Best of Indian Street Food - Home made Vada Pav (also known as poor man's burger)

Since visiting Mumbai in 2012, V and I have been totally infatuated with Indian street food. Imagine our joy when we discovered Chatkazz in Harris Park! We especially love the Dahi Puri which are small crispy puffed bread with boiled potatoes, chickpeas and topped with chilled yoghurt and chutneys. The version without yoghurt is called Pani Puri...Also tastes amazing!

Dahi Puri @Chatkazz

Another very popular Indian street food is Pav Bhaji which consist of spicy vegetable curry & served with toasted bread roll, tomato and onion salad and papadam.

Cheese Pav Bhaji @ Chatkazz

And the centre of attraction here today is Vada Pav, also known as poor man's burger. In Mumbai, a Vada Pav costs only INR10 (AUD20 cents!!) and because it is so cheap and readily available, no one goes to bed hungry as there is always a Vada Pav vendor nearby to appease anyone's hunger...Vada Pav consist of spicy fried potato balls served in a bread roll with chutneys and fried green chilly.

Vada Pav (Butter Masala) @ Chatkazz

A few weeks ago, I went to a good friend's place and she made Ragda patties (A yellow pea soup with potato patties topped with chutneys and sev)..Oh my were they amazing!! This gave me the idea to make Vada Pav for dinner  yesterday...The difficult part is to make green and tamarind chutney and then make the potato filling...Since there are a few parts to this, I made a big batch of tamarind chutney and froze a portion to be used later...

Ragda Patties by Manju

So below is the recipe for MY version of Vada Pav...Please do remember that I'm Malaysian, therefore, this may not taste like the original...but its close enough for us... ;)

Green Chutney


 Ingredients:

1 bunch     mint leaves
1 bunch     coriander leaves
1 Tbsp       tamarind (mixed with 2 Tbsp water and filter the pulp)
1 or more   green chillies
1 tsp          cumin powder
1/2            spanish onion
1 Tbsp      olive oil
To taste    salt

Method:

1. Blend mint and coriander leaves with some water (4-5 Tbsps) until thick paste is formed.
2. In a frying pan, heat some oil and add onions and cumin powder until fragrant.
3. Add blended paste and filtered tamarind pulp and allow to cook for a few minutes.
4. Season with salt.
5. Dilute to preferred consistency when needed.


Tamarind Chutney (preferably Tamarind and Dates Chutney)


 Ingredients:

185g                     Tamarind
200g or to taste     Jaggary (available at Indian grocers)
1 tsp                     Cumin Powder
1 tsp                     Chilli Powder
1/2 tsp                  Chat masala (I made this myself as I did not have it at hand) * recipe below
To taste                Black salt
2 tsp                     Brown sugar
1 cup                   Boiling water


Method:

1. Soak tamarind in hot water for about 30 mins and filter through a fine sieve.

2. Soak jaggary to remove impurities.
3. Add filtered tamarind water into a pot and boil until thick.
4. Add filtered jaggary water and continue cooking.
5. Next, add in all spices, salt and sugar and allow to simmer for 10-15 minutes.

6. Cook until desired consistency. More diluted if you'd prefer to use as dipping sauce and thicker if you wish to use as a spread.


Note: Tamarind chutney is quite versatile and can be used as a savoury bread spread with potato masala. (Be creative)




Chaat masala

 Ingredients:

3 tsps        cumin powder
1 tsp         coriander powder
1/2 tsp      fennel powder
1/2 tsp      black pepper powder
1/2 tsp      ginger powder
1/4 tsp      asafoetida powder
1/2 tsp      black salt

1/4 tsp.     paprika

Method:

1. Mix all the ingredients in a clean dry container.

Note:  I used what was available in my pantry. For a more complete recipe, please click here.




Vada Pav

Pav

 Ingredients:

6     Bread rolls (wholemeal or white)
Some butter
Chaat masala

Method:

1. Spread some butter on the bread roll and add 1/8 tsp chaat masala evenly before toasting the bread on a pan.


Potato Filling


 Ingredients:

5                Potatoes (Yes! Skin and all!)
1 cup         frozen peas
1/2             spanish onion
1 Tbsp       finely grated ginger
3 cloves     finely grated garlic
1 tsp           mustard seed
1 stalk        curry leaves
1/2 tsp       turmeric powder
1/2 tsp       chilli powder
1/4 tsp       asafoetida
1 Tbsp      olive oil
To taste    salt

1 cup       besan (bengal gram) flour
1/2 cup    water
1/2 tsp     turmeric
To taste   salt
3 cups     cooking oil for deep frying


Method:


1. Boil and mash potatoes and green peas and let cool.

2. Heat oil in a pan and add mustard seed until they crackle. Add asafoetida into the hot oil.
3. Cut with scissors, the curry leaves directly into the crackling mustard seeds. (I do this as V will pick out large curry leaves and throw them away. Curry leaves are natural dewormers.)
4. Add onions and grated ginger and garlic and stir well. Cook for a few minutes.
5. Add turmeric powder, chilly powder and let it cook.
6. Next, stir in the mashed potatoes and peas and season to taste.
7. Let cool.

8. Add water, turmeric and salt to besan flour and mix well to make sure there are no lumps.

9. Heat 3 cups oil for deep frying the potato filling.
10. Shape cooled potato into 6 balls or patties.
11. Dip them into besan flour mixture and deep fry until golden brown.
12. Drain on kitchen towel.
13. To assemble the Vada Pav, spread green chutney and tamarind chutney onto toasted bread roll and add fried potato ball or patty.
14. Serve with more chutney.