Rustic Tikhat Pav Bread

Misal with Pav is not a new concept. In fact beans and carbs go really well to form a balance diet that can be nutritious and filling. In my attempt to included protein to my vegetarian diet, beans work wonders. And in this cold winter climate, spicy Misal curry is just delicious. Went to gym on Sunday (which is very unusual for me)... with a great workout of cardio and weights. And then a healthy lunch of protein rich mixed bean misal. Being a Sunday I planned to bake fresh pav to go with Misal. Baking, probably you might feel is too tedious of a work to do... but believe me, it is work for yeast and not for you. It is just some preparation that is needed, and while yeast does the rising process, you could multitask with a trip to grocery store or workout at the gym or just sit back and relax. Baking is not tedious, plus with the delicious end result... it is totally worth it.

Misal is a spicy bean curry and is accompanied by Mumbai Laadi Pav Bread (click for the recipe). But this time I made some rustic bread using claypot lined with banana leaf from our backyard. Banana lead is a part of our culture. Banana leaf is used for cooking as well as for serving. It is rustic as well as appealing to our eyes. This pav bread is also incorporated with the spices that I use for cooking Misal. Tikhat in Marathi means spicy and hot. I added hot spices (onion and garlic masala) from the recipe into the pav bread dough to match with theis Maharashtiran curry. It pairs really well and is fun too.

Ingredients (10-12 claypot pavs) Check my Pav Bread recipe for pictures and videos.

1+1/4 cup water

2 tbsp. sugar
1 pack yeast (2+1/4 tsp.)
3 tbsp. unsalted butter
3 cups all purpose flour/maida
Extra flour for kneading the dough
1 tsp. Salt

3-4 tbsp. Onion Garlic Masala (Kanda Lasoon Masala)
Slightly more butter or oil spray for greasing and dusting the pan or pots.

Start with 1+1/4 cup warm water (100F) in a large bowl. Add 1 packet Yeast, (2+1/4 tsp.) and 2 tbsp. sugar. Mix and let the mixture rest for 5 minutes.
Add 3 tbsp. melted unsalted butter, 1 tsp. salt and 3 cups all-purpose flour.
Mix together to make a sticky dough.
Lightly dust your clean counter. Empty the dough and knead it for 8-10 minutes. This is the most important stage to develop gluten, and make the dough elastic. It is okay to use around 1/4 cup flour while kneading (if needed).
Keep the dough in a greased large bowl. Cover and let it rest for an hour.
Use a tray or baking box 9"X13" to arrange and bake pav breads. Grease and dust it with flour.
After an hour the dough should have doubled in size. Knead the dough again for 8-10 minutes. Mix onion and garlic masala to it and knead it to mix well. Divide into 10-12 parts, and make balls to place in greased clay pots lined with greased banana leaf.
Leave it aside or keep in slightly warm oven to let the dough proof for 45 minutes to 1 hour.
(It is okay to keep it a little longer too. Maximum 1 1/2 hour.)
Proofing is the process just before baking. The dough is allowed to rest to double in size.
Bake in a 450F preheated oven for 8-10 minutes or till they get lightly browned.
When you first remove the pav from the oven they might feel hard on the top. Do not worry. They will be super soft as they cool down.
Remove and let them rest on a cooling rack.
Let the pav bread completely cool on the rack. Serve with the clay pot. Let the person eating remove pav from the pot and enjoy with misal.

Ingredients to make Misal for 4-5 people. (Click here for my mixed sprout misal recipe)

1/4 cup of each bean. This time I used moong, methi, brown chana, and soybeans (You can use any beans of your choice: matki, white peas, rajma, green chana, brown chana, green peas, methi, moong)

1 cup chopped onion

2 tbsp. oil

1 tbsp. onion and garlic powder

4-5 chopped tomatoes

1-2 tbsp of misal powder or garam masala powder

Salt to taste

To make rassa or tarra (optional) This is to add spice and shine to the misal.

1 tbsp. oil

2-3 tbsp. onion and garlic powder

Water

Salt to taste

To Serve

Chopped onions

Misal farsan

Plain yogurt (dahi) or plain Greek yogurt.

Freshly chopped cilantro

Soak dried beans and peas overnight or for 6-8 hours.
Add some salt and turmeric powder and enough water to soak all the beans and pressure cook soaked beans in water until you hear 2-3 whistles.
We will use this water for Misal to not waste the dissolved nutrients.
In a heavy bottom pan, saute finely chopped onions in 2 tbsp. of oil till they soften.
Add 1 tbsp of onion garlic masala. Fry for 2-3 minutes
Add finely chopped tomatoes. Cover and cook for 4-5 minutes till tomatoes get soft and mushy.
To the onion and tomato gravy, add 2 tbsp. of misal powder or garam masala and salt
Add boiled beans with left water. Cover and simmer for 8-10 minutes.

To make Rassa or Tarra:

In a tbsp of oil, fry 2tbsps. of onion and garlic powder and 1 tbsp of red chilli powder for 2 minutes. Add 1 1/2 cup of water and pinch of salt and bring it to boil.

To serve:

Pour some misal into a bowl. Add some rassa over it. Serve with Dahi, Chopped onion, and farsan mixture.

Here is step by step pictorial recipe:

Mix onion and garlic masala to pav dough and knead it to mix well. Divide into 10-12 parts, and make balls to place in greased clay pots lined with greased banana leaf.