If you are from Mumbai, you know how satisfying an aloo-based pav bhaji from a restaurant is on a warm and butter toasted bun. It ‘just hits the spot!’ But did you know that you can make restaurant-quality pav bhaji at home? The hero of a traditional pav bhaji is the pav bhaji masala. The right pav bhaji masala can take any pav bhaji from ground level to the top level. But the market has multiple pav bhaji masala brands. How then to find which pav bhaji masala is the best? In this article we will discuss 10 of the best pav bhaji masala brands in India in detail.
Table of Contents
A look at the Top Picks For Pav Bhaji Masala In India:
- Tastiest Pav Bhaji: Everest’s Pav Bhaji Masala
- Tasty, Spicy and Tangy: MDH Pav Bhaji
- Mumbai Special: Galaji Mumbai Pav Bhaji Masala
Summary Table: Best Pav Bhaji Masala Brands In India
Here are some of the best pav bhaji brands in India. You can have a glance at all the brands below.
The 10 Best Pav Bhaji Masala Powders
You need fresh and good quality vegetables to make a good pav bhaji dish because they tenderize easily and have a great texture when cooked. But since flavor matters, you need an excellent masala powder blend since cooked vegetables tend to have a bland flavor even when seasoned with salt.
That’s when pav bhaji masala powder enters into the recipe. But not just any pav bhaji masala powder will do; you need a good quality powder. This is why this section describes some of India’s best pav bhaji masalas in India in detail.
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1. Everest Pav Bhaji Masala
Pav bhaji masala Everest is one of the best pav bhaji masala powders in India because of its many great ingredients. This ensures high quality and fresh products. You can buy this product for $5.99. Everest pav bhaji masala ingredients include anistar, black cardamom, black pepper, cassia leaf, chilli, cloves, table salt, coriander, dry ginger, cumin, dry mango, fennel, and turmeric.
Product Features:
- This masala gets great customer reviews.
- It uses the finest and freshest ingredients in the purest form.
- All ingredients are used in the right quantities.
- It’s manufactured on the latest equipment, which is 100% sterile.
2. MDH pav bhaji Masala
What makes MDH pav bhaji masala one of the best pav bhaji masala powders in India is its unique blend of ingredients. These include coriander, chili, cumin, dry mango powder, cardamom seeds, black pepper, salt, fennel, cinnamon, dry ginger, bay leaf, cloves, star anise, caraway, nutmeg, and mace. This brand of bhaji masala gets good reviews from customers. It sells for $4.23.
Product Features:
- They are processed in facilities that use the latest in technology. All equipment is hygienic. This ensures that consumers consume only the best pav masala possible.
- The freshest ingredients are used to ensure optimal quality.
- The ingredients undergo a thorough sorting and cleaning process. This ensures that only the best quality ingredients are used in the final product.
- Each ingredient undergoes a rigorous quality check before it’s used. It’s also used in the correct quantity in the final product.
3. Tata Sampann Pav Bhaji Masala
What makes this one of India’s best pav bhaji masala powders is its pure ingredients. It’s sourced from quality ingredients from India’s top farms. The powders are mixed using a five package process that ensures their wholesome taste is retained throughout the manufacturing process. You can buy this bhaji masala for INR 63.75.
Product Features:
- The pav bhaji masala ingredients are processed with their original essential oils. This ensures that taste and quality is retained.
- The pav bhaji mixture has a delectable aroma of fresh spices when opened. This is reflected in the rich flavors and tangy spiciness of the pav bhaji that it’s eventually used in.
- All ingredients are processed on a clean, sterile, and state-of-the-equipment.
- The processed powder has a clean, wholesome, and delicious taste that can’t be easily matched.
4. Pure and Sure Organic pav bhaji masala
What makes this one of the best pav bhaji masala powders sold in India is its pure ingredients. Indeed, you’ll be tasting and eating nothing but delicious and wholesome goodness with this masala powder. Part of its amazing taste comes from its unique ingredients. The best thing is you can buy pav bhaji masala online and from stores. You can buy it for $2.99.
Product Features:
- Completely natural ingredients that are organically grown. As with all organically grown fruits, vegetables, herbs, and spices, these ingredients are also grown with no potentially deadly pesticides or fertilizers.
- The spices used are clean and wholesome. The latest in sustainable farming practices and techniques ensures this.
- All spices used are certified. Additionally, the farms and equipment that the spices are processed and packaged on or with are inspected and certified by reputable and independent third-party organizations.
- The quality of the spices is continuously verified and unverified during the harvesting, processing, and packaging process. The result is a pav bhaji masala that is among the finest and most natural in the world.
