Vada pav (from scratch)

Name: Vada pav (from scratch)
Total time: 3600 s
Yield: 20 vada pav
Cuisine: Indian
Ingredients: 1 Feast full of coriander leaves; 4 green chillies; 2 inch piece of fresh coconut; as required salt; 1 tbsp lemon juice; 3 ice cubes; chilled water for grinding; 1 cup sweet chutney (recipe linked); 15 cloves garlic; 3/4 cup grated fresh coconut (optional); 1-2 tbsp kashmiri chilli powder; 1 tsp Hot chilli powder as per taste; 1 tsp more/less salt; 1/3 cup churros (recipe in step 12); 3 large thin skinned white potatoes or new potatoes; 2 tbsp oil; 1 tsp cumin seeds; 1 tsp coriander seeds (mili doesn't like it); 1 tsp fennel seeds; 1/8 tsp asafoetida powder; 1 tsp ginger paste; 3 green chillies chopped; 1 tsp amchur powder; 1/2 tsp garam masala; 1 tsp red chilli powder; as required Salt; 1 Feast full of chopped coriander; 100 gr besan (very fine chana flour); 1/4 tsp salt; 1/8 tsp asafoetida powder

Priyangi Pujara @TheDivine

Malawi, Africa

#mybestrecipe #street #batakavada #vadapav #savoury #savory
I love vadapau, but I have to purely rely on my trip to India for it. I do make it at home, but never got the same taste as my taste buds crave for. I tried recipes of all unknown to well-known chefs and the halwais, but never managed to satisfy my taste buds. During all the trials and errors, I also realized that the components were tasting delicious on their own, but they weren't complementing one another well enough when brought together in a bun. After years of observations, research, trials and errors I managed to analyse the problems and find solutions. All the details are given in the steps below.

Priyangi Pujara @TheDivine

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Ingredients

1 HR or more

20 vada pav

Green chutney (make it a bit thin)
1Feast full of coriander leaves
4green chillies
2 inchpiece of fresh coconut
as requiredsalt
1 tbsplemon juice
3ice cubes
chilled water for grinding
Sweet chutney (make it thin, check step 22)
Instant red chutney for samosa / chat / batakavada / kachori
1 cupsweet chutney (recipe linked)
Dry chutney
15 clovesgarlic
3/4 cupgrated fresh coconut (optional)
1-2 tbspkashmiri chilli powder
1 tspHot chilli powder as per taste
1 tspmore/less salt
1/3 cupchurros (recipe in step 12)
Vada - potato masala
3large thin skinned white potatoes or new potatoes
2 tbspoil
1 tspcumin seeds
1 tspcoriander seeds (mili doesn't like it)
1 tspfennel seeds
1/8 tspasafoetida powder
1 tspginger paste
3green chillies chopped
1 tspamchur powder
1/2 tspgaram masala
1 tspred chilli powder
as requiredSalt
1Feast full of chopped coriander
Vada- batter
100 grbesan (very fine chana flour)
1/4 tspsalt
1/8 tspasafoetida powder
1/8 tspturmeric powder
1 tbspoil
1/8-1little more soda bi carb
1/2 cup(approx) water
as required Oil for deep frying
Assembling
as requiredas required Ladi pav
as required as required as required Peanut oil
as required as required as required as required Dry chutney for vada pav
as required as required as required as required Green chutney
as requiredas required as required as required as required Red chutney

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Steps

1 HR or more

1

Combine all the ingredients for chutney in a chutney jar. Grind them all to a smooth and a bit runny chutney.
2

Dry chutney: This chutney is to add a bit of spiciness with a little zing of garlic. Do not add too much garlic. Roughly chop garlic. Add a tbsp of oil in a thick bottom pan. Fry garlic a bit. Add coconut (if you do not like coconut, skip this step.) Fry both, while constantly stirring, until the coconut looks light brown and crisp. Let it cool.
3

Transfer it to a dry grinding jar. Add chilli powder and salt. Grind them till it breaks down the coconut grains to evenly fine grains. Store it in the fridge to use it for months.
4

Pressure-cook potatoes in salt water. Ensure not to over/under cook them. Peel them and mash using a fork.
5

Heat oil. Add fennel seeds, cumin seeds, coriander seeds, asafoetida powder. Fry on low till cumin turns light brown. Add green chillies and ginger. Fry a bit. Next add all the spices and mix.
6

Add mashed potatoes and coriander leaves. Combine everything very well. Adjust spices if required. Remove from heat and let it cool down.
7

Take a small portion of this potato, roll it on your palm to make it smooth and then flatten it lightly.
8

Batter: (this vada must not have a thick coating like for Gujarati batakavada.) Combine all dry ingredients, (EXCEPT SODA) and oil. Add a little water at a time while mixing with a whisk in a single direction. We are looking for smooth, light and airy batter that is thin enough at thick string consistency. Allow the batter to rest at least for 30 minutes.
9

