Vada Pav

Today’s recipe post is about one of the most popular Mumbai street food – Vada Pav! It is scrumptious, the best tea-time snack and so so tempting.  Grab vada pao and a steaming hot cup of tea on a rainy or cold day and you will be in taste heaven. 🙂

Bada pav is a vegetarian fast food dish and is also called Mumbai’s very own burger.

It originated as cheap street food in Mumbai but is now offered in stalls and restaurants throughout India.

This is those type of dish which is loved by one and all.

Jump to:

• So what is Vada Pav?
• This recipe has 6 components -
• Preparation for Vada Pav –
• Let’s see what ingredients are required –
• Let see how to make Mumbai Style Vada Pav recipe with step by step pics!
• Is this dish healthy?
• A couple of more Mumbai’s roadside food recipes?
• Vada Pav

So what is Vada Pav?

• Vada  means deep-fried potato patties
• Pav means burger buns.

It is a spicy potato filling sandwiched between buns and layers of spicy garlic,  green chutney, and sweet chutney!

This recipe has 6 components -

• Pav
• Vada,
• Dry garlic coconut chutney also is known as vada pav chutney
• Green chutney
• Sweet tamarind chutney
• Fried chilies

I personally like to eat it with only red dry garlic chutney. But my husband and my son prefer it with all three chutneys.

You can skip the green and sweet chutney if you don’t like it or have no time for it but I highly recommend not skipping the garlic chutney. It is the most important ingredient and makes the vada pav tasty.

I would say it’s the heart and soul of this dish.

Preparation for Vada Pav –

There are 3 main steps.

1. Make chutneys – Green chutney, sweet chutney, and dry garlic chutney
2. Make Batata vadas (Deep fried potato balls)
3. Assemble all together.

Step – 1 Making 3 chutneys

1. Green chutney –

As we all know, green chutney is an integral part of so many Indian dishes especially chaat. I always have it in my refrigerator.

I always use my Mumbai sandwich chutney recipe to apply in vada pav. You may also use mint cilantro chutney.

2. Tamarind and dates chutney | Sweet chutney

This chutney is also an essential dip for many Indian snacks. With green chutney, I always keep this chutney in my freezer.

3. Dry Garlic chutney | Vada Pav chutney

This is a dry chutney made with lots of garlic, dry coconut flakes, sesame seeds, salt, and red chili powder.

It's supposed to be quite spicy and one of the main chutneys for the vada pav. I like this chutney to be super spicy.

You can adjust the spice level by increasing or decreasing the chili powder depending on how spicy you want your chutney to be.

I would suggest you make this chutney in bulk. It tastes great when sprinkled on Dosa, sandwiches and on chilas too. 😉

Note –

• This chutney has to be dry. But sometimes, because of the moisture present in the garlic makes it wet. If that happens, crush some more dry coconut and sesame seeds and add it into the chutney.
• The color depends on the chili powder you use. To get the deep red color, use Kashmiri red chili powder.
• You can substitute sesame seeds with peanut too or even you may add Sev.

If you don't have time to do all of these chutneys on one day, I suggest making them in advance. This way, you only have to make the batata vada when you want to eat it.

Saves so much time! All chutneys stay good in the refrigerator for a week and months in the freezer.

Step 2 – Making Batata Vada

Vada is made by deep-frying spiced potato balls. So you start by boiling the potatoes. Once the potatoes are boiled, mash them and then temper the mashed potatoes.

For that first, you need to crush the curry leaves, green chili, ginger, and garlic into a coarse paste and then tempered the potatoes with crushed paste, urad dal, mustard seeds, and asafetida.

Then make balls out of the potato mixture and then fry them in hot oil after coating them in a chickpea batter.

Step 3- How to eat? To assemble the Vada Pav.

Once you have all the components ready, you start by Appling all the 3 prepared chutneys on both sides of the pav.

Place the vada in between the two buns and serve with some more chutney and fried chilies.

Let’s see what ingredients are required –

For dry Garlic Chutney

• Dry grated coconut
• Red Kashmiri chili powder
• Garlic cloves
• Sesame seeds
• Salt to taste

For Batata Vada

Potato balls

• Boiled and mashed potatoes
• Mustard seeds
• Urad dal
• Turmeric powder
• Oil
• Ginger
• Green chili
• Garlic
• Curry leaves
• Salt to taste
• Cilantro/coriander
• Pinch of Asafoetida

For Outer covering

• Chickpea flour | Besan
• Salt to taste
• Hing
• Water

Other Ingredients

• Pav | Burger buns
• Sweet chutney
• Green chutney
• Oil for frying the vada

Let see how to make Mumbai Style Vada Pav recipe with step by step pics!

For dry garlic chutney –

Grind all the ingredients (Garlic, coconut, chili powder, salt, and sesame seeds) together to a coarse powder. (Photo 1 to 6)

Take this out in a serving bowl. Your Dry Garlic Chutney is ready. Isn’t that very easy!!!!

For vada

In a mixer grinder jar, take garlic, curry leaves, ginger, and green chilies. Coarsely crush them and keep it aside.

Heat oil in a pan. Add urad dal, fry them until golden brown in color. (Photo 8)

Now add mustard seeds, let it crackles. Add asafoetida, turmeric, the crushed mixture of garlic-ginger-chili-curry leaves. Saute it for one minute. (Photo 9 to 11)

Add salt and Potatoes. Mix them very well over medium heat and cook it for 4 to 5 minutes. (Photo 12 and 13)

Sprinkle cilantro and switch off the flame. Mix it very well and let it cool down completely. (photo 14)

Divide them into 12 equal parts. Shape into rounds. (photo 15)

For outer covering, chickpea flour batter

Combine all the ingredients in a big mixing bowl and make a batter, not runny or not too thick. (photo 16 to 19)

Dip each vada into the batter and coat the mixture well. (photo 20)

Heat the oil on medium to high heat. Deep fry in hot oil until golden brown. (Photo 21 and 22)

Drain on absorbent paper and keep aside.

Assemble

Slice each pav into half and spread the 3 chutney (Sweet chutney, green chutney, and dry garlic chutney) both the side.

Place one vada in each pav.

Serve hot Vada Pav with green fried chilies.

Is this dish healthy?

No, this is not healthy as the vada is made with potato and fried. Plus the buns/pav we use is made with all-purpose flour.

But you can make this dish healthy by not frying the vada. Instead of frying the batata vada, make them in appe pan.

Or make Stuffed vada pav recipe.

A couple of more Mumbai’s roadside food recipes?

Pav bhaji

Toast sandwich

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Warm regards,

Dhwani.