Vada pav is believed to be part of the culture of the Marathis. It is said to have been invented by a Mumbaikar, Ashok Vaidya, who opened his vada pav stall near Dadar station in Mumbai. Today, this mouth-smacking dish is believed as the authentic taste of the city.
It is a rich carbohydrate snack, and it is a vegetarian fast food dish native to the state of Maharashtra. It is a budget-friendly and gratifying Indian style burger which is aptly called the poor man’s burger! It is also known as ‘batata vada’ or Bombay burger. This dish consists of a deep-fried fritter that is prepared with spiced mashed potato placed inside a bread bun or pav, which is sliced half through the middle, accompanied by some chutneys. One vada pav may consist of up to 290-300 calories, and its calorie breakdown is approximately 60% fat, 33% carbs, and 7% protein.
As it is also fast food, so eating in a moderate quantity is always fine. But you can always make it healthier if you prepare it at your home by following our simple and few easy steps. You can use organic whole wheat bread or pav and use a non-stick pan for frying the fritters. You can also use olive oil instead of the regular sunflower oil. Olive oil is very healthy and good for your health. Following these easy steps, you can easily make healthy vada pav at your home.
It is easy to make, and one can easily prepare it at home following these easy peasy steps.
Ingredients For The Mouth-Smacking Marathi Dish:
- 6 Pav
- 3 Medium boiled potatoes
- 1 cup besan/gram flour
- Salt- 2tsp or as per taste
- Red chili powder- 1tsp
- Coriander powder/dhania powder- 1tsp
- Haldi/ turmeric powder- ½ tsp
- Rai/whole mustard- 1tsp
- Curry Patta- 2-3 leaves
- Hing/asafoetida- 2 pinch
- Garlic and chili paste- 1½ tbsp
- Oil to fry
- Water- ½ glass
10 Easy Steps To Follow:
- Step 1: crush 5-6 cloves of garlic along with one green chili and make a rough paste.
- Step 2: Heat oil in the pan/kadhai, when the oil heats up add the measured whole mustard, hing, followed by fresh curry leaves and add the garlic and chili paste. Give a good stir. Then, low the flame of the gas and add turmeric powder and coriander powder followed by boiled, mashed potatoes.
- Step 3: mix everything nicely so that the mashed potato mixes well the spices. Stir & keep it aside to cool down.
- Step 4: Take a bowl and add the gram flour and add water little at a time. Make a batter that should have a thick consistency and not watery. Also, make sure that the batter is lump-free.
- Step 5: Next, we need to shape the potato vada. For this, take a lemon sized balls or bigger as per you prefer and shape them into a round ball. Similarly, make the rest.
- Step 6: The next step is frying this potato vada, crisp, and golden brown. Take oil in frying pan to fry the vadas. Once the oil gets moderately hot, deep the vadas into the gram flour batter, coat it nicely, and fry the vadas in medium flame.
- Step 7: Transfer the vadas into an absorbent tissue paper, so that it absorbs all the excess oil from the vada.
- Step 8: the next step is the main tastemaker, i.e., the dry chutney of the potato vada. For this, take the remaining gram flour batter and drizzle the batter lightly with all your fingers in the hot oil. Fry the fritters nice and crispy. Transfer it into an absorbent tissue paper.
- Step 9: take 10-12 cloves of garlic, 2tbsp red chili powder, salt, and the fritters. Grind it into a course chutney( no need to add water) in a mixer grinder.
- Step 10: take the pav, slice it half proportionally in the middle. Sprinkle the dry chutney and sandwich the vada into the pav. And serve it with some fried chilies.
