Vada Pav is quintessential Mumbai street food! Indian Pav originated from Portugese Pao bread, and has now become a local staple. Filling fluffy, warm pav with a vada (in this case, a fried potato fritter) is carb-loading at its finest aka perfect quarantine snacking!
PS - a step-by-step video for making the pav can be found here!
Anagha's Vada Pav
Vada Pav is quintessential Mumbai street food! Indian Pav originated from Portugese Pao bread, and has now become a local staple. Filling fluffy, warm pav with a vada (in this case, a fried potato fritter) is carb-loading at its finest aka perfect quarantine snacking!
PS - a step-by-step video for making the pav can be found here!
Ingredients
Filling:
- 3 potatoes boiled and diced I have used russet potatoes
- 1/2 onion finely chopped optional
- 6-8 garlic cloves
- 1/2 tsp grated ginger
- 4-5 green chilies
- 1 tsp Bindu Black Mustard
- 1 tsp Pragati Turmeric
- a few curry leaves
- 1 tbsp chopped cilantro
- Sugar to taste
- Salt to taste
- 1 tsp lime juice
Batter:
- 1 cup of besan bengal gram flour
- 1/2 tsp Pragati Turmeric
- Salt to taste
- 1 tsp oil
- Couple of pinches of baking soda
- Oil to fry
Pav:
- 190 Gms Water About 1 1/4 cups
- 7 Gms Instant Yeast About 2 1/4 Tsp or 1 packet
- 2 Tbsp Sugar
- 250 gms All Purpose Flour
- 3 Tbsp Unsalted Butter melted
- 1 Tsp Salt
Dry Garlic Chutney:
- 1/2 cup of the rescued fried batter pieces
- 1/4 cup roasted coconut
- 2 tbsp red chilli powder (such as Kashmiri, Guntur Sannam, or Sirārakhong Hāthei)
- I pod of garlic
- 1/4 cup roasted peanut
- Salt
Methods
Filling:
- Peel the potatoes and dice them in small pieces. Make sure the potatoes are cooled before you dice them, else they can get sticky. Slightly mash them with the back of a fork.
- Pound the garlic and green chilies with a little bit of salt into a coarse paste.
- Heat oil, add mustard seeds. As soon as they splutter, add curry leaves and turmeric. Add onions if using and sauté them till they are light brown in color. Don't let them burn at all.
- Add the chili-garlic paste and sauté for 15-20 secs. Turn the heat off
- Add the potatoes mixture, salt, sugar and lime juice. Mix well, and taste to adjust the seasoning.
Batter:
- Mix all the ingredients for the batter except the baking soda well, make sure there are no lumps. When you are ready to fry the vada, add the baking soda and set aside for 5 mins.
- Make lemon size balls of the potato mixture.
- Dip the balls in the batter and fry on medium heat till golden brown.
- Rescue the little bits of batter that break away and set aside for the chutney.
Pav:
- Heat the water to 100F. I use a thermometer to check because this is critical for the yeast to rise.
- Add sugar and yeast and set aside for 5 mins
- Add melted butter to the flour and mix. Add salt and mix it a little more.
- By now the Yeast mixture should be frothy, this shows that the yeast is active
- Add the yeast mixture to the flour and mix until it comes together.
- Now take the mixture on the counter and knead for good 10 mins. Don’t be alarmed if the mixture is wet, as you knead you will see that it comes together.
- Don't be tempted to add more flour. Lose dough is key to a fluffy and soft bread
- Put the dough in a greased bowl, cover and let it rise for about 50- 60 mins. The dough should double, so if the temperature is cold, let it rest for 60 mins
- After 60 min, take the dough on the counter, deflate and knead for 3-4 mins
- Divide in 12 equal pieces. I use a scale. Equal balls ensure that the bread is of same size and also cooks uniformly
- Grease and dust with flour a 9×13 pan. I use the Wilton Brownie pan.
- Roll the dough pieces in a tight ball and arrange in the pan. Make sure when you roll, you are making the surface taught, and also the seam side should be down. This ensure that when the dough rises, all air gets nicely trapped, making for a spongy bread
- Let the balls rest anywhere from 60-75 min. They should be visibly plump
- Heat the oven to 450 F
- Bake the bread for 8-10 mins. After 10 mins even if the crust does not look super dark brown, don't be tempted to bake longer
- Take the pan out and immediately brush with a little butter
- Cool on the baking rack.
- Enjoy the Pav is ready
Chutney:
- Grind all the ingredients together!
To assemble:
-
Slice the pav in half and butter generously
-
Spread a layer of garlic chutney onto both sides of the buttered pav
-
Put the vada inside and clamp shut like an oyster.
-
Eat piping hot!