Masala Pav Recipe: Mumbai Street Style in 20 Minutes
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This masala pav recipe is what I make when I want Mumbai street food on a weeknight and have one skillet and twenty minutes. Pav is the soft bread roll sold at every Mumbai street stall, and the masala is a thick, spicy filling of onion, tomato and bell pepper cooked with a spice blend called pav bhaji masala. The buttered rolls toast in the same pan and the filling goes inside. I serve it with a cup of hot masala chai, the spiced milk tea.
Why This Recipe Works
- Twenty minutes, one skillet. Five minutes of chopping, fifteen at the stove, and the buns toast in the pan the masala cooked in.
- Everyday ingredients. Onion, tomato, bell pepper, a green chili and pav bhaji masala do the work. Nothing to boil first.
- Dry masala, not soup. A few tablespoons of water and a spatula mash give a filling that clings to the bread instead of soaking through it.
- 215 calories a serving, with 6 g of protein, from the recipe card.
Full quantities are in the recipe card. These are the ones worth a word.
- Pav. Four soft burger buns from any supermarket are in the card, and slider buns or dinner rolls work too. Indian grocers such as Patel Brothers carry ladi pav, the pull-apart rolls the stalls use. Day-old bread toasts better.
- Pav bhaji masala. A ready-made blend of ground spices, warm and a little tangy, sold in a small box. It is not a regular supermarket item: look at an Indian grocer or on Amazon, where MDH and Everest are the common brands.
- Bell pepper. Green is in the card; red or yellow work just as well.
- Chili paste. Any red chili paste works, and half a teaspoon of cayenne is the dry-pantry fallback.
- Sev. Thin, crisp chickpea-flour noodles for the top, sold in bags at Indian grocers. Optional.
- Equipment. A wide, flat skillet stands in for the tawa, the flat griddle street vendors cook on. As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases. I use a Lodge cast iron skillet or a de Buyer carbon steel pan; both take high heat and the scraping.
How to Make Masala Pav
1. Temper the seeds. Heat 2 tablespoons of oil in the skillet over medium-high. When hot, add the cumin seeds, then the mustard seeds, and let them crackle.
2. Soften the onion. Add the red onion and cook until it turns light pink, then stir in the chili paste and ginger-garlic paste for a minute.
3. Vegetables, then spice. Add the bell pepper and the mushrooms if using, then the pav bhaji masala and salt, and cook for 3 to 4 minutes until the vegetables start to soften.
4. Cook down the tomato. Add the tomato, green chili and a handful of cilantro and cook on medium for 5 to 6 minutes until pulpy. Pour in 3 to 4 tablespoons of water and mash with the spatula and then a potato masher for 4 to 5 minutes, until thick with no free liquid.
5. Toast the buns. Push the masala to one side, split the buns, melt a teaspoon of butter on the clear side and press the buns cut side down until golden.
6. Fill and serve. Turn off the heat, fill each bun with masala, top with cilantro and sev, and eat while the bread is crisp.
Rekha’s Note
The masala decides this dish. Keep cooking until the spatula leaves a clean trail across the pan and nothing runs back into it; a wet masala turns the bun to mush before it reaches the plate.
On the nutrition side, most of the bulk here is tomato, onion and bell pepper, so I keep the butter to the one teaspoon for toasting and let the pav bhaji masala carry the flavor.
Rekha
Masala Pav- Mumbai Street Food Recipe
Ingredients
- 2-3 tablespoon Oil
- 1 teaspoon Cumin Seeds
- 1 teaspoon Mustard Seeds
- ½ cup Red Onion
- 2 teaspoon Chili Paste
- 1 teaspoon Ginger-garlic paste
- ¼ cup Capsicum chopped
- ¼ cup Mushroom chopped
- 2 tablespoon Pav Bhaji Masala
- Salt
- 1 cup Tomatoes chopped
- 1 green chili chopped
- 4 burger buns
- 3-4 tablespoon water
- Coriander leaves
Instructions
- Add 2 tablespoon of oil in a pan/ tava.
