Vada Pav

Ingredients

For the Vada

• 3 big potatoes

For the paste

• 1-5 cloves of garlic
• 1/2 inch piece of ginger
• 3 green chilis
• a handful of coriander leaves
• 1/2 tsp haldi
• salt and sugar to taste
• 1/2 lemon

For the batter

• 1 cup besan
• a pinch of soda-bi-carb
• 1/2 tsp haldi
• 1 tsp chili powder
• salt to taste
• a pinch of hing
• vegetable oil for deep frying

Pav

Round shaped bread or dinner rolls; the ones available in Mumbai are usually made from sour dough.

Method

1. Boil and mash the potatoes. Grind together the ingredients for the paste and mix with the mashed potatoes. Make round balls of the potato mixture (about the size of table tennis balls).
2. Prepare the batter of besan. Take care not to add too much water.
3. Heat the oil until its hot enough to brown the batter (test it with little droplets of batter).
4. When the oil is hot, dip the balls of potato in the batter, and fry. Place the fried Vada on absorbent kitchen paper to remove excess oil.
5. Slice the Pav in half, spread on it any chutney or none whatsover. Place vada between the slices and serve immediately. Some finely chopped onions go well with this.