Vada Pav-Mumbai Street Food/Chaat

Vada pav is a famous street food of Mumbai. It is the Indianized version of sandwich with batata vada as the filling and green chutney to pep it up. The best part of the vada pav is the spicy dry garlic chutney that totally makes a difference in taste. I can simply nibble some potato chips with this chutney.
If you love flavors of garlic then you are in for a treat. My first tasting happened to be at goli’s vada pav a few years ago and from then on it’s a continuing affair. Making of vada pav is quite easy if you can make some preparations a head. If garlic chutney and green chutney are prepared earlier, then its just the batata vada. Of course you can bake your pav but I prefer to buy the packed ones as they come in handy to cater the instant cravings (also I don’t have an oven as of now!).This week I was in mood for a snack adventure so here it is!

Ingredients:

Pav Bun-6

Green Chutney-1/2 cup

Dry Garlic Chutney-1/2 cup

Green chilies-4,slit

For Batata/potato Vada :

For Batter:

Besan/Chickpea flour-3/4 cup

Red chilipowder-1/2 tsp

Ajjwain/omam-1/4 tsp

Baking soda-1 big pinch

Salt-as needed

For Filling:

Potatoes-3 medium

Green chilies-2

Ginger-1 inch piece

Garlic-2 flakes

Turmeric powder-1/4 tsp

Salt-as needed

Mustard seeds-1 tsp

Cumin seeds-1 tsp

Oil-for deep frying

How It Happened:

1. Boil the potatoes and mash them with a masher/ricer and set aside. Grind the ginger, garlic and green chilies to a coarse paste.

2. In a small pan, heat oil add mustard seeds and cumin seeds and ginger-chili paste. Fry for a minute and add this to the mashed potato.

3. Mix the potatoes with all ingredients along with salt and turmeric powder. Divide this into equal sized portions and make smooth balls and slightly pat them between palms to make discs.

4. In a mixing bowl add besan, red chili powder, ajjwain, salt and baking soda and mix well. Add water little by little to make a smooth batter. The batter should be a little thinner than the pancake /dosa batter.

5. Heat enough oil in a kadai and dip a potato disc into the chickpea batter and drop them in the hot oil. Regulate the heat to medium and cook on both sides. When the oil stops bubbling/when the vada has turned golden brown transfer them to a kitchen tissue. Fry a couple of whole green chilies slightly split until their skin is blistered.

6. Similarly fry all the vadas and set aside. Slice the pav buns horizontally.

7. While serving, slather a side of the pav with green chutney place in a batata vada and then top with a generous sprinkle of dry garlic chutney. Cover it with the other cheek of the pav.

8. Serve with a fried green chilly for those who need an extra spice kick!

Notes:

* Slit the green chilies before deep frying else they will burst open while in the hot oil.

* The garlic chutney is the taste maker, so do not skip it.

* Adjust heat as per taste.

* Check the links for preparation of green chutney and dry garlic chutney.

* Burger buns can also be used if you can’t find pav!