Vada pav

Before you start

• oil for deep frying

Ingredients

Serves 2 · dimmer marks are storecupboard

• 280gpotatoes
• 40ggram flour — besan — chickpea flour
• 2pav or soft rolls
• 1½ tbspoil for frying
• 1 tbspdry garlic chutney — garlic, desiccated coconut and chilli, blitzed dry
• 4green chillies
• 10curry leaves
• 1 thumbginger and garlic
• 1 tspmustard seeds and turmeric

Method

6 steps

1. boil · 22m

   Potatoes boiled in their skins, peeled, then crushed coarse by hand. A masher works them smooth and the filling turns gluey.

2. fry · 8m

   Mustard seeds popped in a little oil with curry leaves, ginger, garlic, two of the chillies and the turmeric, then the potato folded in and left to cool enough to shape.

3. fold · 4m

   Gram flour whisked with water and salt into a batter thick enough to coat a spoon. Thin batter slides off in the oil and leaves the potato bare.

4. fry · 10m

   Potato balls dipped and lowered into medium-hot oil until the shell sets pale gold. Keep the pan no more than a third full, and never move it while there is hot oil in it.

5. fry · 2m

   The two remaining chillies dropped in for a few seconds at the end. They go into the bun beside the vada, whole, and are meant to be eaten.

6. finish · 3m

   Pav split most of the way through, garlic chutney dusted thickly on both cut faces, vada pressed in and squashed slightly. Assembled and eaten inside a minute.