5. Vasant Pav Bhaji Masala
Its unique blend of delectable spices is part of what makes Vasant Pav Bhaji Masala one of the best pav bhaji masala powders in India. You’ll love its great taste and the depth that it gives the pav bhaji and other dishes that you add this powdered masala to. You can buy it online for INR 300.
Product Features:
- Coriander, chilies, cumin, cinnamon, fennel seeds, cinnamon leaves, iodized salt, anistar, black pepper, dry ginger, big cardamom, sour mango, triphala, cloves, and turmeric. But there are other reasons that make people crave this masala brand.
- The spices are processed on sterile state-of-the-art equipment that is very hygienic.
- The spices are carefully ground and blended. They taste just like the spices your grandmother ground in a mortar and pestle did.
- The masala comes in airtight packages that keep the taste, quality, freshness in, and moisture and staleness.
6. DPS Pav Bhaji Masala
Its amazing and completely organic ingredients are part of what makes this one of the best pav bhaji masala powders in India. It also makes it among one of the most natural. You’ll be eating nothing but wholesomeness with this pav bhaji powder. It’s made using a centuries-old family recipe. You can buy this masala online for INR 168.
Product Features:
- Its ingredients include coriander seeds, cumin seeds, dry mango, fennel, red ginger, caraway, cloves, turmeric, black pepper, rock salt, and white salt.
- The company that makes this masala brand has a reputation for blending the right spices in the right quantities for more than a century now.
- They use whole spices that are 100% organic. They then use traditional grinding methods and blending these spices and herbs that are time tested and tried and true.
- They use a wide range of spices and homemade recipes for grinding and mixing the spices and herbs passed down the generations.
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7. Galaji Mumbai Pav Bhaji Masala
Its many diverse ingredients are what make it one of the best pav bhaji masala powders in India. It also makes it the most sought after.
Product Features:
- Its ingredients include chillies, coriander seeds, cumin seeds, cinnamon, black pepper, fennel seeds, star anise, fenugreek seeds, cloves, salt, spices, and other natural flavorings.
- Its spices, herbs, and flavorings are sourced from among the best and top producing organic farms in India.
- All ingredients are 100% natural and wholesome.
- The powder is vegetarian-friendly because it doesn’t have either onion or garlic.
You’ll love the fact that these whole spices and herbs are meticulously grounded multiple times until they yield nothing but pure and fine powders. The spices, herbs, and flavorings are also blended until the right proportions of each ingredient are reached. The result is a tasty and fresh masala powder that will add goodness and liven up any dish it’s cooked into.
8. Zoff pav bhaji masala
Its ingredients are part of what makes this one of the best pav bhaji masalas around. Zoff gives the guarantee of freshness and purity in terms of its spice blends. While these products don’t come with a seal or certification that guarantees the freshness, you can rest assured that you’re using the finest and freshest of spices in the world. Zoff’s unique packaging process ensures this. It packages the pav bhaji masala powder in 4 layers. This ensures that nothing enters or exits the package until you open it. You can buy this masala brand for INR 67.
Product Features:
- They use mills that use special air processing technology to grind, process, and pack the spices.
- These mills ensure hygiene, quality, and freshness in pav bhaji masala powder because they operate at temperatures below 40 degrees Celsius.
- Zoff manufacturers use special preservatives like paper pillows and Stabilo packets, which prevent moisture from seeping in. The spices remain fresh until you open the package. You can rest assured that the masala mix will neither rot nor clump due to moisture. Both ruin the taste, consistency, and texture of the pav bhaji masala powder.
- The mills use the freshest spices sourced from the finest and most reputed organic farms in India that are certified.
9. Kohinoor Mumbai Pav Bhaji Masala
This is one of India’s best pav bhaji masala powders. It also happens to be among its freshest and finest. The manufacturer uses only the finest, most natural, and freshest whole spices. These are sourced from India’s most reputed organic farms. You can buy this bhaji masala for INR 20. You’ll be tasting goodness at its finest when you buy Kohinoor pav masala.
Product Features:
- Kohinoor is owned by the American spice and food multinational McCormick. The company ensures that Indian customers buy only the finest spices and foods, which are also among the freshest in Indian grocery stores.
- It’s packaged in a single package and is sealed with 4 air-tight layers. This keeps freshness, goodness, and purity intact. It keeps moisture, mold, and rot out.
- The spices are packaged and processed on equipment that is sterile and uses the latest in technology. This ensures that the taste and flavor of the spices are retained.
