Bombay Pao Bhaji Or A Quick & Delish Way To Get Your Kids To Eat Veggies!

It's a drab Monday evening and that dreaded question looms in the air: "What should I cook for dinner?"

"No idea" pat comes the husband's standard response. (One of these days I'm going to pan fry a 'No idea' and serve it to the man just like those many internet memes I've seen floating around. Pah!)

"Something interesting Mom!"

"Not boring roti, sabzi, daal puhleeeez!"

Well, at least the kids are more forthcoming in their replies. To be honest, I'm not in the mood for roti, sabzi, daal myself. I scour the fridge for ingredients, hoping inspiration will strike. What a mess! There are some sorry looking small brinjals floating around, looking at me accusingly for excluding them from the achari baingan medley that was cooked up last week. There're also two lonesome carrots, half a head of cabbage, one bell pepper, some celery.....I sigh and turn my head to the right when it suddenly hits me! Inspiration! It's staring me right in the face! A packet of Kohinoor pav bhaji masala beams back at me cheerily. Of course! The perfect way to get rid of all the bits and bobs floating around in the fridge and get the kids to eat their veggies while we're at it. Purrrfection!

What's more, the quintessential Mumbai style pao bhaji is a breeze to whip up and does away with the need for making rotis which I....well, let's just say, don't particularly fancy. Here's my easy, breezy Mumbaiya pao bhaji recipe:

• Chop up all the lonesome looking veggies in the fridge, especially those in ones and twos that you know are not going to get eaten otherwise. I used up the brinjal, carrots, cabbage, some potatoes to add to the mix, and even a little sliver of pumpkin (hah!) left over from my pumpkin pie experiment last week. Steam in a pressure cooker, cool and mash
• Finely chop some onion, ginger, garlic (add more if you like your bhaji with a nice garlicky flavour) and tomatoes. Take some oil and a generous blob of butter if you like and sauté all of the above till nicely done.
• I then added some finely chopped bell pepper and celery that I also had floating around, sautéed it for a bit, and then added the mashed veggies from step one. Add in a sprinkle of turmeric, red chilli powder, pao bhaji masala and chaat masala. Mash everything together nicely, add two small cups of water and let it all simmer for about 15 minutes, while stirring occasionally. Garnish with fresh chopped coriander and a squeeze of lemon juice.

Done! Fridge clean up accomplished and happy kids and husband licking their plates. And they even ate and relished all the veggies that they normally wouldn't touch with a barge pole. Bwahahahaha.

PC: Umesh Soni @unsplash.com

It was SO good I didn't even get a chance to click a picture before the troops gobbled it all up and had to source one from the net instead. Hmph. Reminder to self: next time round, plate and click in the kitchen before serving it up to the fam.

Any other pav bhaji fans out there? Give me a holler!

Sandy Snack-O-Wich (A sandwich of Russian descent)

What do you do when your 6 year old is missing his grandparents something terrible? Why, you make sandwiches of course!

So the 6 year old was missing the grandparents today and the usual video call chat just didn't seem to be enough. We brainstormed a bit and decided a joint activity which could be done virtually might just do the trick. How about cooking suggested the 6yo, who is quite the young chef in the making. Some more brainstorming on no-fire cooking ideas and the concept of Sandy Snack-O-Wich was born!

The dining table was transformed into a tech-savvy zone with the laptop positioned at a strategic angle, and ingredients were assembled for these super healthy cheese, chutney, packed-with-veggies sandwiches. While my mom and the 11yo chatted, my dad and the 6yo made these sandwiches together.

The powers of imagination and creativity were unleashed and they came up with this cool concept of sandwiches that aren't just healthy and good to eat, but also look like the creators! Grandpa and grandson made the exact same sandwiches- one that looks like the 6yo and one that looks like Grandpa😃😃😃

Can you guess which one is Grandpa and which one is the young 'un?

Sandy Snack-O-Wich was such a huge success that a paean had to be written in its honour:

When I'm feeling a little hungry

And my tummy needs a TREAT

My grandpa has a SUPER SNACK

That's really kinda neat!

It's loaded up with veggies

A colorful, crunchy DELIGHT

With bread and cheese to go with it

You'll long to take a BITE!

When Grandpa and I cook together

This SNACK you're sure to see

But do you know my FAVORITE bit?

It looks like HIM and ME!!!