Dabba pav: Goan version of Mumbai's favourite snack is the upgraded vada pav that you need to have

It might not seem possible to improve Mumbai’s vada pav. People might prefer particular sellers, but the combination of spiced mashed potato, dipped in batter, deep-fried, stuffed in a pav and eaten immediately remains unchanged, and apparently, unimprovable.

At most, one might vary the chutneys. One seller uses South Indian-style coconut chutney for a pleasantly cooling contrast to the standard pungent dry red garlic chutney. A fast-food chain that claims to sell vada pav has actually changed it into a rather weird vegetable cutlet sandwich. So, the temptation to tamper with vada pav might seem treacherous. Yet the next stage of vada pav evolution exists.

I encountered it in Goa, at a stall in the fields outside Mapusa, where crowds came in the evening, all intent on getting what they called ‘capsicum’.


What they got was one small green capsicum, or half a big one, filled with mashed potato and masala mixture, the whole thing dunked in besan batter and deep fried, and served with an optional pav. As the batter crisped up, it created a super-heated steam chamber which cooked the capsicum just enough to tame its slightly vegetal bitterness into almost sweetness. Biting into it then gave you the vegetable’s succulent crunch, in addition to the crispness of the batter, the softness of the potato and the springiness of the bread. It was a vada pav, but made even better with the contrast of capsicum — and maybe even by mentally compensating for the calorific indulgence because, hey, more veggies, right?

Investigating further, I found that this ‘capsicum’ concoction was also called dabba pav and seemed curiously confined to North Goa (check around Guirem or Vagator, though a friend suggested Hotel Shantadurga in Mapusa). Goa seems appropriate for this evolution because chillies may have entered India here, brought by the Portuguese from their South American home. Capsicums are their non-pungent variant.

In Prem Singh Arya’s book 'Vegetable Growing in the Hills', he says that capsicums were first introduced in India directly to the Shimla hills, which accounts for their name of Shimla Mirchi. One connection could be Federico Peliti, who ran hotels and restaurants in Shimla and Calcutta during the British Raj and had a farm near Shimla to supply his establishments. Peliti was born in Carignano in northern Italy in an area known for capsicums. Carmagnola, close by, still has an annual festival to celebrate sweet or bell peppers as they are called.

The other Indian-Italian capsicum connection is pizza, since we festoon ours with them or put them in toasted vegetable sandwiches for extra crunch. There are other good ways we cook them, like stir-frying diced capsicums with besan and spices, but in general, green capsicums have been losing out in popularity to their more striking looking, and sweeter tasting, yellow and red forms.

But I think with capsicum vada pav, they have found their real purpose in India. I hope it travels soon from Goa, delivering the one way to improve vada pav with extra texture and taste.