- When the oil starts to smoke add cumin seeds in it. Then add mustard seeds and half a cup of onion in it.
- Saute the onion until they are light pink and then add ginger-garlic paste in it. The ginger-garlic paste is optional so add only if you feel like.
- Saute all the ingredients for another minute and then add finely chopped capsicum and mushrooms in it.
- Mix everything and add spices now. Start by adding 2 tablespoons of pav bhaji masala and salt.
- Mix the spices and cook for 3-4 minutes until the veggies become little soft.
- Then add 3 medium sized finely chopped tomatoes( approx 1 cup) and chopped green chilies in the tava.
- Now, add chopped coriander leaves with the tomatoes and cook for 5-6 minutes on medium heat till the tomatoes become soft and pulpy.
- When the tomatoes are soft and pulpy pour 3-4 tablespoon of water and mix everything.
- Now, mash the veggies with the back of your ladle while cooking the masala. Cook and mix the masala for 2 minutes.
- Now, when the masalas are about to cook, take tomato masher and mash and mix the masala for 2-3 minutes.
- Your masala is ready now slide it one side and take pav buns, cut them from between. Add a teaspoon of butter and put buns on it.
- Switch off the heat and sandwich the masala in the pav and take them out in a plate.
- Sprinkle some coriander leaves and serve with sev and masala tea.
Nutrition
- Buns went soggy? The masala was wet. Cook it until it mounds on the spatula, and fill the buns right before serving, never ahead.
- Masala tastes flat? Pav bhaji masala needs fat and time. It goes in with the vegetables, not at the end, and gets its 3 to 4 minutes before the tomato.
- Too hot? Leave out the green chili and halve the chili paste; the pav bhaji masala brings mild heat of its own. A squeeze of lime at the end rounds off the rest.
- Buns scorching before they brown? The pan is too hot after the masala. Drop the heat to medium before the butter goes on; cast iron holds it.
Masala Pav Variations
- Cheese masala pav. A handful of grated cheese over the filled buns, lid on for a minute until it melts.
- With potato. Many Mumbai stalls mash a boiled potato into the masala for a heavier filling. Add it with the tomato.
- Masala pav for pav bhaji. Pav bhaji is Mumbai’s mashed vegetable curry, eaten with buttered rolls. For that, skip the filling: toast the split buns in butter with a pinch of pav bhaji masala and cilantro pressed into the cut side.
- Egg masala pav. Scramble two eggs into the finished masala. My street-style egg bhurji, spiced scrambled eggs, is the full version.
- Whole wheat. Whole wheat buns add fiber, and my soft dinner rolls, split and buttered, make a better pav than most store buns.
Serve It With
- A cup of masala chai. That is the street pairing and the one I stick to.
- Vada pav, a spiced potato fritter in a bun, and misal pav, a spicy sprouted bean curry with rolls, for a Mumbai street food spread.
- Cheesy tawa pulao, griddle-fried rice made in the same skillet with the same spice blend.
Meal Prep and Storage
The masala is the make-ahead part. Cool it and refrigerate in an airtight container for up to 3 days, or freeze it in portions for up to 2 months. Reheat in the skillet with a splash of water until thick again, then toast fresh buns. Filled buns do not keep; the bread softens within the hour. Chop the vegetables a day ahead if you are prepping lunches.
Common Questions
What is masala pav made of?
Soft bread rolls toasted in butter and filled with a masala of onion, tomato and bell pepper cooked with pav bhaji masala. It is finished with cilantro, lime and, on the street, a handful of sev, which are crisp chickpea-flour noodles.
What is the difference between masala pav and pav bhaji?
Pav bhaji is a mashed vegetable curry of potato, peas and cauliflower served in a bowl with buttered pav on the side. Masala pav puts the same spice on a quick onion, tomato and pepper masala that goes inside the toasted bun, so it is faster and eaten by hand.
