Recipe- Mumbai Popular Street Food Vada Pav

Mumbai’s popular street food, Vada Pav – spicy potato filling sandwiched between buns and layers of spicy garlic and green chutney!Vada Pav is one of Mumbai’s most famous food. It’s almost synonyms with the city, in fact I remember when I was in Mumbai few years back, it was one of my goals to eat vada pav! This popular street food is loved by one and all.

Ingredients

Dry Garlic Chutney

2 teaspoons oil
1/4 cup garlic around 15 cloves
1 cup grated coconut use fresh
3 teaspoons kashmiri red chili powder or add more to taste
1/2 teaspoon salt

Green Chutney

1 bunch cilantro
1-2 green chili
2 garlic cloves
1/4 teaspoon cumin powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
juice of 1 lime
1 tablespoon water as needed
1/2 teaspoon sugar optional

Tamarind Chutney

1 cup water
1/4 cup tamarind paste
50 grams jaggery
3 tablespoons sugar or to taste
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon red chili powder or to taste
1/2 teaspoon cumin powder
1/2 teaspoon ginger powder

For the Vada

1 inch ginger
5-6 large garlic
2 green chilies
1 tablespoon oil
3/4 teaspoon mustard seeds
1/4 teaspoon hing also known as asafetida
12-15 curry leaves
4 medium potatoes around 600 grams
1/4 teaspoon turmeric
3/4 teaspoon salt or to taste
2 tablespoons chopped cilantro

For The Batter

1 cup besan also known as chickpea flour
1/4 teaspoon turmeric
1/2 teaspoon salt
pinch baking soda
1/2 cup water + 1-2 tablespoons extra, as needed

Other Ingredients

10 ladi pav
vegetable oil for frying
butter for toasting the pavs

Method

Make The Garlic Chutney

* Heat 2 teaspoons of oil in a pan on medium heat.

* Then add garlic cloves and fry for 1-2 minutes until garlic turns slightly brown in color. Set aside on a tissue.

* To the same pan, add freshly grated coconut. Cook for 2 minutes until light golden brown.

* Transfer coconut to a blender. Add toasted garlic, salt and red chili powder and grind to a coarse chutney. Set it aside.

Make The Green Chutney

* To a blender add cilantro. Discard the hard stems, the softer ones are okay to use.

* Add green chili, garlic, cumin powder, salt, sugar (if using) and lime juice. Add 1 tbsp water or as needed. Blend to a fine paste and set it aside.

Make The Tamarind Chutney

* To a pan add water, tamarind paste, jaggery, sugar, salt, red chili powder, cumin powder and ginger powder. Bring mixture to a boil.

* Reduce heat to medium and let it boil for 3-4 minutes until the chutney turns thick and coats the back of a spoon. Set it aside to cool. It will thicken more as it cools down.

Make The Vada

* Boil the potatoes until soft, peel them and set them aside. Using a mortar and pestle, crush the ginger, garlic and green chili. Set it aside.

* Heat 1 tablespoon oil in pan on medium heat. Once the oil is hot, add the mustard seeds and let them pop. Then add the curry leaves and hing and mix.

* Add the crushed ginger-garlic-green chili. Cook for one minute until the ginger and garlic starts changing color.

* Now add the boiled potatoes and remove pan from heat. Add turmeric, salt and mash the potatoes using a potato masher. Add chopped cilantro and mix well.

* Now make lemon sized balls out of the potato mixture. I was able to get 10 of these. Set these aside.

Make The Batter to Fry The Vada

* To make the batter, take besan in a large bowl. Add turmeric, salt and pinch of baking soda to it. Start adding water, little by little to the bowl.

* Whisk to form a smooth batter. You may need couple of extra tablespoons of water to reach a desired consistency. The batter should neither be thick nor thin.

Fry The Vada

* Heat oil in a kadai/wok on medium-high heat. Dip each potato round into the batter, coat it from all sides. Then drop it carefully into the hot oil.

* Fry the vada in hot oil until golden brown in color. Fry all vadas in a similar way. Drain on a paper towel.

Assemble The Vada Pav

* To assemble the vada pav, toast the pav with some butter on a pan. Then slice each pav but not entirely. It should still be attached at one end.

* Apply green chutney on one side and tamarind chutney on the other side of the pav. Then apply garlic chutney on top of these chutneys.

* Place the fried vada in the center. Serve the vada pav immediately with more chutney on the side.