Shahi Herbal Vada Pao

Ingredients:
Pao (bun) – 12
For Potato Masala:
Potatoes – 4 large.
Green chillies – 4 medium.
Curry leaves – 12.
Mint leaves – 12 sprigs.
Coriander – 20 sprigs.
Ginger – 1 ½ inches.
Cumin seeds – ½ teaspoon.
Mustard – ¼ teaspoon.
Fenugreek seeds – ¼ teaspoon.
Cashew nuts – 5.
Almonds – 10.
Dried grapes (kishmish) – 15.
Peanuts – 4 table spoons.
Seeds from 1 large Pomegranate.
Garam masala – ½ teaspoon.
Turmeric powder – ¼ teaspoon.
Asafoetida – 3 pinches.
Salt to taste.
Chutneys:
Green chutney:
Chopped coriander leaves – 1 small bowl.
Chopped mint leaves – ½ small bowl.
Chopped curry leaves – ¼ small bowl.
Green chillies – 2 medium.
Asafoetida – 1 ½ pinches.
Salt to taste.
Sweet Chutney:
Wet dates – 15.
Tamarind – the size of a lemon.
Jaggery – 100 gms.
Salt – a pinch.
Batter:
Gram flour (besan) – 1 ½ small bowls.
Corn flour – ¾ small bowl.
All purpose flour (maida) – ¼ small bowl.
Rice flour – ¼ small bowl.
Dry ginger powder – ¼ teaspoon.
Chilli powder – 1 teaspoon.
Seeds of Bishop’s weeds (ajwain) – ¼ teaspoon.
Chilli powder – ½ teaspoon.
Cumin seeds – ¼ teaspoon.
Salt to taste.
Oil for frying.

Method:
Potato masala: Boil potatoes and skin them. Mash them on a plate and place it aside. Grind chillis, ginger, coriander, mint leaves and curry leaves together in a chilli grinder. Roast peanuts, cashew nuts and almonds each separately and grind them into a powder consistency.
Pour some oil into a kadai. Add a little mustard, cumin seeds and fenugreek seeds and mix till done. Add powdered peanuts, cashew nuts and almonds to this and mix well. Add dried grapes and sauté everything for 2 minutes. Add mashed potatoes and mix well. Mix in the required amount of salt, turmeric powder and garam masala. Mix well and sauté for 5 minutes. Now switch off the gas flame. Sprinkle the pomegranate seeds on the contents of the kadai and mix well.
Chutneys:
To make the green chutney, grind mint leaves, coriander leaves, curry leaves and green chillies in chutney grinder with asafoetida and salt. Keep it aside.
For sweet chutney, mix in dates and tamarind in water. Add a pinch of salt to it and boil. Cool it and remove the seeds from the dates. Squeeze out the water from it and grind till thin paste. Add jaggery to the remaining water and heat it in slow fire, so that the chunks dissolve in the water. When everything dissolves add the thin paste to it and mix well. Keep this also aside.
Batter:
Mix all flours, salt, cumin, ajwain, asafoetida, ginger powder, chilli powder and make a thick batter with water.
Vada: Heat oil (enough for frying the vadas) in a pan. While the oil is getting heated, make 12 equal spheres out of the potato masala. When the oil is hot enough dip each sphere into the batter and cover it entirely. Then fry them in the oil. When done remove each of them draining out the excess oil.
Slit open each pao horizontally. Apply each chutney on the either side of the inner side of the pao. Now place a vada in between the slit. Shahi Herbal Vada Pao is ready to serve.
Note: Optionally, pieces of garlic and onion can also be added to the potato masala. At the same time, a pinch of nutmeg powder can also be added to the sweet chutney.
Serves: 4-6 people.