- It’s an amazingly low-calorie and low-fat foodstuff. This will ensure that the pav bhaji you make is wholesome, delicious, and heart and body healthy.
10. Ciba Taaza Spices Pav Bhaji Masala Powder
What makes this one of the best pav bhaji masala powders in India is its amazingly great taste that’s matched with an equally amazingly low price. You can buy a package of this masala brand for only INR 54.
Product Features:
- Ciba set up shop in 1984 when the spice industry was in its infancy. This allowed the company to experiment with spice procurement, processing, and packaging methods. The owner never sacrificed either quality or hygiene. His efforts paid off because
- Ciba soon became the leader in the Indian spice industry.
- This masala brand uses only the freshest and finest of spices in India and the world.
- The masalas are ground on the finest and most sterile equipment in India. This ensures that you consume the freshest spice blend possible.
- The masala blend is made keeping both the traditional and modern Indian palate in mind.
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What to look for when buying pav bhaji masala?
How do you ensure that you buy only the best pav bhaji masala? After all, the market is currently flooded with pav bhaji masala brands.
Added to this is the fact that all pav bhaji masalas are NOT the same. Well, for one thing, you want to look for a pav bhaji masala powder that’s made by a reputed company, preferably one that’s been around for a while.
Be sure to do some research online and google customer reviews about the product. You can easily find these types of reviews on Amazon.com. Be wary that more than 5% of the reviews are negative. Also, be sure to verify the claims that the manufacturer makes on other sites. If the claims on many other sites match, chances are you’re buying a quality pav bhaji masala powder. You can also opt for a pav bhaji masala packet to make pav bhaji.
Homemade Pav Bhaji Masala
If you don’t like the idea of buying pav bhaji masala powder from the store, don’t fret. You can easily make this pav bhaji masala at home. The Internet literally abounds with many recipes that will teach you how to make pav bhaji masala powder from scratch.
- 2 black cardamom pods
- 4 tablespoons of coriander seeds
- 2 tablespoons of cumin seeds
- 2 teaspoons of peppercorn seeds
- ¾ tablespoons of fennel seeds
- 5 red chilies
- 2-inch piece of cinnamon
- 6 cloves
- 1 tablespoon of dry mango powder
The first thing you want to do is sift all of the spices thoroughly and numerous times through a sieve. This will eliminate all of the dirt, dust, sand, rocks, and other debris in them. Dry roast the spices on low heat. This will bring out the real essence of the spices by allowing them to cook in their natural oils lightly.
Make sure to roast the spices one at a time. This will preserve their natural flavor. That way, the pav bhaji masala powder will have a wholesome and authentic homemade taste and flavor.
Make sure that the spices are still hot. Then mix them together. Be sure to add the mango powder. The heat from the spices will unlock and release the essential oils and flavors of the mango powder to give the mixture an unmistakable flavor and kick that you associate with the best pav bhaji masala powders.
Wait until the mixture is completely cooled off. Then put them in a blender and grind them into a fine powder with a soft sand-like texture and consistency.
An easy way to make pav bhaji at home
If you are pressed for time and don’t want to spend several hours in the kitchen cooking, don’t fret. You can make a good pav bhaji dish at home in less than half an hour.
The following is a great recipe from a wonderful Internet-based Indian cook Swasthi.
Step 1 – Wash and Chop all the Vegetables
The first thing you do is wash all of the vegetables thoroughly. Then peel the potatoes and cut them into small bite-sized pieces. This is crucial because they won’t boil right if you don’t. It will also take longer and be harder to mash them if you cut the potatoes into substantial pieces. Use about one large russet potato. It will yield 1 ½ cups of potatoes when diced.
Step 2 – Cut the Vegetables [Cauliflower, Onion, Tomato]
Cut the cauliflower into small pieces. This will make it easy to boil and mash. Add about ¾ of a cup of green peas. Be sure to cut up a small carrot into very small pieces. Peel a medium-sized onion and then wash it thoroughly. Dice it into small pieces. This will help it sweat and caramelize quickly when you do cook it.
Dice two medium-sized tomatoes after you’ve washed them thoroughly. Don’t worry, cooked and mashed tomatoes have a great smell, especially if they are fried afterward.
Step 3 – Clean and Chop Bell Pepper
Clean a green bell pepper and dice it into very small pieces. Chop up a green chili.
Step 4 – Pressure Cook all the Vegetable
Cook all of the diced vegetables in either a pressure cooker or a slow pot. Be sure to add approximately 1 ½ cups of water when you do this. Turn the flame on medium and wait for the cooker to whistle twice. The vegetables have been boiled sufficiently and are now ready to be mashed. Turn off the flame and remove the pressure cooker from the heat.
