Pao Bhaji recipe

Pao bhaji is a very simple north-Indian breakfast recipe.It's one of the most delicious recipes which is packed with vegetables.Basically pao is a dinner roll served with mashed vegetable curry known as bhaji.It's both spicy and tangy.The best part of the bhaji is you can add almost any kind of vegetable of your choice like cauliflower,beetroot,sprouts etc.I came across this recipe on Tarla ma'am's website.I liked the idea of using red chilly and garlic paste.It gives a nice red color to the bhaji and adds a distinctive flavor to it.I made modifications to the recipe according to my taste buds.For instance i have omitted the use of Cumin seeds in the recipe.You can definitely add around 1 tsp of cumin seeds if you wish to.So let's look over the ingredients first. 

Ingredients serves-2-3ppl (approx)

• Red chilly and garlic paste
• 1/4th cup of chopped carrot,green peas,capsicum
• 1/2 cup of chopped tomato
• 1 medium onion
• 1 & 1/2 boiled mashed medium sized potatoes
• 1 & 1/2 tsp of pao bhaji masala
• 1 tsp of kashmiri red chilly
• Salt as per taste
• 1 tsp of lemon juice
• 2 tbsp of oil

Method

1. Heat a pan.Add oil into it(i have added a bit of margarine as well).Once the oil is hot add the chilly garlic paste.Stir the paste till the oil separates from the paste.
   
   
   
   
2. Add in the chopped onions.Cook it the onions turn translucent.
   
3. Pour the chopped tomatoes and cook till it gets soft.
   
   
   
   
4. Add the chopped vegetables.Add a little water and cook for a while.
   
   
   
   
5. Once it's half cooked add in the mashed potatoes.Stir it well.
   
6. Add in the pao bhaji masala,kashmiri red chilly,salt and lemon juice.Cook for sometime till the vegetables are cooked.If required add a bit more water.I didn't use a masher to mash the bhaji as i like it a bit chunky.If you wish you can mash the vegetables till no visible pieces remain.
   
7. Serve the bhaji with toasted pao's and a blob of butter on top.All that's left for you is to Eat it up!:)

Note-To make the red chilly and garlic paste take 8-9 dried kashmiri deseeded red chiles.Boil them in hot water for some minutes till they are soft.Grind them with 6-7 cloves of garlic and make a paste.