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Wednesday, January 11, 2012

Vada Pav (Indian Burger)

Wow it has been 3 months that i have posted any recipe ..well for 6 weeks i was travelling to India .. where i had great culinary experience as me and my husband were travelling for the first time there after marriage. We were booked for first 2 weeks for either dinners or lunches or sometimes both. Shall write in detail about it in another post. I am writing this recipe immediately after trying it for Kiran, who had asked for it, when she saw its photo on my Fb.

Yesterday, Ruchi, (my only friend here in the city, returned from India. Her family lives at Pune in Maharshtra in western part of India, From where this dish comes from) had come over to meet me after work and had brought the red chili chutney for me, which i had asked her to bring only for Vada Pav. You cannot cannot make the authentic Vada Pav without it. So, we decided to make the Vada pav for dinner.

Vada Pav is one of my favourite street food from Maharashtra. Though, I had first tasted it in Singapore. These were sold at Jade(Indian film cinema), Shaw towers and there used to be limited quantity of them before each show. So, just for vada pav, we sometimes used to go there an hour in advance.

For Vada Pav, you require Pav (bun).. which is rectangular in shape, but we don't get it here so i made using round buns! Then, Green Dhaniya Chutney and of course as I mentioned above the Red Chili chutney. Well, in the market there are different type of red chili chutneys available..dried or semi dried, with roasted and crushed peanut or just chili with garlic and other spices. I used the one which Ruchi got for me was with crushed Peanut one. Recipe for all is as follows:

For Pav: Get ready made from your nearest bakery.

For vada: Makes 7

Ingredients:

Vada filling
3 medium Potatoes (Boiled)
3-4 Garlic cloves
1/2 inch piece of ginger
1 tsp mustard seeds
4-5 curry leaves (chopped)
1/2 tsp turmeric
1/4 tsp asofoetida (heeng)
2-3 green chilies
Salt to taste.

Covering:
2 tbsp Besan
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp turmeric powder
1 tsp oil
Pinch of baking soda

Oil for fry

Method:

1. Make the past of garlic, ginger and green chilies in your mortar or food processor.
2. Peel and mash the potatoes
3. Add the above ginger,chili, garlic paste and salt. Mix it well.
4. In the pan, heat up a little oil and mustard seeds, when they splutter add curry leaves, heeng, turmeric powder. Mix.
5. Add the potato mixture. Combine the mixture with spices really well. Remove from the heat and let it cool.
6. After the above mixture is cooled, divide it in 8 portion and make balls. if the mixture is sticky which means you have over boiled the potatoes. don't worry just add little oil in tour hands so that the mixture doesn't stick to your and.

For the covering:
1. in a bowl, mix besan, turmeric powder, salt.
2. Add enough water to make thick batter not the watery consistency.

Frying:

Vadas are deep fried. So heat enough oil in the frying pan.
when oil is hot. dip the balls in the batter and fry them until they are golden brown on high heat. (you can more than one ball in the pan depending on the size of the pan at one go.)


For Green Chutney

100gms green coriander leaves and stacks (washed properly)
2 green chilies
1 tbsp lemon juice
1 tsp dried mango powder
1/2 tsp roasted cumin powder
1/2 garam masala
1 tbsp curd
Salt to taste

Method:
Churn all the above ingredients in a food processor and its ready.

Ingredients
Red Chili Chutney

Since i used the one from the packed which Ruchi had got me from Pune. Here is the recipe from Tarla Dalal.

Ingredients
1/3 cup garlic (lehsun) cloves, peeled
1/4 cup grated dry coconut (kopra)
2 tbsp chilli powder
1 tsp oil
salt to taste

Method
Heat the oil in a pan and sauté the garlic and coconut for 2 to 3 minutes over a medium flame.
Cool, combine all the ingredients in a blender and grind till it is a smooth paste.
Use as required.

I shall try this soon. :)

Variation:
Use roasted and peeled peanuts, grinding them with red chillies,salt,garlic clove(small),olive oil and chat masala to a fine paste using a blender.

For serving:
1. slice the Pav from middle upto 3/4. don't divide them into 2.
2. Brush the Pavs with butter and toast them on flat pan (tava).
3. spread the green chutney top inner layer and the red one on lower layer.
4. Place the Vada in the Pav and serve with green chili or tamarind sauce. (optional)

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