When you miss Mumbai street food, this is the perfect recipe to satisfy your craving! Do read the full recipe before starting the process! I made this to document and follow my own process and made sure I got it right. It’s time consuming but so worth the effort.
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Total Cook Time: 4 hours
Servings: 12 stuffed pavs
Ingredients
For Ladi Pav:
- 300 gms plain flour
- 180 ml whole milk + extra for brushing
- Approx 20 ml water
- 6 gms dry yeast
- 1 tsp salt
- 1 tbsp milk powder
- 2 1/4 tsp sugar (approx. 12 gms)
- 21 gms melted unsalted butter + extra for brushing
- Oil for coating
For Pav Bhaji:
- 1 large potato/2 medium potatoes
- 1/3 rd cauliflower florets
- 1 carrot
- 1 medium onion
- 3 medium tomatoes
- ½ red pepper
- 4 tbsp green peas (frozen/fresh)
- 3 cloves garlic
- 2 green/red chillies
- 1 inch ginger
- 2 tbsp pav bhaji masala
- 1 tsp kashmiri red chilli powder
- 2 tbsp chopped coriander leaves
- 2 tsp unsalted butter
- Salt to taste
- 2 tsp oil/ghee
- 1 tbsp fresh lemon juice
Method
For Ladi Pav
- Warm the milk ensuring it is not too hot but above room temperature.
- Measure the sugar in a bowl and add the warm milk and stir to dissolve it.
- Add the activated yeast and mix.
- Leave aside for 10-15 minutes until bubbles form on the top (time depends on the surrounding temperature).
5. In a large mixing bowl, measure the flour.
6. Add the salt and milk powder to the flour and dry mix the mixture.
7. Once the yeast is activated, add the mixture to the flour and mix.
8. Add water if required until the mixture is becomes sticky.
9. Transfer the dough to a platform.
10. Knead the mixture with both hands for about 20 minutes until the sticky mixture becomes smooth.
11. Add the melted butter next and mix well for a further 5 minutes.
12. Check to ensure gluten is formed using the window pane test. This works by stretching the dough in your hand until its translucent and does not break.
13. Once the dough is smooth, coat it with a tsp of oil and leave in the bowl to rest for one hour or until the dough doubles in size.
14. Cover the bowl with a damp cloth to ensure the dough does not dry.
15. Leave it undisturbed in a warm place like a turned off oven or microwave.
16. While the dough is resting, prepare the pav bhaji (See below).
17. Once the dough has risen to double its size (approx. one hour), dust some flour on a surface and punch it for 2 minutes to remove the air bubbles.
18. Cut it into 12 equal portions.
19. Using your fingers, press and thin the dough into a circular shape ensuring that the edges are thinner than the middle.
20. Fill in the pav bhaji (about one heaped tbsp) enough to use the edges to pinch and seal the dough.
21. Using your palm, smoothen the filled pav on the surface with a bit of flour and rest it in a greased baking tin.
22. Repeat the above steps until all the pavs have been filled.
23. Ensure that there are some gaps between the pav’s as they will stick together once risen.
24. Let the filled dough mixture rest for 1 hour in a warm place covered with a wet cloth as before.
25. Brush the pav’s with milk before putting it in the oven.
26. Pre-heat the oven at 200 degrees and bake the pav for 20 minutes or until the top has become a light brown colour.
27. Remove from the oven, brush it with butter (I brushed it with a mix of butter, garlic powder, oregano and chilli flakes but plain butter will also do) while warm and enjoy once cooled!
Notes:
- Check the temperature of the milk by dipping your finger to check it’s not too hot. This is key to ensure the yeast is activated as needed.
- Do not add more flour to the sticky mixture. It is key to knead the dough long enough to ensure gluten formation.
For Pav Bhaji
- Boil the carrot, potato, cauliflower and peas in a pressure cooker with some water and salt for 2 whistles.
- Once the pressure is released, drain the water from the vegetables and keep aside.
3. In a blending jar, blend onion, garlic, ginger and chillies and keep aside.
4. In the same jar, blend tomatoes and keep aside.
5. Then, blend half a red pepper and keep aside.
6. Heat oil/ghee in a pan and add the blended onion mixture and cook until translucent.
7. On a medium flame, add salt, pav bhaji masala, kashmiri red chilli powder and mix until the mixture is dried.
8. Add the blended tomatoes and cook until dry.
9. Add the blended red pepper and cook on medium heat until 70% of the water is removed. This should take about 7-8 minutes.
10. Next, add the boiled vegetables.
11. Using a masher, mash the vegetables along with the cooked mixture.
12. Cook until all the vegetables are mashed and mixture is dried.
13. Once mashed to a consistency as below, turn off the hob and add chopped coriander, butter and lemon at the end and mix.
14. Cool the mixture before filling in the pav.
Note:
- It is important that the masala is dry or it will alter the texture of the bread.
Hope you enjoy this!
Payal
P&K's Food Heaven 