Vada pav is an Indian street food sandwich made from a fried potato fritter served on a fluffy roll and topped with 2 kinds of chutney and sometimes fried peppers. I had never heard of vada pav before making these, but found the recipe in an article about great sandwiches around the world.
My family loves Indian food and all things related, so I knew we would like these. Indian food is so thoughtfully spiced and such a great mix of salty, sour, spicy, and sometimes sweet. I served my version of this recipe with green chutney as well as a dry garlic chutney I had also not had before but really liked. They aren’t in this picture, but I also fried some serrano peppers which went great on these as well. I used my leftover Thanksgiving rolls for the bread and it was perfect. 🙂
This recipe uses both chaat masala and Kashmiri chili powder, which you can find at Indian markets or from amazon using these links.
Vada Pav
Ingredients
For the green chutney:
- 2 cups cilantro leaves and stems
- 1 cup mint leaves
- 2-3 green chiles stemmed and seeded, I used jalapenos
- 1/4 cup chopped onion
- 2 garlic cloves
- pinch of cumin
- 1 tsp chaat masala
- juice of half a lemon or whole lemon to taste
- salt to taste
- 1/4 tsp sugar or more or less to taste
For the garlic chutney:
- 1/2 cup desiccated coconut
- 1/4 tsp Kashmiri chili powder
- 1 tsp canola oil
- 2 small garlic cloves
- salt to taste
For the sandwich:
- 3 medium potatoes peeled and cut into pieces
- 2 green chiles
- 2 garlic cloves
- 2 inch piece ginger peeled
- 1 tbsp oil
- 1/4 tsp black mustard seeds
- a few curry leaves optional, but SO good
- pinch of turmeric
- 1 cup flour
- 1/4 tsp turmeric
- 1/4 tsp Kashmiri chili powder
- pinch of baking soda
- pinch of salt
- oil for frying
- 8 small soft buns
- extra green chilies to fry and serve if you like
Instructions
For the green chutney:
- Puree everything in a blender until smooth. Taste and add more salt or lemon as needed.
For the garlic chutney:
- Combine the ingredients but oil in a small blender cup and pulse until the coconut is a coarse powder. Add the oil and season with salt to taste.
For the potato patties:
- Whisk the cup of flour, 1/4 tsp turmeric, 1/4 tsp chili powder, baking soda and salt in a bowl and add enough water to make a paste you can dip the potato patties into. It should be thick but not so thick that the patties fall apart when you try to dunk them.
- Cook potatoes in boiling water until fork tender like you would for mashed potatoes. Mash them and set aside.
- Grind up the chilies, garlic and ginger in a small blender jar until smooth. Heat oil in a skillet and add the mustard seeds and curry leaves and fry for 30 seconds. Add the potatoes, 1/4 tsp turmeric, salt to taste and fry for a minute while mixing. Remove from heat and allow to cool until you can shape the potato until 8 small patties, removing the curry leaves but leaving mustard seed in.
- Heat a deep pot of oil to 350 degrees. Coat each potato patty with the coating and drop into the hot oil. Fry just until the coating is brown and crispy. If you fry to long the potatoes will start to fall apart. Drain on a paper towel lined tray.
- Fry any green chilies you have if you want to. Place each potato patty on soft roll and top with green chutney and the dry garlic chutney and with a fried pepper if you like. I served this with Indian pickle on the side.