Pau Bhaji – Vegetable Pate with Butter (Instant Pot)
A pau bhaji essentially at heart is pureed vegetables a vegetable pate of sorts. Soft slow simmered vegetables served with small, buttered rolls. These rolls are popularly called pau in Mumbai. The pau bhaji is quintessential street food and possibly of Portuguese origin.
My Pau Bhaji Story
It is a perfect dish for these wet and cool days. The Pau Bhaji makes good use of all the somewhat mismatched vegetables. The kind we find around this time of the year. I try not overdo the butter. Today, I made my own rolls, somewhat different but pretty darn delicious… The one thing I learned from this post is that when it comes to pau bhaji, think cauliflower. Given my love for cauliflower, it is hardly a problem.
Memories and Nostalgia on Bhaiphonta
All these vegetables happily come together to make this Pau Bhaji. The color of my dish is actually natural. The bright red colors of nostalgia is artificial. It is however pretty color resulting from a happy marriage of tomatoes and beets. I did not want to miss out on the kids eating something together as it was Bhaiphota. A Bengali festival celebrate the bond between a brother and sister. And Pau bhaji and the instant pot came to the rescue.
After a long day, this dish fits the bill.
Honestly, this might have been a far cry from the festive menus that siblings around India are enjoying. The kids ended up happy to sit together on a weeknight. Happiness today is warm and comforting well-seasoned vegetables. Butter makes everything better! Honestly though, when it comes to my kids, I got lucky. They are happy motivated children. Built in challenge and inspiration all at once. Food is nothing if you have no-one to cook it for.
Another version with ground meat or keema along these lines is the Keema Pau.
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A iconic vegetarian pate from the streets of Mumbai.
Ingredients
- 1 medium sized head of cauliflower (about 1.5 pounds), coarsely chopped
- 1 cup broccoli florets
- 1 small eggplant, chopped
- 2 potatoes, peeled and chopped
- 1 small beet, peeled and quartered
- 2 medium sized carrots
- 1 tablespoon grated ginger
- 2 to 3 cloves garlic
- 1 tablespoon cumin coriander powder
- 1 tablespoon garam masala
- 1.5 teaspoons salt
- 1 tablespoon amchur or dried mango powder (can be subbed with 2 tablespoons lime juice)
- 3 tablespoons oil
- 1 teaspoon whole cumin seeds
- 1 teaspoon red cayenne powder
- 4 tomatoes, chopped
- 1/2 cup frozen peas
- 4 tablespoons chopped cilantro
- 4 tablespoons chopped onion
Instructions
- Place the cauliflower, broccoli, eggplant, potatoes, beet, carrots, ginger and garlic in the instant pot with 1/4 cup water.
- Add in the cumin-coriander powder, garam masala, salt and amchur powder and set on 4 minutes of pressure. Release the steam after 5 minutes. Remove lid and mash well. You can roughly pulse using an immersion blender.
- In a large skillet heat the oil and add in the cumin seeds and let the seeds sizzle. Add in the cayenne powder, tomatoes and mix well and cook until the tomatoes soften.
- Add in the mashed vegetables.
- Turn on the saute mode and simmer for 5 minutes, mashing the vegetables into an even smooth puree. Stir in the peas and cook for a minute or two.
- Garnish with the chopped cilantro and onions and serve with warm fresh dinner rolls.