Rustle Up A Sumptuous Bite of Vada Pav And Bless Your Tongue!

                                                      By Vaishnavi Srivastava 

‘Let’s go have vada pav!’ - the one sentence I bet we all miss saying. Remember how fun our mid-day snacks used to be, and how sorted the evening tea plans were with the presence of the vada pav stalls around us. Since the time we slid into the lockdowns, hogging on vada pavs and satiating our taste buds with that crunchy vada and soft pavs is something we all miss, right? 

Anyone who has ever been to Maharashtra is a die-hard fan of this sumptuous staple that gives a mouthful of subtle flavours and a lot of memories. So here’s a super easy recipe for preparing the amazing vada pav and the flavourful dry garlic chutney in your kitchen to satisfy all your cravings!

Here you go!

Preparation time- 15 minutes

Cooking time- 45 minutes 

Ingredients- 

For making the vada- 

• Freshly boiled potatoes 
• Gram flour(besan)
• Salt, Red chilli powder, Mustard seeds, Turmeric
• Curry leaves 
• Vegetable oil 
• Green chillies
• Asafoetida Powder(hing) 

For making the dry garlic chutney- 

• Peanuts
• Sesame seeds
• Garlic cloves
• Grated coconut 
• Salt 
• Red chilli powder

Process-

For the vadas- 

1. In a pan, add about two tablespoons of vegetable oil and let it heat. 
2. Add mustard seeds and asafoetida powder(hing) to the same along with some finely chopped green chillies. Once all of the ingredients start popping, add half a tablespoon of turmeric powder along with the curry leaves and medium fry them on a low flame. 
3. Add the boiled potatoes in the pan and mix all the ingredients well. With the help of the spatula, mash the potatoes and fry them for about 2 to 5 minutes. 
4. Once the potatoes are well mixed with all the masalas, take it out and let it cool by spreading it in a dish. 
5. Now take a bowl and add around 4 to 5 tablespoons of gram flour or besan. 
6. Add salt, turmeric and red chilli powder in the same and mix well. 
7. Add around 1 cup of water into the mixture and form a batter of medium to thin consistency.
8. Keep it aside and check for the potato mix if it has cooled down or not.
9. Next up, you need to make small round balls from the potato mix and keep them aside. 

1. Take another pan and add a good amount of vegetable oil in the same and let it heat for about 5 to 10 minutes on low flame. 
2. Once the oil is heated up, take 3 to 4 balls at a time, cover it with your gram flour batter well and fry it well in the oil. 
3. Make sure that the flame is low for the vadas to be nicely fried. 
4. When they turn brown and are well-fried, strain all the excess oil and take them out.
5. Make sure to place them on a napkin to get all the excess oil absorbed.
6. Follow a similar process for all the vadas. 

For the dry garlic chutney- 

1. Take a pan and add a tablespoon of vegetable oil and lightly fry around 8-10 garlic cloves. 
2. Add half a cup peanuts and two tablespoons of sesame seeds. 
3. When the seeds start to pop, add about half a cup grated coconut. 
4. Add salt and red chilli powder and mix the ingredients well. 

1. Take all the stuff out in a small mixer jar. 
2. Lightly blend the mixture for around 1 to 2 minutes. 
3. Take the mixture out and your dry garlic chutney is ready!

So you’re ready with everything you needed for the amazing vada pavs! Don’t wait any further, cut open the pavs from the middle, add some dry garlic chutney on the base and put the hot crunchy vada and enjoy the love of Maharashtra. 

We hope you enjoyed preparing this super fun snack and are now savouring it with a cup of hot masala tea!

Happy eating:)