Everything about Pav Bhaji totally explained
Pav bhaji (
Marathi: पाव भाजी, also transliterated as
pao bhaji and
pau bhaji) is a fast food dish native to
Maharashtra and is popular in most metropolitan areas in India, and particularly in the Maharashtran city of
Mumbai. In
Marathi pav means bread (the term derives from the
Portuguese "pão") and
bhaji, which is a term for a curry and vegetable dish. The serving of pav bhaji consists of the bhaji (a potato based curry) and the pav (bread) garnished with
coriander and chopped
onions. Pav is a type of bread, high in
carbohydrates and
fats (if served with
butter), while bhaji is the vegetable-based curry portion, high in
carbohydrates.
History
The origin of this dish is traced to the heyday of the textile mills in
Mumbai. The mill workers used to have a short break for lunch. A full lunch which wasn't rushed probably needed more time than what was available. A light lunch was also preferred given that physical work followed immediately. A vendor understood this and came up with this dish using items or parts of them available on the menu. The role of
roti or rice was taken up by pav and the curries that usually go with Indian bread or rice were amalgamated into just one spicy concoction-the 'bhaji'. Initially, it remained the food of the mill-workers. The dish eventually found its way into restaurants and spreading over Central Mumbai and other areas.
Preparation
To make bhaji, potatoes are mashed on a flat pan called a
tava, and made into a thick gravy after adding diced
tomatoes, green
peas,
capsicums (green pepper) and other vegetables like
cauliflower. A special blend of spices called the pav bhaji
masala is added to this thick gravy. The gravy is then allowed to simmer on the pan for a few minutes and is served hot in a flat dish with a tablespoon of butter on top.
The pav (bread) is roasted on the same pan with an ample amount of butter and masala. The Bhaji is garnished with diced onion and a slice of
lemon and served with the pav.
Consumption
It is consumed as a snack or as part of breakfast, lunch or dinner, particularly by individuals in
western India. In this part of India, pav bhaji is available on hand carts popularly known as
Pav bhaji ki Gaadi. It is also available in almost all hotels and eateries.
In popular culture and media
- The connection of pav bhaji is to western India is similar to what pizza is to Italy or the hot-dog is to America.
Sanjay Dutt played the role of a pav bhaji vendor in the Hindi movie Vaastav.Further Information
Get more info on 'Pav Bhaji'.
|
External Link Exchanges
Do you know how hard it is to get a link from a large encyclopaedia? Well we're different and will prove it. To get a link from us just add the following HTML to your site on a relevant page:
<a href="http://pav_bhaji.totallyexplained.com">Pav bhaji Totally Explained</a>
Then simply click through this link from your web page. Our crawlers will verify your link, extract the title of your web page and instantly add a link back to it. If you like you can remove the words Totally Explained and embed the link in article text.
As long as your link remains in place, we'll keep our link to you right here. Please play fair - our crawlers are watching. Your site must be closely related to this one's topic. Any kind of spamming, dubious practises or removing the link will result in your link from us being dropped and, potentially, your whole site being banned. |
