Recipes and their stories from my kitchen: Vada pav

Vada pav - the indian version of burger has many kiosks now . The vadas in the kiosks are fried under automated fryer pans , stowed into the buns. But for me, their tastes nowhere matches the chachaji's bandi where the vadas are handmade right in front of you.

Chachaji's bandi @ Sindhi colony is where i first discovered this famous street food of Mumbai. It was one of our weekend outings and when it was time to return back home we stopped at Sindhi colony. We found a bandiwallah doing brisk business. Chachaji and his wife who is beautiful and neatly dressed, work like an automated machine catering to the various customers around the bandi. While chachaji is busy chopping onions /making hot vadas or toasting the buns, it is aunty who stows the vada into the pav buns slots which are slathered with garlic chutney, tops it with chopped onions and hands over to the customers. At any point there are nearly 20 customers around the bandi that they wind up their business by 8 or 8.30.

The vada pav's are delicious and filling . Just one will do but if i still feel like eating one more then i opt for the Dabeli. The dabeli story i will tell later now i will share i how made the vada pav's at home.

Ingredients:

1 pav bun packet

for Garlic chutney:

2-3 table spoons of chopped garlic

2-3 roasted dry red chillies or chilli powder 1 teaspoon

1/2 cup copra powder

salt to taste

Method:

Grind all the above ingredients to chutney consistency

For the vadas:

Ingredients for filling:

6 Potatoes

2 green chillies

salt to taste

coriander chopped -2 tablespoons

mustard for seasoning

haldi- a tsp

asafoetida - 1/2 tsp

Method:

Take a kadai and heat it. Add a tablespoon of oil, when it heats oil, add mustard. let it crackle.

Then add chillies and asafoetida. follow it up with haldi and salt.

next add the mashed potatoes and blend all the ingredients.

Finally add the coriander and allow the curry to cool.

When cool, take equal proportions and roll them into a lemon sized ball.

for batter

1 cup of besan

a pinch of baking soda

salt to taste

a spoon of hot oil

water to mix

To make batter

Take a bowl. Add besan, baking soda and salt and mix well. To this add a spoon of hot oil. Mix them all with water to make a besan batter.

Method For vada

Now take the lemon sized potato balls and dip them into the batter till they are coated well. Deep fry them in a kadai of hot oil till they turn golden. The vadas are now ready.