Saturday Sandwich 101: Vada Pav

This popular Indian street food consists of spiced deep-fried mashed potato garnished with various chutneys. We put this sandwich off a bit because it's quite a faff to make with all the chutneys.

Eventually, after JD being away for several months we decided to simplify things a bit with just two chutneys, just to get this last sandwich done!

Here's the recipe we used if you want to try it - http://www.cookingandme.com/2014/05/vada-pav-recipe-how-to-make-mumbai-vada.html

We made up some green chutney and some dry garlic/coconut chutney, see if you can work out which is which :D

The spiced mashed potato was delicious, JD and I both had a few spoonfuls before we rolled it up to be deep-fried.  The mashed potato balls are coated in a batter made from Gram Flour which was thick and almost impossible to get coated on the potato. The first ones we tried to fry in the deep fat fryer were a disaster. The potato dissolved from inside the batter leaving deep-fried batter in the basket. So we fried the next ones in a frying pan instead. Fun times!

Make up the Vada Pav by spreading the green chutney on a bread bun, follow with the battered potato and top with the garlic chutney. Our battered potato is definitely not as pretty as most pictures I've seen but it's finally done!

Ratings: JD - 2, Emma - 2

The sandwich was very spicy, almost every element of it contained chilli powder which builds up to be quite fiery with every mouthful you take. The green chutney was a nice addition and really tasty on it's own and the garlic chutney adds a nice crunch to a soft filling here. But overall it just didn't do it for us, which is a shame as it's the last one.

We've enjoyed a lot of the sandwiches we've tried doing this, some that we've had again and we're currently going through our favourites too. I'll post some sort of re-cap post soon with the ones we liked the most but apart from that we're done. :D

I wonder how many people in the world have eaten 101 different sandwiches. :)

The Taped Hands Challenge

Last weekend we planned a bit of silliness since it was the end of Leigh and Erin's first week back to school.

What could be sillier than taping up your thumbs and fingers and trying to do simple tasks?

First we got ourselves all taped up!

We had 6 tasks to do each and we rolled a dice to see which to do first.

I thought putting on socks was the hardest, I couldn't do it. But everyone else managed it. Leigh and JD pictured showing off above. Sending a message was easiest, we all did that one without any difficulties.

Taking a selfie was ok too, we all did that one. Opening up a soda bottle was almost impossible. I was the only one to do it. I helped Leigh with an extra pair of hands to open hers.

Making a sandwich was fun, we went with what we thought were easy choices of peanut butter and jam but they were hard to get open before even trying to spread them with a knife!

Everything was way harder than we thought it'd be and we felt pleased to have managed most of it. I even managed to take these pictures with taped hands thanks to my phone's timer function. :D

So there you go, if you want a bit of silly fun on the cheap then tape up your hands and try to make a sandwich.

We're Still Here!

It's been a long time since I've made a blog post here. Not since May, which is shocking. There are still things going on which I'll be sharing shortly. This post is to let you know what to expect soon. :D

First up - Saturday Sandwiches

Remember our quest to eat every sandwich in this book I got JD for Christmas several years ago? Well we've eaten 100 of them so far with just one sandwich left to make. We'll be having it soon and then posting about our top 10 favourite sandwiches ever.

Second - More cheap ways to entertain the kids (and yourselves if I'm honest)

Coming up soon is the Taped Hand Challenge, what simple everyday tasks can you manage if your fingers and thumbs are taped up?

Also, we'll be holding a Plastic Cup Games Tournament, multiple fun games using plastic cups and ping pong balls.

Lastly we're keen to start an Eat Well For Less style comparison regular post where we taste various foods (we're most keen to try chocolate and crisps!) to see which brands we prefer.

Anyway, expect some more Family Against the Flow stuff soon :)