Vada Pav Recipe (Mumbai Street Style)

Ingredients

Green Chutney

• 1 to 1½ cups coriander leaves
• ½ teaspoon cumin seeds (jeera)
• 2 hot green chilies (adjust to taste)
• 2 small garlic cloves (peeled)
• 1 to 2 teaspoons Lemon juice (adjust to taste)
• 1 to 2 tablespoons water (use only as required)
• ¼ teaspoon Salt (adjust to taste)
• 1 to 2 tablespoons dried coconut or roasted peanuts or fried gram or a slice of white bread (optional)

Dry Garlic Chutney

• 6 to 8 garlic cloves
• 6 to 10 dried red chilies (Byadgi or Kashmiri or any less spicy kind)
• ½ to 1 cup dried coconut (copra) (for more garlic flavor use ½ cup)
• 1 tablespoon peanuts (optional)
• ¼ to ½ teaspoon salt
• ½ teaspoon Kashmiri red chili powder (optional, for color)

For Vada

• 3 medium potatoes (aloo – 2 ¼ cups crumbled)
• 2 to 3 green chilies (adjust to taste)
• ¾ inch ginger (Peeled)
• 2 to 3 cloves garlic (Peeled)
• 1 tablespoon oil
• ¼ to ½ teaspoon mustard seeds
• 2 pinches hing (asafoetida)
• 1 sprig curry leaves
• ¼ teaspoon turmeric
• ⅛ teaspoon red chilli powder (optional)
• ½ to ¾ teaspoon Salt (adjust to taste)
• 3 tablespoons coriander leaves (fine chopped)

For Vada covering

• ¾ cup gram flour (besan)
• 2 to 3 tablespoons rice flour (or Corn Starch)
• ¼ teaspoon Salt (adjust to taste)
• 1 Pinch asafoetida (hing)
• Tiny pinch soda-bi-carbonate (optional)
• 1 pinch Turmeric
• ⅛ teaspoon red chilli powder (optional)
• oil for deep frying

For Serving

• ¼ cup Tamarind chutney (optional)
• 7 to 8 pav
• 7 to 8 green chilies deseeded

Steps

Make Green Chutney for Vada Pav

1. Pluck the coriander leaves, keeping tender stalks if you wish. Rinse several times in plenty of water and drain thoroughly in a colander.
2. Put all the green-chutney ingredients into a blender jar. Blend to a smooth, thick paste, adding 1 tbsp water at a time.
3. Adjust the salt, lemon juice and green chili to taste. Keep the chutney from becoming very runny, or the pav will quickly become soggy.
4. Refrigerate the chutney in a clean, dry, airtight glass jar until needed.

Make Dry Garlic Chutney

1. Remove the garlic skins, then dry-roast for 2 to 3 mins.
2. Add the red chilies and roast until crisp, then put them on a plate to cool.
3. Put the coconut into the same pan just long enough to become hot. Transfer it to a plate to cool.
4. If using peanuts, you can dry-roast them over medium heat until golden and aromatic.
5. First grind the red chilies with the red chili powder and salt. Add the garlic and blend once, then add the coconut and peanuts and grind a little coarsely. Set aside.

Make Stuffing

1. Boil the potatoes until just done using a pressure cooker, steamer or pot. They must be firm and fork-tender, not mushy. Let them cool, then crumble lightly.
2. Turn the green chili, garlic and ginger into a coarse paste.
3. In a pan over low heat, heat 1 tbsp oil and add mustard. When it begins crackling, add the curry leaves and fry until crisp.
4. Add the ginger-garlic-green-chili paste and fry over low heat until fragrant.
5. Mix in the hing, salt, turmeric and red chili powder thoroughly. Add the potatoes and coriander leaves, then turn off the stove and mix everything well.
6. Allow the mixture to cool, then form 7 to 8 portions into balls.

Make Vada

1. For deep frying, set the oil heating in a kadai.
2. Combine the besan with rice flour or corn flour in a mixing bowl. Add salt, hing, turmeric and the optional red chilli powder, and mix thoroughly.
3. Pour in 4 tablespoons water and begin mixing to form a thick, lump-free batter, adding more water as required. Make it neither too thick nor too thin, and adjust the salt and spice.
4. When the oil is sufficiently hot, optionally mix a tiny pinch of soda into the batter thoroughly.
5. Drop a little batter into the oil to test it. It should sizzle and come to the surface without browning.
6. Turn the flame to medium.
7. Dip each potato ball into the batter to coat, then drop it into the oil using your fingers or a tbsp. Fry 3 to 5 per batch according to the kadai's size. Refer to the video for a demonstration.
8. Leave them undisturbed for 2 minutes, until firm, then stir gently and fry until golden. Lift onto a cooling rack or into a colander.
9. Wipe the green chilies dry and deseed them to prevent bursting. Put them in a mess strainer or colander and fry lightly in the same hot oil, without over-frying.

Assembling Vada Pav

1. Slit each pav bun for filling, leaving one side attached.
2. Spread green chutney on both inner sides of the pav and sprinkle with garlic chutney. If desired, also spread tamarind chutney on the other side.
3. Put a batata vada inside, flattening it first if you prefer.
4. Serve the vada pav with fried chilies, tamarind chutney and green chutney alongside.