Vada Pav

Ingredients

• 4 pav buns or soft dinner rolls
• 500g floury potatoes, peeled and cut into chunks
• 1 cup gram flour (besan)
• 2 tbsp rice flour
• 1/4 tsp bicarbonate of soda
• 1/2 tsp turmeric, divided
• 1 tsp mustard seeds
• 10 curry leaves
• 6 garlic cloves, crushed
• 3cm ginger, grated
• 3 green chillies, finely chopped
• 1 small handful coriander, chopped
• 1 tbsp lemon juice
• 8 tbsp desiccated coconut
• 8 dried red chillies
• 6 garlic cloves, unpeeled, for the chutney
• 2 tbsp butter
• Salt to taste
• 1 litre sunflower oil for deep frying
• 4 large green chillies, whole, for frying

Before you cook

• Peel the potatoes and cut them into even 4cm chunks.
• Crush 6 garlic cloves to a rough paste with the ginger and chopped green chillies.
• Whisk the gram flour, rice flour, bicarbonate of soda, a quarter teaspoon of turmeric and a good pinch of salt with about 150ml water into a smooth batter the thickness of double cream, then leave it to sit.
• Split each pav bun almost all the way through, leaving a hinge.

Steps

1. Boil the potato chunks in salted water for 15 minutes until a knife slides through with no resistance.
2. Drain the potatoes well and mash them coarsely, leaving a few lumps.
3. Toast the desiccated coconut, dried red chillies and unpeeled garlic cloves in a dry frying pan over medium heat for 4 minutes until the coconut turns sandy brown.
4. Tip that mixture into a blender with half a teaspoon of salt and pulse to a coarse red powder, then set the dry chutney aside.
5. Heat 2 tablespoons of oil in a pan over medium heat and pop the mustard seeds for 20 seconds.
6. Add the curry leaves and the garlic, ginger and chilli paste, and fry for 1 minute until the raw smell goes.
7. Stir in the remaining turmeric, then fold in the mashed potato, lemon juice, coriander and salt.
8. Take the pan off the heat and let the mixture cool for 10 minutes until you can handle it.
9. Roll the potato mixture into 4 balls, each about the size of a golf ball.
10. Heat the frying oil in a deep pan to 180C.
11. Dip a potato ball fully in the gram flour batter and lower it into the oil.
12. Fry two vada at a time for 4 minutes, turning once, until the coating is deep gold and crisp.
13. Lift the vada onto kitchen paper and repeat with the rest.
14. Slit the whole green chillies lengthways and fry them for 30 seconds until blistered, then sprinkle with salt.
15. Butter the inside of each pav and dust it generously with the dry garlic chutney.
16. Press a hot vada into each bun, squash it down with your palm, and serve with a fried chilli on the side.