Step 5 – Mash the Pressure-Cooked Vegetable
You can mash the vegetables in the pressure cooker itself. Be sure that there are no lumps after you’ve finished the mashing process. The vegetables should have a soft and somewhat paste-like consistency.
Step 6 – Start making Pav Bhaji
Now it’s time for the fun part – making the pav bhaji itself. It takes skill to make the best pav bhaji masala, so remember that technique is very important. You should also know that you don’t necessarily always have to follow the recipe exactly. The first thing you do is put a medium saucepan on the stove on medium heat. Then heat a tablespoon of butter and a tablespoon of vegetable oil in it.
Step 7 – Saute Onions and Garlic
Put the diced onions in the pan. Saute the onions. Stop when they are translucent and have a slight light brown color. Be sure to stir them consistently so that they don’t burn. Burnt onions taste terrible and will ruin any dish that they’re a part of. Turn the flame on low. Add about 1 ½ tablespoon of ginger garlic paste. Be sure to stir it frequently. This will keep it from burning.
Now when you don’t smell raw garlic and ginger anymore, add the chilis in. Saute them until fragrant.
Step 8 – Add Chopped Vegetables
Add the diced bell pepper and pan fry it for a few minutes. Stop when it has a glistening exterior and emits a somewhat fragrant odor. Add the diced tomatoes and about ¾ teaspoon of salt. Salt is a diuretic. What it does is draw out the liquids in the foods that it’s being cooked with. This helps them cook faster. It also enhances their flavor and taste. Sautee the tomatoes until they are a pulpy mush.
Step 9 – Add dry spiced masalas
Add about 1 teaspoon of red chili powder and a tablespoon of pav bhaji powder. Then cook until it smells cooked. This should be about 2-3 minutes. Add the vegetable mash and cook it with about ¾ cup of water. This will help it cook further and give it a creamy consistency and texture.
Step 10 – Add the Mashed Mixture
Bring the mixture to a boil. Make sure to stir it regularly. Then turn the flame to very low and allow it to simmer gently for about 10-15 minutes. Add about ¾ of a teaspoon of fenugreek powder. Continue to cook until the fenugreek powder has been thoroughly incorporated into the dish. Then turn the flame off and season it with some lemon juice.
Step 11 – Time to Toast the Buns
Now it’s time to toast the buns. Using the same pan, heat about a tablespoon of butter. Once it’s completely melted, put the hamburger buns in face down. Cook until they are toasted on one side and have a buttery smell. But be sure to add some pav bhaji powder to the melted butter before you place the buns in it. This will give it a masala-like flavor.
Whatever you do, don’t toast the buns for more than 2 minutes. They’ll start to burn and have a charred and unpleasant taste otherwise.
Step 12 – Serve and Enjoy it Warm
Spread the mixture over the toasted buns and add some butter to enhance its flavor. Enjoy!
Frequently Asked Questions
Here are some of the interesting questions related to pav bhaji masala.
1. What ingredients does masala contain?
The best masala contains some of the finest ingredients in the world in terms of spices. Almost all of these spices are native to the Indian subcontinent.
2. Can pav bhaji be served as a side dish? If so, what dishes go well with pav bhaji?
Most people tend to eat pav bhaji as the main dish. If they do serve other dishes with it, it’s usually different vegetable pakoras. The most popular happens to be an onion. Many people find that making a yogurt garnish to accompany it (read raita) pleases the palate and tempers the hot spices that are dominant in this dish.
3. Which is the best pav bhaji masala brand that you can buy?
Some great pav bhaji masala brands include:
- MDH pav bhaji masala
- Everest pav bhaji masala
- Tata Sampann pav bhaji masala
- Pure and sure organic pav bhaji masala
Conclusion
A popular Mumbai street dish is taking the world by storm.
What was once served as a ‘street junk food’ during cricket matches is now finding its way into some of the world’s most chic Indian restaurants. Even restaurants that serve continental and fusion food are increasingly making pav bhaji a regular dish on their menus. The public is noticing and just can’t get enough of this Indian street dish. This should not be too surprising. After all, pav bhaji does have a seductive and spicy flavor that teases and excites the taste buds simultaneously.
There you have the best pav bhaji masala powder brands available in India. Our pav bhaji masala top picks are: Everest’s Pav Bhaji Masala, MDH Pav Bhaji, Galaji Mumbai Pav Bhaji Masala.
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