Pav is a soft bun bread. Vada is a spicy potato mixture coated with gram flour batter and deep fried. This is a very popular dish for people in Mumbai, it’s often sold by road side vendors.

Recipe will make 6

Ingredients

• 4 medium size boiled potatoes
• 2 tablespoons oil
• 1/2  teaspoon black mustard seeds (rai)
• 1/4  teaspoon turmeric (haldi)
• 1 teaspoon ginger paste
• 2 green chilies minced (hari mirch) adjust to taste
• About 2 tablespoons chopped cilantro (hara dhania)
• 1 1/2 teaspoon salt adjust to taste

For Batter

• 3/4  cup gram flour (besan)
• About 2 tablespoons chopped cilantro (hara dhania)
• 1/2 teaspoon salt adjust to taste
• About 1/4 cup of water

Peanut Chutney

• 2 tablespoons of shelled peanuts
• 1 tablespoons sesame seeds
• 1 tablespoons dry coconut powder
• 4 whole dry red chilies adjust to taste
• 1/2 teaspoon salt adjust to taste

Also Needed

• Oil to fry
• 6 buns

For Garnishing

• 1/4 cup tamarind chutney
• 1/4 cup hari cilantro chutney
• 1 thinly sliced tomato
• Some lettuce leaves

Method

Peanut Chutney

1. Dry roast peanuts on medium heat until peanuts lightly change color. Add red chilies and roast for another minute until chili become dark. Reduce the heat to low, add sesame seeds and roast for another minute. Turn off the heat, add coconut powder and mix it well.
2. Transfer the peanut mix into a bowl.
3. Wait until the peanut mix cools off. Grind it to make it a coarse powder. Adjust salt to taste. This is a dry powder chutney.

Batter

1. Mix gram flour, salt and cilantro (hara dhania), and add water slowly to make a thick but smooth batter. Set aside.

Vada

1. Peel and mash the boiled potatoes keeping the crumbly in texture.
2. Heat two tablespoons of oil in a pan on medium heat.
3. Add mustard seeds and as the seeds crack add mashed potatoes, ginger paste, minced green chili, turmeric, and salt.
4. Stir fry for about 3 minutes over medium heat. Add cilantro mix it well. Turn of the heat.
5. After mixture cools off, divide the potato mix slightly bigger than a golf ball.
6. Make them into smooth ½ inch thick patties, rolling between slightly greased palms.
7. Heat oil in a frying pan on medium high heat.
8. The frying pan should have about 1 ½ inch of oil. To check if the oil is ready, put one drop of batter in oil. The batter should come up but not change color right away.
9. Dip the potato patties into the batter one at a time, making sure the patties are completely covered by the batter. Then, slowly drop them into the frying pan.
10. Vada will take about 4 to 5 minutes to cook.
11. Turn them occasionally. Fry the vada until both sides are golden-brown.

How to Serve Pav Vada

1. Take one pav bun, slit in half, spread the cilantro chutney and tamarind chutney to each pav as desired.
2. Next sprinkle the peanut chutney.
3. Place the potato vada, lettuce leave and sliced tomato on one half of the bun.