Bombay Street Style Vada Pao

Street food is big in India than any other country, you will find different varieties and recipes in every region and city of this country. Bombay is one such place where you find amazing street food. Be it the Ragda Patties, Pao Bhaji, Bhelpuri, Franky, Dabeli, or the quintessential Vada Paos. All these are moreish and leave you wanting more.

I have always loved eating Vada Paos from different shops on every Bombay visit. I was craving for these and couldn’t go out due to the Corona lockdown, I decided to make my own at home. There are quite a few components to it and hence it does take some time to put these together but it does help quite a bit if you can prep and do some bits earlier like making the chutneys in advance and boiling the potatoes.

COMPONENTS: 

Here are the different components of a typical Bombay style Vada Pao:

1. Vadas : Fried Potato Balls covered in Besan/chickpea flour
2. Garlic – Coconut chutney : A spicy crunchy chutney made by grinding roasted garlic and coconut
3. Coriander Chutney : A fresh and spicy green chutney
4. Tamarind Chutney: Tangy Imli ki chutney

Here is the recipe for Vada Pao. Hope you like it.

PREPARATION TIME: 45 minutes
COOKING TIME: 30 minutes
SERVINGS: 6
DIFFICULTY SCALE: Medium

INGREDIENTS:   

1. Pao – 6
2. Green Chillies

For the vadas –

2. Potatoes – 3, large
3. Mustard seeds – 1 teaspoon
4. Curry leaves – 4-5
5. Green chillies – 1
6. Ginger – 1 small piece
7. Garlic –  2 cloves
8. Coriander Leaves – a few
9. Lemon juice – half lemon
10. Turmeric powder – ½ teaspoon
11. Vegetable oil – 1 teaspoon
12. Salt – 1 teaspoon, or more to taste

For the vada covering –

12. Besan/chickpea flour – ½ cup
13. Red chilli powder – ½ teaspoon
14. Salt – 1 teaspoon
15. Baking soda – ½ teaspoon
16. Water – ¼ cup
17. Oil – for frying

For the garlic – coconut chutney –

18. Garlic – 2 whole
19. Fresh coconut – 1/2 , grated (you could use dry coconut too)
20. Red chilli powder – 1 teaspoon, or more to taste
21. Kashmiri Chilli powder – 1 teaspoon
22. Vegetable oil – 1 teaspoon
23. Salt – ½ teaspoon

For the coriander chutney –

24. Coriander leaves – 1 cup
25. Mint Leave – ¼ cup, optional
26. Green chilies – 2
27. Onion – ½, small
28. Lemon juice – 1
29. Salt – 1 tablespoon

For the Imli Chutney, check here.

UTENSILS/EQUIPMENT:

1. Non – stick pan
2. Pressure Cooker
3. Tawa
4. Wok/Kadhai
5. Potato Masher
6. Grater  

RECIPE:

For the vadas –

1. Wash and pressure-cook the potatoes. They need 1 whistle on high heat and another 5 minutes on low heat.
2. Let the steam release and then peel the potatoes.
3. Mash them with a masher/fork while they are still hot.
4. Now take a non-stick pan and add a little oil to it.
5. Add mustard seeds, once they flutter add in the curry leaves and finely diced green chillies.
6. Now grate a small piece of ginger and finely chopped garlic and add that in.

7. After 1-2 minutes, add the mashed boiled potatoes next with a little turmeric powder and salt.
8.  Cook on low heat for 3-4 minutes till the mixture completely dried.
9. Remove from heat and add the juice of half a lemon and finely chopped coriander leaves.

10. Set aside for 15-20 minutes until it completely cools down and then make small balls of a size of a lemon. You can do this step in advance too.
11. You can fry them just before you are ready to serve the vada paos.

Frying the vadas –

12. Keep a kadhai/wok with oil on high heat.
13. We need to make a thick besan batter. Add all the ingredients to besan and mix it with water. Make sure it’s lump-free.
14. Cover the potato balls into the besan mix and fry them in the hot oil on medium oil. Keep turning until it cooks well on all sides.

15. Place it on a paper napkin to absorb the excess oil.
16. In the hot oil, also fry some slit green chillies which you can have with the vada pao.

For the garlic – coconut chutney –

17. Peel about 2 whole garlic.
18. In a non-stick pan, add a little oil and add the garlic pods.
19. Grate half coconut and add them to the pan. I used dried coconut here since I didn’t have fresh coconut and it tasted equally amazing.
20. Roast them on low heat for about 3-4 minutes until they turn aromatic.

22. Now add them to a mixer jar and add a little salt, red chilli and Kashmiri red chilli which will give it a nice red color.
23. Grind everything.

For the Coriander chutney –

24. Wash and add the coriander and mint leaves with soft stalks in a grinder.
25. Add a half onion, green chilies, lemon juice, and salt.
26. Grind everything well.

Similarly, make Tamarind/Imli Chutney. You can make this can keep beforehand to save yourself some time and also because it tastes perfect once it’s chilled. Check out the Imli Chutney recipe here.

Assembling the Vada Pao –

27. Slice the Pao/Bread bun from between to get two equal halves. If you like, you can them slightly on a tawa/pan with a little butter. Since this is not necessary, I avoided this step.
28. Start assembling the Vada Paos only when you are ready to serve, else they would turn soggy.
29. Slather both the imli and green chutneys onto both the bun slices.
30. Now place the garlic – coconut chutney on the lower bun and place a fried Vada on it. Press it slightly.
31. Add some more of the coconut chutney and then place the upper half of the bun on it.

Enjoy your hot Vada Pao! There was a lot of effort but it’s totally worth it, am I right?