Street Food - Dabeli

Whenever I visited Mumbai, my trip was never complete without eating the awesome vada pav. On one visit, I tasted a distant cousin of the vada pav - DABELI !!
Crunchy with peanuts and pomegranate seeds, spicy and sweet, all in one bite.

We've moved to Ahmedabad and man, this is truly a street-food paradise - Dhokla, faafda, mathia, khicchu, dabeli, ghantia, chaat, sandwich dhokla...the list goes on, but I havent still learnt the names or tried the others as yet...
Dabeli is supposed to have originated in Kutch, and called Kachchi dabeli - I am still not sure whether it is kachchi (raw) beacuse it isnt fried, or because it come from Kutch, but it definately has a Gujarat connection.

Made this last night for dinner, doesnt leave you with a stuffed feeling, and the crunch of the pomegranate and peanuts leaves a real nice taste in your mouth
I tend to go real easy on butter and oil, so have used it very minimally here






What you need -
(this is for 5 dabelis)

3-4 potatoes
seeds of one small pomegranate
1/2 cup roasted peanuts
1/2 cup coriander leaves
1/2 cup tomato ketchup
2 tbsp garlic chutney (optional)
1/2 cup date-tamarind chuntney
5 burger buns / pavs

For the Masala -

2 cloves
1 inch piece cinnamon
2 tsp sugar
salt
a pinch of asafoetida
1 tsp chilli powder

What you do with it -

Boil potatoes, peel and mash
For the masala, powder the cinnamon and cloves and mix all the other ingredients
Add the masala, pomegranate seeds, coriander leaves to the mashed potatoes
Adjust salt and chilli powder
Slit the buns in half, add a bit of butter on both sides(inside) and fry on a tawa / pan
Apply some tomatoe ketchup, garlic chutney and tamarind chutney on the base of the bun
Top with the mashed mixture garnish with more pomegranate and coriander if you like
Press the mixture inside the bun and fry on the tawa for 2 mins
Serve with chopped onions / sev