India's very own street side vegetable burger! You cannot go to Mumbai and NOT have VADA PAV- its a mortal sin if you do that ...lol
VADA PAV
This snack is synonymous with the city of Mumbai, with almost every resident, from factory workers to college students to Bollywood stars, to Visitors are unabashed in declaring their love for it.This street side business has given life to hundreds and thousands of families. A Vada Pav cart owner may be a millionaire for all we know. It is a meal of a poor and snack of the rich. Fills every one's tummy with yumminess!
Vada Pav is a crispy, flavorful sandwich that is consumed in millions across India’s financial capital and largest metropolis every single day. It's made with potato as filling for the vada which is dipped in chickpea flour batter and deep fried. It is then kept in between pav[bread roll] and served with various spicy and tangy dry/wet chutney and fried green chillies. There was a time when I used to ask for extra dry chutney from the vendor. I then brought the leftover chutney home and ate with my roti... its super yummy!
I lived with my aunt in Mumbai for a couple of years when I started work. There used to be a cart by the gate outside the colony which was taken care by a lady who was a widow. She made such excellent Vadas- the taste still lingers on my tongue. To relish hot Vadas which is made in front of you has its own bliss.
Now when I think of it, during shopping breaks I preferred to have Pav Bhaji , Chatpata mumbai special sandwiches or Cheese loaded Sandwiches :) wonder why?
One will find a thela of Vada Pav outside every train station - I am sure thats the hottest spot that is there for a great business! Tired commuters who are always in a hurry to reach somewhere take a quick break indulging in a flavorful Vada Pav which will keep them full till next pang of hunger :)
Mumbai and Vada Pav are inseparable!
Thanks to my aunt who happens to be a great cook and my goto chef :) Its her recipe that I am sharing here.
So without any further delay lets check the recipe:
We will need following: please dont lose interest looking at the ingredients, :) it just has few steps but can be done in fairly good amount of time.
Ingredients:
Dipping Batter
1/2 cup besan / chickpea flour
1 tbsp rice flour [for crispness]
big pinch turmeric powder
1 tsp chili pwd
salt to taste
A pinch baking soda
water
In a mixing bowl, add all the above ingredients except water.
give it a toss - let everything mix.
Add water slowly taking breaks while you whisk the batter together. Let there be no lumps and get medium consistency batter. I dont like it too thick. Now let the batter rest for 15 plus minutes atleast while you get other things lined up.
For Dry Red Chutney
4-5 cloves garlic fried in oil
1 tbsp red chili powder [adjust as you like]
1/2 cup peanuts slow roasted
1/2 cup boondi [ either store bought or while you make vadas, try to do some boondi with besan batter and use that]
Salt to taste
Grind coarsely all the above ingredients and your red dry chutney is ready!! Can be made before and kept. Also this can be used as a condiment and can reside happily in your kitchen pantry for other purposes :)
Red Dry Chutney
Vada Stuffing and Frying
3 med size boiled and mashed potatoes
1 tbsp oil
1/2 tsp mustard seeds
pinch asafoetida (hing)
10 curry leaves
1 tbsp of green paste [For me this is the USP of any Vada: 1/2 inch ginger, 3-4 garlic, 2-3 green chili , 1 cup cilantro ground to paste]
1 small onion finely chopped
1/4 th tsp turmeric powder
salt to taste
1/2 tsp lemon juice
1 tbsp chopped Coriander leaves for garnish
oil for frying
Preparation:
Heat oil in a pan on a medium heat.
Add mustard seeds, as it splutters- add asafoetida, curry leaves
Add onion and saute for 2-3 minutes till translucent. And turmeric pwd, green paste. Stir for a minute.
Add salt, then boiled potatoes. Mix every everything nicely.
Add lemon juice, coriander leaves and mix well. Try not to add water, if need be add very little so that potatoes gets nicely mixed with the seasoning. Stuffing is ready.