Add soda just before the time to fry. Mix well. Adjust consistency if needed. The batter should be thick enough to coat our vadas well, but not to thick to make a thick and hard layer.(Check out this video for the consistency of vada batter https://youtu.be/GxbSABaSpYM : Ashok vada pav by Swad Official. Right consistency is the key). This kind of batter will make perfect vadas, Crispy mamri and Crispy mirchi bhajji to serve with vadapau.
10

Take some oil for deep frying. The level of the oil should be above the vadas. Bring oil temperature to a mildly sizzling point. Dip the potato tikkis in the batter ensuring that the batter coats well all over it. Gently drop it in the oil. Drop a few more, but do not over crowd the oil. Fry on medium heat. Flip the vadas after frying for a minute or two. Fry them well on both the sides and then remove from oil.
11

Mirchi bhajji: slit chillies into two lengthwise. Dip it in the batter and fry. This bhajji will not have a thick coating like Gujarati marcha na bhajiya. It will be thin, partially uncoated and crisp.
12

Mamri should be Crispy. It is served with vadapau to add the crunch and to enhance the taste. The batter should be a bit thin as discussed above. The technique to make round mamri instead of lumps is - hold the batter closer to the fry pan, immerse your fingers in the batter, move your hand right above the pan and allow the batter to fall smoothly WHILE KEEPING YOUR FINGERS COMPLETELY APART. Holding fingers close to each other will drop lumps. Mamri can be added in chutneys and curries.
13

Slit the buns in a way that it fully opens yet remain joined on a side.
14

Take a flat nonstick pan that doesn't heat up quickly. Take 2-3 tbsp oil on it and add about a tbsp of dry vada pav chutney. On the lowest heat, bring the mixture to sizzle a bit. open up the bun and gently press the inner side over the oil so that the bun absorbs the oil and the chutney sticks on it. It's a very crucial step to make the buns melting-in-mouth. Now flip the bun allowing the other side to absorb the oil. Then take the bun off the pan right away - we do not want to make it crunchy.
15

Now pour some red chutney and some green chutney on the inner side of the bun. Place a potato vada and a mirchi vada on it. close the bun.
16

Serve it with green and red chutney, fried chillies or chilli vadas, dry vadapav chutney and the mamri. Yummmm!
17

Tips: A perfect vada pav does not feel dry and choke in the throat. The vada, chutneys and the bun - all the components taste well blended and not fallen apart. The vada feels very soft and so does the buns. The chutneys do not taste like the typical Gujarati green chutney and the dates-tamarind chutney. Follow the tips given below to overcome these issues..
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1. Use ladi pav or the buns that are as soft (or more than)as ladi pav. If such buns are not available, make them at home. I make my own buns for the same reason (link attached herewith). Make them in a square/rectangle pan as it is very important to get the proper square shape of the buns for this item.

Ladipau
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2. Choosing the right type of potatoes is very important to get the right texture. This particular type is used typically for potato mash as it makes super soft and delicious mash. Use this type of potatoes to make soft and flavourful vadas. If not available, it is advisable to use new potatoes or any less-starchy potatoes. Also, pressure-cook them dry so they do not absorb water and get soggy.
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3. The batter also plays a big role. We do not want thick layer of chana flour on the vadas because it overpowers the taste of vadas. Hence the batter should be smooth, light, airy and thin enough for easy flow, yet it should be thick enough to coat the vadas. 4. Use besan/refined chana flour. 5. Add a little water at a time and whisk very well for at least 5 minutes. This will incorporate air in the batter making it light and fluffy. Allow the batter to rest at least for 30 min.
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6. To overcome the dryness and the chokeyness of the bun, it is very important to shallow fry it in moderate amount of oil or butter (that's what the halwais do and their vadapav taste better). 7. While shallow-frying the bun, we are not aiming at making the bun crisp. That's why you need to use a thick nonstick pan and keep the heat to minimum. 8. A bun will absorb only warm to hot oil, so ensure that the oil is hot while placing the bun on it. 9. Use only peanut oil to shallow-fry the buns.
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10. The chutneys should be slightly thinner than usual so that it penetrates through the buns. You may use the linked recipe or Sanjeet Keer, Your Food Lab
The recipe is given in the video for Raj kachori

Linked Recipes

Ladipau

Instant red chutney for samosa / chat / batakavada / kachori

Saved

Cooksnaps

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Priyangi Pujara @TheDivine

on June 24, 2022 21:05

Malawi, Africa

I am a primary school teacher teaching in a renowned International school for 17 years. I also teach part-time online/offline. I offer teachers training for n various topics such as Phonics, Montessori and so on.While teaching is my love, cooking is my passion. I enjoy cooking, I enjoy eating 😋