Tried my hand at making authentic Vada paav last night for a snack and it turned out awesome! It is such a popular street food in Mumbai that it also has a wiki entry honouring it, read here http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vada_pav
The best part about making this lip-smacking snack is how easy the ingredients are to find in your own pantry/fridge and how simple the entire process is. You can take my word for it, as I am a person who hasn't ventured much into the world of fried snacks [i.e pakoras/vadas etc].
Ingredients:
2 whole boiled potatoes - you can pressure cook them in a bit of turmeric and then mash them either by hand or with a masher.
1 tsp mustard seeds [rai]
a few curry leaves and coriander leaves, finely chopped
Asafoetida [Hing] - a pinch
1 or 2 green chillies finely chopped as per your taste.
For the batter:
3/4 cup of gram flour [besan]
1/2 tsp of tamarind paste
1/2 tsp / as per your taste, of red chilli powder
A hint of salt and asafoetida
1. Heat a bit of oil in a kadhai and add mustard seeds in it. When it finishes sputtering, add green chillies, coriander leaves and curry leaves. Mix together and then add the mashed potatoes, and salt as per taste. Mix well and fry for a bit of time. Remove off the flame and allow to cool.
2. In a bowl, add besan, and the other ingredients mentioned for the batter, with as less water as possible, just to make a thick paste. Remember, if the paste is too thin, it will not coat the potato mix.
3. Make medium sized balls of the potato mix, dip in the besan batter and deep fry. Serve hot with Indian paav and you can also make a coriander chutney and garlic chutney to go with it. I made neither as this was just a last minute effort. I did serve it with sliced onion though.
The best part about making this lip-smacking snack is how easy the ingredients are to find in your own pantry/fridge and how simple the entire process is. You can take my word for it, as I am a person who hasn't ventured much into the world of fried snacks [i.e pakoras/vadas etc].
Ingredients:
2 whole boiled potatoes - you can pressure cook them in a bit of turmeric and then mash them either by hand or with a masher.
1 tsp mustard seeds [rai]
a few curry leaves and coriander leaves, finely chopped
Asafoetida [Hing] - a pinch
1 or 2 green chillies finely chopped as per your taste.
For the batter:
3/4 cup of gram flour [besan]
1/2 tsp of tamarind paste
1/2 tsp / as per your taste, of red chilli powder
A hint of salt and asafoetida
1. Heat a bit of oil in a kadhai and add mustard seeds in it. When it finishes sputtering, add green chillies, coriander leaves and curry leaves. Mix together and then add the mashed potatoes, and salt as per taste. Mix well and fry for a bit of time. Remove off the flame and allow to cool.
2. In a bowl, add besan, and the other ingredients mentioned for the batter, with as less water as possible, just to make a thick paste. Remember, if the paste is too thin, it will not coat the potato mix.
3. Make medium sized balls of the potato mix, dip in the besan batter and deep fry. Serve hot with Indian paav and you can also make a coriander chutney and garlic chutney to go with it. I made neither as this was just a last minute effort. I did serve it with sliced onion though.
