Vada Pav

Vada Pav aur cutting chai- does that ring a bell? 

Vada pav is a popular street food of Maharastra or let me put it this way- vada pav is everybody's quick grab in Aamchi Mumbai! 

A spicy, crispy fried potato dumpling is  sandwiched between Pav (bread) with a hint of fried chilli which is commonly available on the THELAS almost everywhere. Choice of millions this humble vada pav is a meal for some and exciting snack for many, my husband being one of them. I was obviously thrilled to prepare this snack at home, as finding the authentic vada pav in streets of Gurgaon was a tedious job.

Ingredients:
For Vada:

• 4 boiled, peeled and mashed potatoes
• 3-4 tbsp ginger, garlic green chilly and  coriander leaves paste
• 1 medium sized onion finely chopped
• 1/2 tsp cumin seeds
• 1/2 tsp mustard seeds
• 10-12 curry leaves
• Salt to taste
• 1/2 tsp turmeric powder
• A pinch of sugar(optional)
• 1 tbsp lemon juice
• 2 tbsp oil

For outer coating:

• 1 cup chickpea flour/gram flour/besan
• Salt to taste
• Red chilly powder to taste
• 1/2 tsp carom seeds
• 1/2 cup water
• Oil for frying

Directions:

• In a heavy bottomed pan heat oil, add cumin seeds, mustard seeds, when they start to splutter add chopped onions, curry leaves and saute  till the onions become translucent, next add ginger garlic and coriander paste and saute for few minutes. 
• Now add mashed potatoes, turmeric powder, salt and sugar and mix well. 
• Cook this mixture for 4-5 minutes on medium flame. 
• Switch off the flame, sprinkle lemon juice and mix well.
•  Keep aside and allow the mixture to cool.
  

For the coating:

• Mix all the ingredients in a bowl and make a  batter using water.(batter should not be very thick or very thin)
• Now take the potato mixture, divide into 8-9 equal parts and make round balls.
• Flatten the balls slightly with your palms and dip each ball in gram flour batter and coat well.
• Dip the coated vadas in medium hot oil, deep fry  till golden brown and drain on a kitchen towel.

Garlic Chutney Powder:

• 8-10 garlic cloves
• 2 tbsp Red chilli powder(or to taste)
• 1 sooji rusk
• Salt to taste
• A pinch of sugar
  

Directions:

• Grind all the ingredients in a grinder to make a coarse powder
• Chutney is ready.
• This can be stored in an air tight box foe about a week.

Assembling:

• Slice each pav into half( I used store bought pav here)
• Spread some garlic chutney and place a vada and a green chilly in each pav.
• Serve immediately  with a cutting chai :)