Description
Delicious, hot & crispy Vada Pav is a very popular snack in Bombay
Scale
Ingredients
For the Vada filling
- 8 medium Potatoes, boiled, peeled & mashed
- 4–8 Garlic cloves (depending on how strong you want the flavor to be)
- 2–4 Green Chili (adjust to suit spice required)
- 1/2 inch or 2 teaspoons Ginger, minced
- 1 cup clean Coriander or Cilantro leaves, chopped very finely or ground coarsely
- 1/4 cup clean Curry Leaves, chopped roughly
- 4 Tablespoons Vegetable Oil
- 2 teaspoons Black Mustard Seeds
- 2 teaspoons Cumin seeds (jeera)
- 2–4 teaspoons Salt (adjust to taste)
- 1 Tablespoon Besan flour (gram flour) – optional
For the Batter
- 3 cups Besan / Gram Flour
- 1 Tablespoon Salt (adjust to taste)
- a pinch of Baking Soda
- 2 teaspoons Red Chilli Powder (adjust based on how spicy you want)
- 1 – 1.5 cups Water approximately (adjust to use as much required to make a cake-batter-like consistency)
Others
- Vegetable Oil – to deep fry
- Pav (alternative – Dinner Rolls or Buns)
- Sweet Chutney (Tamarind Dates Chutney)
- Green Chutney (Coriander Mint Chutney)
- Dry coconut Chilli powder (optional)
- Lehsun / Garlic chutney (optional)
Fried Salted Chili – optional
- 5–6 Green Chilli
- Salt
Note
- You can use your version of the chutneys or substitute with ketchup or eat the Vada and the Pav without any condiments at all.
Instructions
Make the vada
- Grind garlic ginger, green chilli and a little coriander to form a coarse paste.
- Heat oil in a small pan and add mustard seeds. When they start to crackle, add cumin (jeera) and fry for a few seconds. Add the turmeric, ground paste and curry leaves and fry for 20 seconds and switch off the flame.
- To the mashed potatoes, add the tempered oil, more coriander, salt, gram flour and mix well. Taste and adjust for seasoning, if required.
- To make the matter, mix gram flour (besan), red chili powder, salt, a pinch of baking soda or rice flour and mix well. Slowly start adding water and mix consistently to form a smooth batter. It should be like a thin cake batter – free from lumps.
- Meanwhile, heat oil for deep frying. Before frying the Batata Vadas, fry some green chili and toast them in salt (optional) – you eat this chilli as a side to the Vada Pav
- Divide the potato mixture into equal portions. Roll into a neat balls. Make sure that the vada is not too big or too small for the roll / pav you are using.
- Coat each potato mixture in the batter and drop into the hot oil. Fry at medium heat on both sides for 4-5 minutes each or until the vada is golden brown. Remove on a tissue paper.
Assemble the Vada Pav
- Slice the pav / bun in the center and apply the sweet and spicy chutneys.
- Place the vada on the base, close the Pav and enjoy.
- Serve immediately for the best taste. This can however be eaten at a later time too. Consume within 1-2 hours of assembling. Reheat before eating for better taste.
Note
- You can make the filling ahead of time and store in the fridge upto 3 days.
- Frying the Vadas is best right before consumption
- Category: Snacks
- Cuisine: Indian