I started the “Cooking with the books” series to reacquaint myself with the hoards of cookbooks I have on my bookshelf. And I am so happy that I did.
All the cookbooks that I have bought (new or second hand) have been bought after thoroughly going through their reviews on amazon or other sites. So I knew I have a good collection of cookbooks. But I never took too much advantage of it- always trying recipes on other people’s blogs ( I blame pinterest!) or recipes that I have come up with after eating something I like or one of my mom’s recipes. The cookbooks, as a result, always ended up eating dust.
Vada Pavs: Spicy potato fritters that are sandwiched between two pavs (buns), a sweet chutney, a garlic chutney and green chutney. The potato fritters are gluten free and vegan. By using gluten free buns, and omitting butter, Vada Pav can be an entirely vegan and gluten free option for those with dietary restrictions.
Edited May 2020: The original post went live in July 2012. A print friendly option for the recipe, and a new cover image was added in May 2020. Rest of the images and text is from the original post. You can find the recipe for homemade pavs here.
Original Post:
Once or twice a month we take the four hour drive from our small town to the big city of Phoenix. We generally leave on Saturday and return the next day on Sunday. Since all of our Indian grocery shopping is done in Phoenix and so that the food doesn’t spoil we plan our shopping on Sundays. As a result we get to leave Phoenix a little after lunch, making us reach home around dinner time. And since there is no way I have the energy to cook anything after a hectic weekend, we get two Vada pavs as to-go from Little India to have as dinner. Sometimes we get four vada pavs to-go and use the leftover 2 as breakfast the next day.
Both V and I love them and relish each bite.
Since our trips to Phoenix have reduced in frequency in the recent past, we have to wait longer for our dose of Vada pavs. So over the last few visits, both V and I would dissect the vada in order to replicate the recipe at home. And I think we have finally nailed it.
We went to Phoenix the weekend that just went by. And I am happy to say I wasn’t tempted to buy the Vada pavs. Because now I can make them at home.
I had already decided I am not sending anything with V for tomorrow’s Office Thursdays. I have a cake to bake tomorrow (it’s my friend’s daughter’s birthday), so I thought I will get my baking fix with the birthday cake. So I really don’t need another cake lurking around.
Plus, it was my rest day. I had cooked plenty yesterday, making sure I had no cooking to do today. The refrigerator was well stocked with ready to serve food. The kitchen was clean, more importantly the sink was clean. I really did not want to do any dishes today. I had just finished doing laundry and I couldn’t be bothered with doing any other housework. So I decided V will go empty handed for Office Thursdays. Everyone will understand. Its not like its set in stone or something. =/
