my delicious brioche bun recipe.

The good thing is, all you need are a few vegetable cupboard staples and some spices and you’re good to go. The spice mix is the only tricky bit, made by toasting and grinding whole spices.

It feels like a lot of ingredients and I know that not everyone obsessively buys whole spices. You can sub in the ground version of the spices if you need, but the flavour won’t quite be the same.

For a mix made of pre-ground spices, I’d suggest:

• 1.5 tsp ground coriander
• 1 tsp cumin
• pinch chili powder
• pinch ground cinnamon
• pinch ground cloves
• a good few twists of ground black pepper 

(the traditional recipe also calls for amchur powder which is hard to find. It is a dried mango powder and apparently is quite zesty, I just left it out because I find the chopped tomatoes zesty enough.)

I served mine with what I had to hand – wholemeal chapatti. I kind of wish I’d had a fresh brioche roll though.

serves 4

Ingredients for the pav bhaji masala spice mix

• Seeds from 2 cardamom pods
• 4 tbsp coriander seeds
• 2 tbsp cumin seeds
• 2 tsp peppercorns
• 1 tsp fennel seeds
• 5 small dried red chillies
• Small piece cinnamon bark
• 6 cloves

Ingredients for the vegetable mash

• Half a head of cauliflower, diced
• 1 green pepper, finely diced
• 1 carrot, finely diced
• 1 cup frozen peas

Ingredients for the curry

• 400g potatoes, approx. 2 medium potatoes, peeled
• 4 medium white onions, diced small
• 4 garlic cloves, minced
• 400g tin chopped tomatoes
• 3 tsp pav bhaji masala mix
• 2 tsp turmeric
• 1 tsp ground cumin
• ½ tsp chilli powder
• 1 tsp salt
• 60g butter

Method

First make the spice mix if you’re doing that – toast everything except the amchur powder over a low heat in a non stick pan. Once you’re smelling wonderful smells, it’s done (a few minutes).

I did the bulk of the grinding in a mini food processor, and then ground the rest of it with a pestle and mortar to break up the bulk of the coriander seeds.

Obviously feel free to skip the above and use the ground spices as suggested above.

For the vegetable mash, prep all yo veg..

Place all the diced veg in a saucepan, sprinkle over some salt and pour over 350ml of boiling water. Cook, stirring regularly, and mash gradually once the veggies begin to soften. I found this took until it was needed to be added to the curry, which really pleased me. Add more water as needed, I probably had to add about 150ml more water (which I swilled around the empty can of chopped tomatoes for extra flavour).

Now make a start on the curry. Chop the peeled  potatoes into chunks and place in a pan full of salted water. Bring to the boil and allow to cook until just tender (approx. 15 minutes). Drain and set aside until ready to add.

In a heavy bottomed saucepan, heat the oil and fry the onion for 15 minutes, stirring regularly so it doesn’t catch. Add in the garlic and cook for a few more minutes. Stir in the chopped tomatoes and allow to simmer for another 10 minutes.

Stir through the spices and salt and allow to cook for another 5 minutes.

Throw in the boiled potatoes and mashed veggies, as well as the butter. Stir well.

Allow to simmer for another 15 minutes, mixing well. I mashed a few of the potatoes but I kept some whole which isn’t strictly traditional, but I wanted some chunky spuds.

Serve with chapatti/naan/white rolls/rice – whatever you like!