Vada Pav

Vada Pav – the most famous street food in Maharashtra. It’s more like an Indian burger, with a spicy potato filling deep fried in a gram flour batter along with some spices in a bun. It’s served along with a spicy hot red chutney. There are different variations to it. Some like additional green chutney, some like it with meethi chutney. But I love the simple vada pav with the red hot chutney.I always try to have it whenever I go to Mumbai. The ones you get there are simple delicious and mouth watering. I also managed to find it in Delhi in a few eateries. But the taste was far far different. So I turned to the famous Sanjeev Kapoor for the recipe. With a few ingredients here and there, I came up with this one.

Ingredients for Vada:

2 large Potatoes, boiled and mashed

½ tsp Turmeric Powder

2-3 Garlic cloves

1 -2 Green chillies

Fresh Coriander leaves chopped

Salt to taste 

For the batter:

1 cup Gram flour (besan)

1 pinch soda bicarbonate

½ tsp Turmeric Powder

½ tsp Red Chilli Powder

¼ tsp Ajwain Seeds

¼ tsp Garam Masala Powder

Salt to taste

Red Chutney Recipe

4 Red chillies

4-6 cloves of garlic

2 tbsp Desiccated Coconut Powder

2 tbsp Peanuts

½ tsp Tamarind Paste (optional)

Salt to taste

Method:

1.       For the red chutney, grind together chillies, garlic, coconut and peanuts. Add salt and tamarind paste. Keep aside.

2.       For the Vada, ground together garlic and green chilies. Mix this in th boiled and mashed potatoes. Add turmeric powder, salt and coriander leaves. Divide into 4 equal portions and roll them into balls.

3.       For the batter, mix together gram flour(besan), soda bicarbonate, red chilli powder, turmeric powder, garam masala powder, ajwain seeds and salt. Add sufficient water and whisk to make a coating consistency.  The batter should not be too thick or thin else the vadas will not turn out to be good.

4.       Heat oil in a kadai. Dip the vada balls into the batter and deep fry in hot oil till golden brown. The oil should be hot else we will get soggy vadas. Drain excess oil on kitchen paper.

5.       Slit the pavs horizontally without cutting through, spread the red chutney inside and place the hot vadas on the pavs.

6.       Serve hot.