In Maharashtra, particularly in Mumbai and Pune, pav bhaji is a popular fast snack. Bhaji is the name for a dish with vegetables and curries in Marathi, while pav indicates bread. Typically, it is offered for sale on street carts. Because we can’t find it in Andhra Pradesh, my mother used to prepare it at home. I adore this recipe that she gave me. Any vegetables you might have at home (such as cauliflower and cabbage) are always welcome to be included. This is a wonderful snack or lunch. With warm pav or bread that has been lightly toasted.
| Prep Time: | 20 mins |
| Cook Time: | 55 mins |
| Total Time: | 1 hr 15 mins |
| Servings: | 6 |
| Yield: | 1 2-quart baking dish |
Ingredients
- 4 large russet potatoes, scrubbed and cut into pieces
- ¼ cup butter
- 4 slices thick sliced bacon
- ⅓ cup chopped onion
- 1 cup cottage cheese
- 1 ½ cups chopped green onion
- ½ cup shredded Cheddar cheese
- salt and pepper to taste
- 2 tablespoons butter, cut into pieces
- ¼ cup shredded Cheddar cheese
- ¼ teaspoon paprika, for garnish
Instructions
- Preheat an oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Grease a 2-quart baking dish.
- Place the potatoes into a large pot and cover with salted water. Bring to a boil over high heat, then reduce heat to medium-low, cover, and simmer until tender, about 20 minutes. Drain and allow to steam dry for a minute or two. Return potatoes to pot and roughly mash them with 1/4 cup butter.
- Meanwhile, place the bacon in a large, deep skillet, and cook over medium-high heat, turning occasionally, until evenly browned, about 10 minutes. Remove all but 1 teaspoon of bacon drippings from the skillet. Drain the bacon slices on a paper towel-lined plate, and allow to cool. Crumble the bacon and set aside.
- Place chopped onion in the skillet and cook and stir over medium-low heat until the onion has softened and turned translucent, about 5 minutes. Scrape onion out of the skillet over the potatoes.
- Stir reserved bacon, cottage cheese, green onion, 1/2 cup of shredded Cheddar cheese, salt, and pepper into the potato mixture and mix lightly to combine. Spoon into the prepared baking dish, dot with 2 tablespoons of butter, and sprinkle with 1/4 cup of Cheddar cheese. Garnish top with paprika for color, and bake, uncovered, in oven for 30 minutes, until the top begins to brown and the cheese is melted and bubbling.
Nutrition Facts
| Calories | 429 kcal |
| Carbohydrate | 47 g |
| Cholesterol | 56 mg |
| Dietary Fiber | 6 g |
| Protein | 16 g |
| Saturated Fat | 12 g |
| Sodium | 469 mg |
| Sugars | 3 g |
| Fat | 21 g |
| Unsaturated Fat | 0 g |
Reviews
I LOVE potatoes & this recipe is the very BEST of the many potato recipes I have. My husband is more of a rice person, but he loves these & requests them often. Since it is just the 2 of us, I cook & serve in individual ramekins & freeze the rest as well in individual ramekins. Thank you so much for an unforgettable & delicious dish.
Great recipe, will make this again! yummy flavors!!!
Excellent, used less bacon and also used low sodium bacon. Made double batch.
This was a very successful side for our Christmas dinner. I will NOT be salting the potato water next time.
I made this last night. We LOVED it. The only thing I did differently was skip the green onions because I didn’t have any. For those questioning the use of cottage cheese, please use the cottage cheese. This is a very satisfying side dish. I will make this again and again.
I would have used a potato suitable for boiling as russets are a baking potato and went watery. Other than that. A great recipe. I will be taking this to the next family pot luck.
This is a very good dish. I made it as instructed. It is good comfort food. Not terribly complex so I couldn’t give it 5 stars. I LOVE onions but I think the scallions should be cut back by about a third. I think if you’re a garlic nut this may benefit from that as well. We had it again for breakfast with our eggs and bacon. Someone called this unhealthy. I would disagree. I eat VERY healthy. This dish alone is almost a complete meal because of the protein in cottage cheese.
Good flavor but just mashed potatoes. What doesn’t taste great with bacon and cheese. Would be much better in scallop potatoes perhaps. Not for the healthy eater.
I followed this recipe to the letter and it was absolutely delicious! The Mr. and I were over the moon. Would not change a thing. Thank you LAGIRL. Great share! This is definitely saved to my FAV’s.
These are fantastic, my family loves them.we’re not a big fan of cottage cheese, so I used french onion dip instead.
This is a simple yet great alternative to the usual mashed potatoes. Reading the reviews, how can one say it didn’t wow them when they changed the recipe? Try it as it states then judge. people.
Not diet friendly but packs a great punch for your tastebuds. This is very similiar to Paula deen’s cottage potatoes. I didn’t have any real bacon so I used real bacon bits & sautueed with my onion. Make sure you season well…
These were fantastic!! It was like a baked potato but easier to eat!! LOL Maybe next time I’ll try sour cream instead of cottage cheese just to richen it up a bit.
Made this as a side dish for dinner. It was delicious! I used real bacon bits sautéed with onions. Didn’t have green onion so used a little fresh parsley.. Husband and sister loved it Will definitely be making this again. Thank you LAGIRL for a delicious recipe!
Great recipe, will make this again! yummy flavors!!!
I didn’t have bacon, but I used bacon fat, and the flavor came through just fine. To cut down on the number of pans (!) I sauted the onions in one Tablespoon of bacon fat in my dutch oven. (yay! another chance to use it!) I boiled the potatoes in another pan, drained, mashed mixed right in it. Then put it all into the dutch oven (already greased!) I only had one small bunch of green onions (about 3/4 cup chopped) but it was still very good. I cut out the extra 2 T butter and didn’t add salt, thinking it would be salty enough with the bacon fat and cheese. It did need just a little, though. I think that the cottage cheese may be the important ingredient here — the flavor was really special. Thanks for the great recipe!
Fantastic!! I followed the recipe for the most part, but didn’t have cottage cheese, so I substituted cream of chicken condensed soup… I will definitely make this again, and might add a lil garlic. SO DELICIOUS and the house smelled great while it cooked!
Made these for dinner the other night. I did have to substitute a few things and use what I had on hand..cream cheese for the cottage cheese and I had to leave out the green onions and I used yukon gold potatoes. We all loved them even my husband who isnt a big fan of potatoes.
This really is a great recipe and one of the few that I’ve actually followed. This would be awesome with ham! We all loved it, thanks for submitting it!!
my favorite way to prepare potatoes as a side dish!
Awesome side dish!! Tastes just like potato skins!