Let it cool a little.
Take small portion of stuffing and roll it in the shape of ball [makes around 8 balls] - as seen in the pic
For Frying
Heat the oil and always fry the Vadas on medium heat.
Stir the dipping batter that has been resting well.
Dip the potato ball (Vada) in the batter. Coat the batter from all sides hold it on top of the batter bowl till excess batter drops down then slowly slide it in the oil and fry it from all the sides until you see nice fried orange color on it probably couple of minutes on each sides.
Using a slotted spoon take out the Vadas and place on paper towel to drain out excess oil
Serving:
Take a Pav, slice it in the center, slather dry red chutney, place your Vada and couple fried chillies with it.
Many names and one magical sweet dish that melts in the mouth. Holi, festival of colors and Puran Poli go hand in hand, it is a must to do dish during this festival in the state of Maharashtra. It is offered into the fire which is lit for Holika Dahan and after that everyone gets to eat and enjoy it. It is a fun dish and one may need a little practice to roll out these stuffed polis. It basically contains 2 parts, puran(huran) the stuffing (chana dal/jaggery mixture) and all-purpose flour dough called kanik. It feels like an accomplishment when you make these polis successfully :)
Let's quickly check the recipe:
Ingredients:
1 cup chana dal
1 cup jaggery (grated)
1 cup all-purpose flour (maida)
2 tbsp whole wheat flour
1/2 tsp turmeric powder (haldi)
4 tbsp Oil (vegetable)
1 tsp cardamom powder
puran and dough
Preparation:
In a pressure cooker, add 3 cups of water and washed chana dal. Pressure cook for 3 whistles, then switch off the gas and let the cooker cool down.
Open the pressure cooker, strain the cooked chana dal and reserve the water. This water can be used to make katachi amati. Drain water completely from the dal. Then add this dal into a deep pan.
Add jaggery in it and let this mixture cook over medium heat. Keep stirring over medium heat until the mixture becomes thick (keep stirring for like 7-8 minutes).
Let it cool down a bit. Then using a mesh strainer try to gather all the smooth mixture and keep aside else you can use mixer to blend this mixture smoothly too or if you feel lazy you can skip this step, just see to it that dal and jaggery is nicely mixed.
Add cardamom powder and mix. * Keep aside, this is your puran.
In a mixing bowl take all-purpose flour, whole wheat flour and turmeric pwd. Add 4 tbsp oil and mix well. Now add water little by little and make a smooth consistency dough.
Knead the dough until the it becomes very elastic. Put this dough into a bowl and cover it with lid. Let it rest for 30 minutes atleast.
Make small balls of the stuffing. Then make balls (smaller than stuffing) of the dough. Grease your fingertips and spread one dough ball gently to make a small round disc. Put one stuffing ball on it. spread the dough gently over the stuffing with fingers and cover the stuffing. Use dry rice flour to roll the poli. Heat the frying tawa, place rolled roti in the center and roast on both sides over medium heat, add little ghee while roasting. Serve hot with Ghee. Puran-poli tastes good with cold milk too.
These puran polis stay fresh for approximately 1 week at room temperature.
njoY!! happY cookinG!!
Note*: The huran has to be nice and dry for rolling out the Poli without breaking it. If you feel that the huran has moisture you can either freeze it for some time or microwave it for a couple of minutes stirring it after every minute. Knead the kanik nicely for couple extra minutes before making balls and rolling out.
I made one batch with 3/4 cup whole wheat flour and 1/4 cup maida without adding turmeric, see the picture below.
Maida Poli are more fluffy and soft.
HAPPY HOLI Making of Puran Poli in pictures:
Soft Ubbati
Health Benefits: Puran Poli made with whole wheat is rich in complex carbs, fibre and certain minerals. Jaggery used in the preparation is loaded with iron, calcium, phosphorus minerals. It digests slowly and hence helps to release energy slowly. Cardamom used also aids in digestion.
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