Pav Bhaji

I had this dish that is very reminiscent to chili, it indeed was a comfort food. After one bite I was hooked and I had to know the name. This is my newly found favorite dish in India and my plan is to learn how to cook it so I can come home and make it for my friends and family. I like this dish so much I decided to do a blog post about it!

Pav bhaji is a fast food spicy dish that is native to Mumbai and has now become popular in most metropolitan areas in India. Pav origninates from the Portuguese Pao, which means bread. Bhaji in Marathi means vegetable dish. Pav bhaji consists of bhaji (a thick potato-based curry) garnished with coriander, chopped onion, and a dash of lemon and lightly toasted pav. The pav is usually buttered on all sides.

The origin of this dish is traced to textile mill workers in Mumbai in the 1850s. The mill workers used to have lunch breaks too short for a full meal, and a light lunch was preferred to a heavy one, as the employees had to return to strenuous physical labor after lunch. A vendor created this dish using items or parts of other dishes available on the menu. Roti or rice was replaced with pav and the curries that usually go with Indian bread or rice were combined into just one spicy concoction, the 'bhaji'. Initially, it remained the food of the mill-workers. With time the dish found its way into restaurants and spread over Central Mumbai and other parts of the city. Pav Bhaji is so popular that this dish, can be found on the menu of most Indian restaurants serving fast food in Asia (especially Singapore, Hong Kong), America, UK (London), Switzerland and elsewhere. It has also come to become the staple dish in many Indian diets, due to its simplicity and delicacy. It can be eaten as a snack or as a meal in itself. It is often eaten as an evening snack between lunch and dinner, particularly in western India. In this part, Pav bhaji is available on hand carts and at kiosks. It is also available in hotels and eateries serving fast food. In recent years, Pav bhaji is also consumed as a light evening meal, and is also a party favorite.