Vada Pav ~ The Indian Burger (With home made Pav/Buns)

Vada Pav is a popular road side snack from Maharastra, India. It consists of a batata vada (potato fritter) sandwiched between two slices of a pav/ bun smeared with garlic and green chutney (condiments). I had Vada Pav first time while travelling from Bombay to Pune in a road side dhaba and needless to say I loved it.

My DH had been asking me to make it at home and finally I did. I had made it on the Ind Vs Pak world cup semi final match. Partly because, I wanted to keep myself occupied or else I would be found pacing up and down in front of the TV(I can't handle the excitement and tension of such cricket clashes).

My attempt of making buns at home was a success and I can't help dispalying the pictures. So, this is going to be a long post. I had picked up the recipes from several places and came up with this recipe. Lets have a look.

(Click here for printable version)

Ingredients for Pav/Buns: Adapted from US Masala

2 cup extra strong white flour/AP Flour.

1/2 tsp salt.

1 tbsp sugar.

11/2 tsp instant dried yeast.

1 1/2 tbsp melted butter.

3/4 cup +2-3 tbsp warm milk.

1 tbsp milk for brushing the buns

1 tbsp melted butter for brushing.

Process:

1. In a medium bowl add the sugar and hand hot milk. Stir and add the dried yeast. Sprinkle 1 tsp flour over it. Cover it and let it sit for 10 minutes. It will become frothy and ready for use.
2. In a separate large bowl shift the flour and salt and make  a well in the centre. Add the butter to the frothy mixture and add it to the flour little by little. Use your hands to bring the flour together to make a dough. Add the extra milk to form a sticky dough.
3. Apply some butter on your palms and bring the dough on a light floured surface. Knead the dough by stretching it at one end and bringing it back till the dough is smooth and springs back when touched.
4. Keep the dough in a clean greased bowl and apply some butter over it to prevent the top of the dough from drying. Cover it with a wet kitchen towel and keep it in a warm place to rise for about 1-2 hours.
5. After the first rise, gently deflate the dough by punching it and knead ofr another 2-3 minutes. Divide it into 9 balls and keep them in a greased tray. Cover it with a wet kitchen towl and keep it in a warm place for the second rising for an hour. 
6. After an hour when the dough has risen again, brush milk on the top of the buns and bake it in an oven preheated at 180 C for 12-15 minutes. Brush melted butter when it comes out of the oven.

In the pictures above first one is the dough kneaded and ready for the first rise. Second one is the risen dough followed by 9 dough balls ready for the second rising. Last one is the buns out of the oven with butter brushed on top. You can see the texture inside the buns in the picture below.

Ingredients for the vadas : Adapted from Tarla Dalal

Makes 8 vadas

4 medium sized or 8 small potatoes boiled, peeled and mashed

1 tsp cumin seeds

1 green chilli finely chopped

1 tsp mustard seeds.

1 tsp ginger garlic paste

2 tbsp finely chopped onion

4-5 curry leaves.

A pinch of asafeotida

1 tsp turmeric powder.

Handful of chopped coriander leaves.

1 tbsp oil.

For Vada outer coating:

1/2 cup besan flour

1 tsp chilli powder

2 tbsp rice flour

a pinch of baking soda.

a pinch of turmeric powder

1 tsp oil

Salt to taste

Oil to deep fry

Process:

1. Heat the oil and add the mustard seeds and cumin seeds. When they crackle, add the asafoetida and curry leaves and sauté for a few seconds.
2. Add the ginger garlic mixture, chopped onions and chopped chillies and sauté again for a few seconds. Add the potatoes, turmeric powder, chopped coriander and salt and mix well.
3.  Remove from the heat and cool. Divide into 8 equal portions. Shape into rounds. 4.
4. Combine all the ingredients for the outer covering in a bowl and make a batter using approximately 1/3 cup of water.
5. Dip each round of the vada filling into the batter and allow it to coat the mixture well .
6. Deep fry in hot oil, till golden brown. Keep them on a kitchen towel so that it absorbs extra oil.

Red Garlic Chutney: Adapted from Sharmis Passions

1/4 cup dessicated coconut

2 dried whole red chillies

2 tsp red chilli power (optional)

4 garlic chopped finely

1 tsp tamarind paste 

Salt to taste

Process:

Dry roast coconut and tamarind till lightly browned. Grind together with all other ingredients. Do not add water.

Green Chutney:

2 cup chopped coriander leaves.
1 cup chopped mint leaves.
2 green chillies.
1 tsp cumin seeds.
2 inch ginger piece, peeled
Salt to taste.
Lemon juice as needed.

Process:

1. Add all the ingredients in a grinder and make a paste. Add water as little as possible.
2. Add lemon juice to taste just before serving.

It can be stored for weeks  in freezer without adding the lemon juice. I store it in my ice cube tray and use cubes of chutney whenever required. Generally, I microwave two cubes of chutney on medium high for 30 seconds and its ready to use.

Assembling the Vada Pav:

1. Cut the bun into two halves. Butter them and toast them on a pan.

2. Smear  the chutneys on each side. Place the warm vada on one half and cover it with the other. Ready to serve.

Enjoy!

Linking it to Yeast Spotting

Love Eat Pray by Elizabeth Gilbert

I had picked up this book with great hopes and in the end I was sorely disappointed with it. Well, I did not even get to the end of the book. I had missed seeing the movie and was really looking forward to reading this book. Now, I am only glad I did not buy this book.

