vada pau

In his book, Maximum City (an essential and spicy read about Bombay), Suketu Mehta talks about vada pau: “Whose city is Bombay? Bombay is the vada pav eaters’ city, Mama of the Rajan Company had said to me. It is the lunch of the chawl dwellers, the cart pullers, the street urchins; the clerks, the cops, and the gangsters.” Quite right. Bombayites have endless arguments about which vendor sells the best ones. In our view it is the Ashok Vada Pav stall near Kirti College in Dadar, almost an hour’s drive (in traffic) from south Bombay. They serve their vadas (potato patties) spicy and hot, straight from the fryer. The heat and the chilli combine to give you an addictive hit which burns your mouth, made even better with hot chai. There’s always a queue of people in the street, waiting for the next round. If you’re staying in south Bombay but can’t or won’t make a two-hour round trip for a small sandwich, the more convenient stall on the pavement outside the Central Telegraph Office at Flora Fountain does a reasonably good version. It’s a simple dish, a bit like a chip butty, but obviously much better. There are quite a few components to a vada pau, but once the prep is done, they are very quick to fry and serve. Perfect for brunch, lunch or a satisfying party snack, they are best eaten as soon after cooking as they won’t burn your mouth. Don’t let a cooked vada pau sit around… and, honestly, why would you? The potato mix can be prepared in advance and stored for up to 24 hours in the fridge. The patties are actually a little easier to batter if they’ve been allowed to firm up in the fridge a while. The batter mix can be prepared in advance and stored in the fridge for up to 24 hours. Illustrated overleaf