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The Sandwich 100 · make it at home

Vada pav (Mumbai's potato fritter bun)

50 min · 8 vada pav

A spiced potato dumpling dipped in chickpea batter and fried, tucked into a soft pav bun with a fiery dry garlic chutney and a sweet-sour green chutney, with a fried green chili on the side. Mumbai's breakfast, lunch and train snack.

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The real one

You need

• 8 soft pav buns (or soft dinner rolls)
• For the vada: 500 g (1 lb) potatoes, boiled, peeled and coarsely mashed, 1 tbsp oil, 1 tsp mustard seeds, 10 curry leaves, 1 tbsp grated ginger, 4 cloves garlic and 2 green chilies, crushed, 1/4 tsp turmeric, 1 tsp salt, 2 tbsp chopped cilantro, juice of 1/2 lemon
• For the batter: 120 g (1 cup) chickpea flour (besan), 1/4 tsp turmeric, a pinch of baking soda, 1/2 tsp salt, about 150 ml (2/3 cup) water
• For the dry garlic chutney: 8 cloves garlic, 3 tbsp desiccated coconut, 1 tbsp roasted peanuts, 1 1/2 tsp Kashmiri chili powder, 1/2 tsp salt, all toasted and pounded
• Green chutney: cilantro, mint, 1 green chili, lemon and salt, blended
• Oil for frying, 8 small green chilies, slit

How to make it

1. Make the filling (10 min): Heat the oil, add the mustard seeds until they pop, then the curry leaves, ginger, garlic and chilies for 30 seconds. Add the turmeric, potatoes and salt and mix well. Stir in the cilantro and lemon. Cool and shape into 8 balls, slightly flattened.
2. Make the batter and chutney (10 min): Whisk the besan, turmeric, soda and salt with enough water for a thick, coating batter. Toast the chutney ingredients in a dry pan 3 minutes and pound or pulse to a coarse, red powder.
3. Fry (12 min): Heat 5 cm (2 in) oil to 180 C (350 F). Dip each potato ball in batter and fry 3 or 4 at a time until golden and crisp, 3 to 4 minutes. Drain. Fry the slit chilies for 30 seconds and sprinkle with salt.
4. Prepare the pav (3 min): Slit the buns without cutting through. Spread the inside with green chutney and a big pinch of garlic chutney.
5. Build: Press a hot vada into each bun and serve with a fried chili.

Tips

• The dry garlic chutney keeps 2 weeks in a jar; make extra.
• Toast the buns lightly in butter for Anand Stall's richer version, with a slice of cheese.

Chef Amazing's own home version, in our words; not any shop's recipe.