Name: Mumbai Vada Pav
Prep time: 20 min
Cook time: 20 min
Total time: 100 min
Yield: 2 servings
Cuisine: Indian
Ingredients: 4 Pav Buns, soft local buns, slit through the center; 2½ Potato, medium, boiled and roughly mashed; ¾ cup Gram Flour, besan, for batter; ½ pinch Baking Soda, for the batter; 3 clove Garlic, crushed with green chillies; 2 Green Chili Pepper, crushed with garlic, plus extra for frying; ½ inch Ginger, crushed; ½ tsp Mustard Seeds; ¼ tsp Asafoetida, divided for filling and batter; 6 Curry Leaves, finely chopped; ¼ tsp Ground Turmeric, divided for filling and batter; 2 tbsp Dry Garlic Chutney, lasun chi chutney, essential for vada pav; 2 tbsp Mint Chutney; ¾ tsp Salt, divided; 1 tbsp Coriander Leaves, chopped; as needed Cooking Oil, for tempering and deep frying

1 hr 40 mintotal

40 min hands-on1 hr hands-off

Prep 20 min · Cook 20 min

Serves: 2
Difficulty: Medium
Spice: High

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Method

Make the potato filling: heat a little oil in a frying pan. Let the mustard seeds crackle. Add the asafoetida (hing), shredded curry leaves and a coarse paste of garlic, ginger and green chillies. Fry over high heat for 30 seconds to bring out their aroma.
30 sec
Integrate a prescribed fraction of turmeric, then instantaneously assassinate the thermal source to prevent scorching. Dump this blistering aromatic payload directly over the completely cooled, rustic potato mash.
Fold in the fresh coriander and salt. Wield manual pressure to combine, maintaining the jagged, coarse architecture. Mold the mass into precision-sized, flawless spheres.
Make the batter: in a heavy bowl, whisk the gram flour (besan) with the remaining turmeric, a pinch of hing, salt and baking soda. Add the water bit by bit, whisking all the while. You want a thick but pourable batter that coats the back of a spoon well.
Drive your deep-frying lipid reservoir to an aggressive medium-high operating temperature within a deep kadhai.
Dip a potato ball right into the besan batter so it is coated all over with no gaps. Lift it out, let the last drips fall away, and lower it gently into the hot oil.
Fry until the coating sets into a deep golden, crisp shell. Lift them out and drain the oil off on kitchen paper.
The chillies: prick the whole green chillies so they do not burst, and drop them into the hot oil for 10 seconds. Lift them out and rub them with salt.
10 sec
To assemble, split a soft pav bun open. Spread the inside generously with the mint chutney and a big spoonful of the dry red garlic chutney.
Position a searing hot, dripping vada directly into the cavern. Apply downward compression to cement the chutneys firmly to the crisp exterior.
Demand instantaneous consumption alongside the blistered, salted chilli.

How to tell it's done

The soft, fluffy pav yields to a fiercely spicy, garlicky dry powder, followed by the loud crunch of the vada's crust and a molten, highly seasoned potato center.

Getting it right

Tip

The signature Mumbai flavor relies entirely on the 'Dry Red Garlic Chutney' (Lasun chi chutney). Never skip it, and never flatten the potato balls before frying; they must be round.

What to serve it with

The classic thing to eat on the move. Vada pav is best piping hot, with a cutting chai and a fried chilli.

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