Vada pav – Indian version of burger, must be one of the most loved street foods. Vada is a spicy potato mixture with a coating of gram flour, deep fried in oil. Pav is a special kind of soft bread, almost square in shape. V and I are great fans of this absolutely yummy dish from our college days in Belgaum . Somehow I was always hesitant to try vada pav as I was not too sure. I thought it had a very elaborate procedure. Finally yesterday I made it. I had invited few of our friends for a small vada pav party. It became an instant hit.
The chutneys for this were very easy to make. I made all the three chutneys even though the green chutney and the red garlic chutney are the most frequently used ones. Sweet chutney is not always a part of it. But I remember eating it in Belgaum. It suited very well for our party because many of us cannot take very hot food and the red and green chutneys are quite hot. I went with my instincts and few other chaats I have made in the past, since when I searched in the internet, there were so many different recipes for all these chutneys.
Check out different versions of this vada – batata vada , batata vada with raw onion .
I am sending this to DK’s potato feast and Sia’s Ode to potato events.
Vada stuffing: 3 cups boiled, peeled and mashed potatoes (that is about 4 big potatoes) 1/2 tea spn cumin seeds 1/2 tea spn mustard seeds 4-5 curry leaves 1/2 tea spn ginger garlic paste 2 green chilies 3-4 strands coriander leaves 1/2 cup chopped onion A pinch turmeric Oil Salt
Method: Heat a little oil and add mustard, cumin seeds. When it starts popping, add curry leaves, green chilies, ginger garlic paste, onions and fry till onions turn translucent. Add the potatoes, turmeric, salt and mix well. If there are any big pieces of potatoes, add a little water and close and cook for few minutes, then mash and mixed well. Add chopped coriander leaves and mix. Let it cool a bit.
Vada coating: 1/2 cup gram flour ( besan ) 1 tbl spn rice flour (added for crispiness) 1/2 tea spn chili powder Salt
Method: Mix all the above ingredients with water to make a smooth paste. As soon as water it added to the flours, it starts becoming lumps, so mix it with hand to remove lumps or use a egg whisk. Do not make it too thin, the coating does not hold on to the stuffing it is too thin.
Making vadas : Heat oil for deep frying. Make a ping-pong ball sized round from the stuffing. Dip the ball into the coating batter and deep fry in hot oil. Take out on a paper towel.
Green chutney: 9-10 strands coriander leaves Few mint leaves (optional, I didn’t use it) 3 green chilies 1″ piece ginger (optional) Salt
Method: Grind all to a smooth paste. Do not make too watery.
Red chutney: 1 cup dried coconut (or dessicated coconut) 2 tbl spns chili powder 1 tea spn chopped garlic 1/4 tea spn tamarind extract or 1-2 pieces of tamarind (optional, added for tanginess) Salt
Method: Dry roast coconut and tamarind till it turns slightly brownish. Grind together with all other ingredients. This is dry powder, so do not add water. It can be stored in air tight containers for about a month.
Sweet chutney : 5-6 dates( khajoor ) 1/2 tea spn tamarind extract or about 4-5 pieces of tamarind 1/2 tea spn jaggery(optional, added only if sweetness of dates is not enough) Salt
Method: Soak dates in warm water for about 30mins. Take out seeds (better yet, use seedless dates). Grind with all other ingredients.
Making vada pav : Take a pav (I used Savory butter rolls from King’s Hawaiian, which are slightly smaller than the actual pav ). Cut open the rolls horizontally, taking care one end is still connected. Apply three chutneys to pav as desired.
Slightly press the vada to flatten it.
Keep it on one half of the pav and cover with other half. Slightly press down.
Serves : 4-5 Preparation time : 40mins
PS: I have mentioned the amount of chilies according to my taste. Make changes to suit your taste. Even though in actual vada pav , one end of pav is kept intact, I have cut it into two for taking pictures because the pav was too small.
There are few people in this world, with whom you can share your happiness and also your worries, who’ll always be there for you. They laugh with you in your happiness and give you help and support when you are in sorrow. You feel very comfortable around such people, who you don’t get to know often. They are pretty rare, aren’t they? We think we are very lucky to know a person like this. He is a mentor to V and like a big brother to me. We got to know him because he is V’s colleague and since then, he has become like a family for us here. His name is Sunil (Not to confuse with our other friend Sunil ).
Since Sunil (I call him Sunilanna) is also a Konkani, we have similar tastes. So we go to his home sometimes and make him cook for us and sometimes he comes to visit us. We chat a lot on these occasions and enjoy a lot. Last week, he invited us for a small get-together. He had prepared a lip smacking good spread for us. This chutney is one of them. I took the picture of the dish and also took the recipe from him(this is his mom’s signature dish). Since then I have prepared this at home and each time we taste it, we love it more. Did I say V is a ridge gourd hater who never ate anything with this gourd? He has become a fan of this dish. I am happy that I can buy this vegetable now :).
Ridge gourd is called gosaLe or ghosaLe in Konkani. Shire is the sharp edges of the vegetable. Usually these edges are discarded when this vegetable is used. This chutney is made of these skins. It gets its very nice taste from the ghee and also from the cumin seeds. I have seen many different recipes for this chutney before but had never prepared it. I loved this simple version of the chutney and I am going to prepare it again and again in coming days.
Ingredients: 1 cup skin(the sharp edges) of ridge gourd 1/2 cup fresh/frozen coconut 1/2 tea spn cumin seeds 2-3 green chilies 1/4 tea spn tamarind extract (optional) Ghee Salt
Method: Heat ghee in a pan. Add cumin seeds. When they start popping, add green chilies and skin. Fry for about 7-8 mins till the color of the skin starts changing (do not burn anything, you can fry one ingredient at a time if you can not manage frying at a time). Take it out on a plat. Add coconut to the same pan and fry for about 3-4mins. Grind all together with tamarind and salt. Serve as a side dish with rice, dosa or idlis .
Serves : 3-4 Preparation time : 15mins
