ramyaramesh3007This crispy potato fritter sandwiched between fluffy small buns laced with sweet and spicy chutneys are spicy, flavourful and delicious!
Vada Pav is a popular fast food or street food dish that originated in central Mumbai as a snack heavily consumed by the working class. You can call it a mini Indian ‘burger’ or a ‘sandwich’ but basically you can have two to three of these with masala chai for the perfect afternoon pick me up.
Vada basically refers to the crispy fried potato fritter coated in a chickpea batter. The potato filling is extremely simple to cook and prepare with cooked potato, a few spices and herbs. The chickpea frying batter is also very simple to make – combine the ingredients with water to make a nice batter and dunk the patties in it.
The other most important thing is finding the right bread to make Vada Pav. Pav refers to a small fluffy bun that is widely consumed in India – it’s very soft and light. I managed to find a vegan one where I live and even though traditionally, it is served as it is, I toasted them in vegan butter for more flavour.
Vada Pav
Ingredients
Potato Filling
- 2 medium potatoes (cooked and peeled)
- 1 tbsp oil
- 1/2 tsp mustard seeds
- 1/2 tsp fenugreek seeds
- 1/2 tsp cumin seeds
- 1 sprig curry leaves
- 1 small green chilli
- 1 tsp ginger paste
- 1/4 tsp turmeric powder
- 1 tsp chili powder
- pinch hing
- handful coriander
- 1 tsp lime juice
- salt
Chickpea Batter
- 3/4 cup besan / chickpea flour
- 1 tbsp rice flour
- 1/4 tsp turmeric
- 1/4 tsp chili powder
- pinch hing
- salt
- 1/2 tsp baking powder / soda
- 1/2 cup water
Vada Pav
- green chutney
- tamarind chutney
- 4 ladi pav (bread)
- boondi (made from excess chickpea batter)
- 4 small green chillies
Instructions
- Microwave potatoes on high for 3-4 minutes with the lid closed. Let it cool down, peel off the skin and mash the cooked potatoes.
- To a pan, add oil, followed by mustard, fenugreek and cumin seeds. Once they sizzle and pop, add curry leaves. Lower the flame here if required.
- Add chopped green chili, ginger paste and saute for 1-2 minutes.
- Add spices like turmeric, chili powder and salt. Saute for 30 seconds and make sure they don't burn.
- Add cooked potatoes and mix well. Add chopped coriander, lime juice and give it a good mix.
- Mix the ingredients for the chickpea batter – chickpea and rice flour, spices, salt and baking powder. Gradually add water and whisk until smooth.
- Shape your potatoes into a ball and dunk it in the mixture.
- Heat up oil for deep frying in another pan. Make sure oil is not too hot. Gently place the potato coated in batter into the oil and fry until golden.
- Take them from the pan and place on a paper towel to drain any excess oil.
- Once done frying the patties, spoon some of the excess batter with a spoon or fork and drop them into the hot oil. Once they crisp up, take them out. This is called Boondi.
- Similarly, drop the green chillies in the oil and be careful during this process. Take the chillies out once they are fried.
- Slide your ladi pav into half and spread some vegan butter. Pan fry until toasted.
- Layer the bun with tamarind chutney, green chutney, boondi and vada. Place a green chili before covering with the other slice of bun. Serve!