Vada Pav

vada pav is one of the most humble street food of mumbai, yet it is tasty and delicious. it basically has batata vada which is sandwiched between two slices of a pav, along with sweet chutney and green chutney

INGREDIENTS (measuring cup used, 1 cup = 250 ml)

for spiced potato stuffing:

• 350 grams potatoes, 2 medium to large sized potatoes
• 6 to 7 garlic/lahsun + 1 to 2 green chillies/hari mirch, crushed in a mortar-pestle
• ½ tsp mustard seeds/rai
• a pinch of asafoetida/hing
• ? tsp turmeric powder/haldi
• 7 to 8 curry leaves/kadi patta
• 1 tbsp chopped coriander leaves/dhania patta
• salt as required

for batter:

• 1 to 1.25 cup besan/gram flour
• a pinch of asafoetida/hing
• ? tsp turmeric powder/haldi
• a pinch of baking soda (optional)
• ½ cup water or as required
• salt as required

for green chutney:

• 
  
• 1 cup coriander leaves/dhania patta
• 1 to 2 garlic/lahsun
• 2 to 3 drops of lemon juice
• 2 to 3 green chillies/hari mirch
• salt as required

for saunth chutney:

• ½ cup seedless tamarind/imli, tightly packed
• 1 and ¾ cups water
• ½ tsp cumin seeds/jeera
• ½ tsp ginger powder/saunth powder
• a pinch of asafoetida/hing
• ¼ tsp red chili powder/lal mirch powder
• 7 to 8 tbsp jaggery/gur or as required - adjust as per your taste
• 1 tsp oil
• rock salt or black salt as required

other ingredients:

• 2 tbsp dry red chutney (optional)
• 7 to 8 pav/bread buns
• 3 to 4 fried green chilies mixed with some salt (optional)
• also check the following recipe:
• green chutney
• sweet tamarind chutney
• whole wheat pavs
• bombay pav

INSTRUCTIONS

preparing green chutney:

grind all the green chutney ingredients with little water till smooth. avoid making a watery chutney.

preparing saunth chutney:

1. soak tamarind in hot water for 30 to 40 minutes.
2. with your hands, squeeze the pulp from the tamarind in the same bowl or pan.
3. strain the pulp and keep aside.
4. heat oil in a small pan.
5. lower the flame & add cumin seeds and let them crackle.
6. add ginger powder, red chili powder, asafoetida.
7. stir and add the strained tamarind pulp. cook for 2-3 mins.
8. add the jaggery and salt and cook for 4-5 mins more.
9. the mixture would thicken. let the saunth chutney mixture cool.
10. when cooled, store the saunth chutney in an air-tight dry jar or container. refrigerate and serve the saunth chutney whenever required with chaat or snacks.

preparing the batata vadas:

1. boil 2 large potatoes, about 350 grams till they are completely cooked. peel and then mash them with a fork in a bowl.
2. heat 2 to 3 tsp oil in a small pan. add ½ tsp mustard seeds and crackle them. then add 7 to 8 curry leaves and asafoetida. stir and saute for about 5 seconds.
3. then add 6 to 7 garlic and 1 to 2 green chilies, which have been crushed in a mortar-pestle. add ? tsp turmeric powder. stir till the raw aroma of garlic goes away.
4. pour this tempering in the mashed potatoes.
5. add 1 to 2 tbsp chopped coriander leaves. also add salt.
6. mix everything well and then make small to medium balls from the mashed potato mixture. flatten these balls a bit. cover and keep aside.
7. in another bowl, make a smooth batter from 1 to 1.25 cups besan/gram flour, ? tsp turmeric powder, a pinch of asafoetida, a pinch of baking soda (optional), salt and ½ cup water. the batter should not be too thick or thin. if the batter becomes thin, add 1 or 2 tbsp of gram flour. if the batter becomes thick, then add 1 or 2 tbsp water. keep aside.
8. in a kadai or pan, heat oil for deep frying.
9. dip the slightly flattened potato balls in the batter and coat it evenly with the batter.
10. gently drop these batter coated potato balls in medium hot oil.
11. depending on the size of the kadai or pan, you can add more or less of the vadas while frying.
12. deep fry these batata vadas till golden evenly.
13. drain them on kitchen paper towels. make all batata vadas this way and keep aside.
14. when they are still hot or warm, you need to serve them. take all the chutneys and pav on your work surface.

assembling vada pav:

1. slice the pav without breaking it into two parts and keep aside. if you don't have sweet chutney, then just make the vada pav with green chutney.
2. spread both the green chutney and sweet chutney on the sliced pav. you can also spread green chutney on one side and sweet chutney on the other side.
3. sprinkle the dry garlic chutney. this is optional and if you don't have you can skip it.
4. place the hot batata vada sandwiched in the bread slices.
5. serve vada pav immediately or else.