Vada Pav

 Ingredients

• 5-6 medium potatoes, boiled, peeled, and mashed
• 6-8 pavs, horizontally slit
• 2 tablespoons oil + for deep-frying
• 1 teaspoon mustard seeds
• 1 teaspoon split skinless black gram (dhuli urad dal)
• ¼ teaspoon asafoetida (hing)
• 12-15 curry leaves
• 1½ tablespoons coarsely crushed ginger-garlic-green chillies
• ½ teaspoon turmeric powder
• Salt to taste
• 2-3 tablespoons chopped fresh coriander leaves
• ½ lemon
• 10-12 green chillies, slit
• Green chutney as required
• Date and tamarind chutney as required
• Dry red chilli-garlic chutney as required
• Batter
• 2 cups gram flour (besan) 
• ½ teaspoon turmeric powder
• ½ teaspoon red chilli powder
• Salt to taste
• ¼ teaspoon baking soda

Method

1. To make the vadas, heat oil in a kadai, add mustard seeds and split skinless black gram, and sauté till grams turn golden brown. Add asafoetida, curry leaves, and crushed ginger-garlic-green chilli and mix well. Cook for 1-2 minutes.
2. Add turmeric powder, and salt and mix well. Cook for 1-2 minutes.
3. Add the boiled potatoes, and mix till well combined. Cook for 1-2 minutes. 
4. Add coriander leaves and squeeze juice of lemon into the bowl and mix. Switch the heat off and allow the mixture to cool completely.
5. To make the batter, take gram flour, turmeric powder, red chilli powder, salt and baking soda in a large bowl. Add 1½ cups water and mix with your hand till a smooth batter is formed. 
6. Heat sufficient oil in another kadai. 
7. Divide the potato mixture into equal portions, shape each portion into a ball and flatten them slightly. Dip each ball in the batter and ensuring that they are well coated on all sides.  Gently slide them into hot oil and deep-fry till golden brown. Drain on an absorbent paper. This is a vada. 
8. Drizzle some of the batter into the hot oil and deep-fry till golden brown and crisp. Drain on absorbent paper.
9. Similarly, slide in the slit green chillies and deep-fry for 1-2 minutes. Drain on absorbent paper and generously sprinkle salt over it and toss well.
10. To make a vada pav, apply some green chutney, date and tamarind chutney and sprinkle dry red chilli-garlic chutney over the base half of each slit pav. Place a vada on it, sprinkle some of the fried batter pieces and place a fried chilli on top. Cover with the top half of the pav.
11. Arrange the vada pavs on a serving plate and serve hot.