It is the story of the author herself. At 32 years old, she is well settled in her life with a home, a husband, and a successful career as a writer. However, she was unhappy in her marriage and ends up going through a bitter divorce and a short lived affair there after. To make a new beginning and refresh herself to start again she decides to travel around the world spending 4 months in Italy where she eats a lot and gains 2 stones of weight, 3 months in India where she prays and rest of the time in Indonesia where she find the balance of life.

In her Eat Pray Love, Gilbert takes us through her journey across Italy, India and Indonesia in her per suit of happiness, peace and balance of live. But seriously, after reading the book, I could not even understand what she found and what actually she was looking for. I read the first part of her journey -Italy, religiously hoping it would make sense to me in the end. But it didn't. While reading, the Indian part, I was already getting impatient with the book and roughly made through it. By the time, I got to Indonesia, I just flipped the pages and realised far too late, I can't read it any more.

Elizabeth sometimes struck me as a disillusioned woman, egotist women and her memoir did little to inspire or motivate me in any way. In plain words, I would just say I wouldn't recommend this book.

To know more about the author and her works visit http://www.elizabethgilbert.com/.

Cardamom Kulfi Recipe | How to Make Cardamom Kulfi from Scratch

Cardamom Kulfi #recipe

Cardamom Kulfi is the traditional Indian popsicle made with evaporated milk and is flavoured with cardamom. It is a painstaking process since it involves constant stirring of the milk on low flame, but it is so worth it. It is very popular in India. People indulge in kulfi to beat the heat in summer months. 

Kulfis can be made in many flavours. The one I am sharing today is cardamom flavoured. As a child, I always relished the homemade kulfi my mother made during summer months. I bought these kulfi moulds on my last trip to India and so I will be flaunting them in my future posts as I have collected some recipes of kulfi to try this summer. The first recipe of Kulfi is obviously my mother's. I have tried to stick to her process and recreate the taste and gladly I have succeeded! Yippee!

Each of the kulfi moulds I use is 80 ml in volume. I have a set of 6. So, the measurements in the recipe are accordingly. Here is the recipe:-

Cardamom Kulfi Recipe

Ingredients:

800 ml full-fat milk.
3 cardamom pod seeds finely powdered.
1 tbsp ground almonds or almond powder.
3 tbsp sugar.
1 tsp corn flour

Process:

1. Stir the cornflour in a tablespoon of milk and keep aside.

2. In a non-stick pan, heat the remaining milk. Once it comes to boil turn the heat to medium and simmer it till it reduces to about half in volume (450ml or so). It can take about 25-30 minutes.

3. Add the cardamom powder, almond powder and sugar and stir well.

4. After a minute add the cornflour mixture and stir well. Heat for another 5 minutes stirring all the time. If it gets too thick add 2 tbsp of extra milk and stir.

5. Let it cool down to room temperature and then fill it in the kulfi moulds.

6. Freeze for 6 hours or overnight.

7. Take it 5-10 minutes ahead of serving. Dip it in warm water and unmould. Ready to serve.

Notes:

1. Variety of flavours can be added. You can add Saffron and nuts like chopped pistachios, cashews etc.

2. Stirring the milk is very important. If the milk sticks to the bottom and burns it will impart a burned smell to the kulfi which is undesirable.

3. In case of not using a non-stick pan, grease the pan with ghee/clarified butter and continue with the process. Milk will not stick at the bottom.

4. If you do not have kulfi moulds, disposable glasses will work fine too.

Linking it to Lets Celebrate Sweets - Ice Cream by Rasoi. This event is the brainchild of Nivedita. Also sending it to 'Walk through the memory lane' by Gayathri

Enjoy! Thank you for stopping by! Cheers!

#6 Teaser Tuesday

This week my teaser comes from Sophie Kinsella's 'The Undomestic Goddess'.

'I don't think thats's a good idea.' There's a new edge to Arnold's voice which pulls me up.
Page: 79

Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by MizB of Should Be Reading. Anyone can play along! Just do the following:

• Grab your current read
• Open to a random page
• Share two (2) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page

BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! Share the title & author, too, so that others can add the book to their TBR Lists!

A Salute to 'The Men in Blue!'

Words cannot define the joy and excitement the whole of India experienced on the 2nd of April 2011 when the Indian Cricket team led by MS Dhoni won the Cricket World Cup 2011.

Photo from: http://www.espncricinfo.com/

After a nerve wrecking final match with Sri Lanka, India won the cricket world cup for the second time after 28 years.

Well, I did not see the whole match and satisfied myself with the high lights. The intensity of the match get on my nerves and I get all tensed up. I just wonder how all these guys cope with the pressure and keep their mind focussed in the game. I remember hearing MS Dhoni saying this in an interview ~ 'If you feel this as a pressure job, you will feel yourself inside a pressure cooker.'

Well, I am sure it is and can't imagine how it must be to take the pressure of the expectations of a 'cricket crazy' nation. But, like every Indian I prayed and prayed for the win. Well, God would have had a tough time if he had to turn down the prayers of 1.2 billion Indians.

News channels and newspaper have been flooded with the news of the world cup win and there are celebration everywhere.

I feel so proud myself being an Indian and salute to 'The Men in Blue' for making the long cherished dream come true and for the joy and happiness they have brought to the whole of the nation.