Vada Pav (Mumbai Potato Fritter Sandwich)

Blend 4 garlic cloves, the green chillies and ginger to a coarse paste.

Heat 2 tbsp oil, pop the mustard seeds, add the curry leaves, asafoetida and the garlic-chilli paste. Fry 1 minute, stir in the turmeric, then fold the lot through the mashed potato with plenty of salt.

Cool, then roll into 6 balls slightly smaller than a golf ball. Press them a little flat so they sit in the roll.

Whisk the gram flour with a pinch of salt, a pinch of turmeric and about 150 ml water into a batter that coats the back of a spoon thickly — like double cream.

💡 Too thin and the batter slides off in the oil, leaving bald patches. Too thick and you get a doughy jacket. Dip a spoon and check before you commit a vada.

Heat the oil to 175°C — a drop of batter should rise and sizzle within 3 seconds without browning instantly.

Dip each potato ball in the batter, let the excess run off, and lower it into the oil. Fry 4–5 minutes, turning, until the shell is pale gold and hard.

💡 Fry three at most at a time. Crowding drops the oil temperature and the batter soaks up oil instead of sealing.

Fry the whole green chillies in the same oil for 30 seconds. Drain everything on paper.

For the chutney, dry-roast the desiccated coconut until golden, then blend it with the remaining garlic, the chilli powder and salt into a coarse red powder.

Split a roll, dust the inside heavily with the garlic chutney, put a vada in, press it shut and eat immediately with a fried chilli.