An ode to the Mumbai Vada Pav
A street food staple in India, here’s a quick recipe to recreate the magic at home
It was two years since I travelled to Mumbai…
It was two years since I witnessed the fevered celebrations of Holi …
It was two years since the pandemic changed all lives…
As I stepped off the flight onto the warm tarmac of Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj International Airport, I couldn’t stop the grin spreading across my face. I was home, after two years. Dusty, muggy with a patina of dirt, lay my city, waiting, with all its madness, to unleash that sense of being alive only Mumbai could engender.
On the way home, I spotted something I didn’t know I missed this badly. I had to stop. It was a vada pav cart run by a famed vendor by the name of Nitin. I don’t think anyone has bothered to verify if that’s his actual name.
I literally scarfed down a double vada pav accompanied by hiccups and tears halfway through. Vada pav was making me cry. Mumbai being Mumbai, the 20-odd customers surrounding the cart while several cars and bikes idled around, glanced in my direction, nodded sagely, continued with their munching, and buying. They understood the emotion that a vada pav could unleash – it is at the heart of very Mumbaikar.
For most outsiders, it is a spiced potato patty dipped in chickpea batter, flash fried and placed in the middle of a freshly baked bread roll, doused in some crumbly, dry garlic chutney. Interesting. Delicious, perhaps. However, to a Mumbaikar, it is so much more. It’s a meal, it’s a snack, it’s comfort food, all at a very affordable price.
For most outsiders, it is a spiced potato patty dipped in chickpea batter, flash fried and placed in the middle of a freshly baked bread roll, doused in some crumbly, dry garlic chutney. Interesting. Delicious, perhaps. However, to a Mumbaikar, it is so much more. It’s a meal, it’s a snack, it’s comfort food, all at a very affordable price.
Rs3.50 for the vada and Rs1.50 for the pav – together Rs5 or 24fils. Therefore, I had eaten a monstrous patty sandwich for the handsome sum of 40fils. Nothing can beat the price, the taste and most of important of all – it is piping hot! Many follow it up with cutting chai – literally half a glass of sweet, cardamom-laced milk tea. Life feels quite alright at that moment.
I was home, after two years of COVID-19-induced travel break. As fine beads of perspiration appeared on the forehead, I looked up at the blue sky and realised how much of our sense of freedom and well-being had been stolen by the pandemic. What I took for granted, as a university student, my daily 5.30pm vada pav pit stop, was actually a privilege. In that moment I relished all the delicious dishes I had tasted, the laughter I had taken for granted and the choice to be able to see all those who mattered in my life when I wanted to.
As I took a final bite of the near perfect fennel- and garlic-infused vada pav, I wiped the tears and thanked the universe for letting me have this moment of freedom back. Then I did what every self-respecting Mumbaikar would have done in my place – I packed three more for home, a treat for everyone who might be feeling a tad peckish.
Soon I was off, whizzing past the crazy bylanes filled with people shooting the breeze, women planning dinner and children plotting some diabolical scheme or another with the warm vada pavs in an upcycled paper bag, sitting snugly in my lap. Waiting… to get home.
After all that talk of vada pav, I must give you my time-tested recipe for vada pav, not doing so would be just cruel. Therefore, here it is:
Mumbai Vada Pav
Preparation time: 20 minutes
Cooking time: 30 minutes
Serves: 4 to 6
Ingredients - Vada:
2 potatoes boiled, peeled and crumbled
1 tbsp mustard oil
¼ tsp asafoetida, powdered
2 tsp fennel, gently dry roasted and pounded
1 tsp mustard seeds
1 tsp turmeric powder
1 green chilly, sliced
1 onion, minced
2 tsp garlic paste
Salt to taste
1 tbsp coriander leaves, chopped
2 ½ tsp lemon juice
Garlic chutney - ingredients:
(Adapted from pipingpotcurry.com)
8 garlic cloves
20gms peanuts
¼ cup desiccated coconut
1 tbsp sesame seeds
½ tbsp Kashmiri red chili powder
1 tsp salt
Batter - ingredients:
1 cup chickpea flour
1 tbsp cornflour
1 tbsp rice flour
¼ tsp turmeric
1 tsp salt
Additional ingredients:
6 freshly baked Mumbai pavs or bread rolls
Method
1. Heat mustard oil in pan until it starts to smoke, add mustard seeds.
2. Once it starts to splutter, add the fennel and asafoetida. Mix well.
3. Add the garlic paste and green chilies. Sauté until the raw smell dissipates.
4. Add the onion and mix well. As it turns translucent, add the turmeric powder.
5. Mix well. Lower the flame. Add the potatoes and combine well. Add salt and lemon juice, check for taste. Add the coriander leaves. Mix, again. Taste test, if fine, take off the flame and let the mix cool.
6. Then roll into balls with a diameter of about 2.5 inches. Keep aside.
7. Take all the chutney ingredients, dry roast them, especially the garlic. Then place in a blender and mix well. You should get a crumbly chutney. Set aside.
8. Mix the batter ingredients really well. You can add about ½ teaspoon of cumin and a teaspoon of baking soda if you so desire, but I personally do not prefer it. The batter should be slightly thick, like a custard.
9. Take a small deep pan. Add frying oil and heat, as it starts to smoke a bit, dip the potato patties in the batter and drop into the pan, gently.
10. As it turns golden, remove with a slotted spoon, place on some paper towels to drain.
11. Once done, take a pav, cut it open halfway, add a generous teaspoon of chutney, place the patty and the close. Vada pav is ready.
Is there some food item that has some incredible memories for you? Share your experiences with us at food@gulfnews.com
- Writer is the founder editor of the Gulf News Food section