Instant Pot Pav Bhaji

5 from 4 votes

Pav bhaji is popular Indian street food, especially in Mumbai. It is a mashed-up mixed vegetable gravy cooked with spices and served with toasted dinner rolls. Check out how to make authentic Mumbai pav bhaji in the Instant Pot or an electric pressure cooker.

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Pav bhaji is a famous Indian street food, especially from Mumbai. It is a vegan, kid-friendly, one-pot meal and a very popular dish for potlucks and parties.

"Pav" is the Indian name for dinner rolls and "Bhaji" is a mashed-up gravy of vegetables cooked with spices. In English pav bhaji can be called a spicy vegetable curry with dinner rolls and is very close to vegetarian Sloppy Joes.

It is very easy to make authentic Mumbai pav bhaji in Instant Pot. You can add veggies of your choice and adjust the spice level by adjusting the red chili powder and garam masala powder.

Ingredients

Pav bhaji is made with a lot of vegetables. The best part of making the bhaji at home is that you can add any vegetables of your choice and the kids will not even know :).

The gravy or bhaji is made with tomatoes, onions, potatoes, bell peppers, ginger-garlic paste, green beans, and peas. To make it healthier you can add some bottle gourd or calabash gourd.

A slice or two of beets gives a nice red color to the bhaji. To save some time while cooking, you can chop the veggies into larger chunks as they will be mashed after cooking.

To get an authentic Mumbai pav bhaji flavor you will need to add pav bhaji masala, it is a spice blend. Other spices like garam masala, red chili powder, and coriander powder are also added. You will find all the spices in an Indian grocery store. And don't forget a good amount of butter to enhance its overall flavor.

Finally, garnish it with some chopped cilantro, and chopped onions, and squeeze in some lime juice.

Instructions

To make Instant Pot pav bhaji recipe, first, use the saute mode on "Normal" and heat the oil. Once the oil is heated, add the onions and ginger-garlic paste and saute for about 30 seconds.

Later add the tomatoes and all the spices including pav bhaji masala powder. I prefer using Badshah pav bhaji masala as it gives an authentic taste of Mumbai pav bhaji. If you cannot find this brand then you can use MDH or Everest brands.

pav bhaji step 1, saute tomato, onion and spices

Cook the spices well and add the bell peppers. Cook for about a minute and then add all the vegetables (green beans, peas, potatoes, cauliflower, and any other you like).

Only add little water to cover about half the level of the vegetables. If you end up adding more water, you can always use the saute mode later to make it thicker.

Add the salt and water and pressure cook on high for 8 minutes followed by a natural pressure release. The Instant Pot will take some time to come to pressure.

After the Instant Pot comes to pressure, it will continue to pressure cook pav bhaji for a set amount of time and then turn off. Once all the pressure has been released naturally, blend the bhaji using a hand blender or a potato masher.

Once bhaji is cooked, you can mash it with a potato masher. You can also mash bhaji without a potato masher by using an immersion hand blender and giving a few pulses to get the desired semi-solid consistency.

Only a few pulses are good else it can become like a paste which is not what you want.

Substitutions

Pav bhaji is a delicious vegan and gluten-free Indian curry.

Red color - You can easily cook beets in the Instant Pot and store them for a week and use them in pav bhaji. If you don't have beets, you can add Kashmiri red chili powder to give the bhaji a nice red color. If you don't have either, you can skip it.

Spicy - to make it spicier, you can adjust the amount of red chili powder and garam masala.

Serving suggestions

The most common way of serving Mumbai pav bhaji is to slice the pav (dinner rolls) from the center and lightly toast it on a skillet after applying some butter.

Bhaji is usually garnished with some butter, chopped onions, cilantro, and few drops of lemon juice.

You can also make pav bhaji dosa by applying bhaji on top of the dosa while cooking it.

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Equipment

I have made this pav bhaji in 3 qt. Instant Pot. You can make a bigger batch in the 6 qt. Instant Pot. For mashing the gravy, an immersion hand blender comes in very handy. You can also use a potato masher instead.

Storage

Any leftover pav bhaji can be stored in the refrigerator for 3-4 days. It can also be stored in the freezer for a month.

When you are ready to eat, simply thaw it in the refrigerator overnight or in the microwave and serve it hot with pav.

Top tip

It is best to avoid carrots and frozen peas as they add a sweet taste to the bhaji which is not preferred. To avoid using frozen peas, boiled dried white peas can be used.

Fresh pea pods from the grocery store work well too. Select the ones which have bigger size peas as they are not sweet in taste. You can buy fresh peas in large quantities and freeze them.

FAQ

Which pav bhaji masala is the best?

To make the best pav bhaji, you need the right pav bhaji masala that adds the unique taste of Mumbai pav bhaji. I have tried many different brands of masala and found that Badshah pav bhaji masala is the best and gives an authentic taste.

How to make pav bhaji red in color?

Red Kashmiri chili powder can be used to give a red color to bhaji but personally, I like to add a couple of slices of beetroot for the red color. You can cook beets in the Instant Pot and store them in the refrigerator and use them while cooking pav bhaji.

Don't forget to check out these Indian lunch and dinner recipes.

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Comments

5 from 4 votes (4 ratings without comment)