Vada Pav – The Mazedar Taste of Aamchi Mumbai!

Mumbai streets have a special Vada Pav flavor!

Mumbai and the awesome taste of Vada Pav! Oh my God! A staple food across Mumbai and Maharashtra, Vada Pav is like the heartbeat that Mumbai lives and banks on!

What’s it all about?

Vada Pav is a savory dinner roll stuffed with fried mashed and spiced potato fritters.

It is a popular vegan street food snack eaten in Mumbai and rest of Maharashtra. This dish is full of flavors and various textures!

What’s so awesome about this recipe?

Vada pav is sold in shops, outside of schools and colleges all over Mumbai because it is so popular and loved by street food lovers.

The ‘in’ thing!

Vada pav basically has Batata vada which is sandwiched between two slices of a pav (dinner roll) topped with sweet chutney, green chutney, and dry garlic chutney.

Batata vada are fried batter coated potato dumpling fritters. The batter is made with nutty gram flour (besan) and spices. The filling consists of savory, spiced mashed potatoes. 

The Marathi jargon

Batata means potato in Marathi. While the term vada mostly means a fried fritter or a fried dumpling-like savory dish.

Pav means a small loaf of bread in Indian and is the same as dinner rolls.

They are made with all purpose flour or whole-wheat flour and can be bought from bakeries, super stores and sweet shops in India. 

Anytime is good time to savor Vada Pav!

Vada pav can be eaten during any time of the day like breakfast, brunch, or in the evening as a snack.

It goes very well with Indian chai, fried green chilies, and chutney like coriander chutney or mint chutney or green chutney.

Things you need to make Vada Pav:

• Pav – dinner rolls

• Batata vada – fried potato stuffed fritter

• Green chutney – made with coriander (cilantro) or mint & coriander. 

• Tamarind chutney – sweet tangy chutney made with tamarind, jaggery and spices.

• Dry garlic chutney – spicy chutney made with garlic and coconut. 

Let’s get cooking!

Prep Time – 30 mins

Cooking Time – 20 mins

Total Time – 50 mins

Cuisine – Indian

Course – Snacks

Diet – Vegan

Servings – 8 Vada Pav

Ingredients:

For Spiced Potato Stuffing

• 350 grams potatoes or 2 medium to large sized potatoes

• 6 to 7 garlic – small to medium-sized

• 1 to 2 green chillies

• ½ tsp. mustard seeds

• 1 pinch asafoetida (hing)

• ⅛ tsp. turmeric powder

• 7 to 8 curry leaves

• 1 to 2 tbsp. chopped coriander leaves (cilantro leaves)

• Salt as required

For Batter

• 1 to 1.25 cups gram flour (besan)

• 1 pinch asafoetida (hing)

• ⅛ tsp. turmeric powder

• 1 pinch baking soda – optional

• ½ cup water or add as required

• Salt as required

For Green Chutney

• 1 cup chopped coriander leaves

• 1 to 2 garlic cloves – small to medium-sized, chopped

• 2 to 3 drops lemon juice

• 2 to 3 green chillies – chopped

• Salt as required

For Sweet Tamarind Chutney

• ½ cup seedless tamarind – tightly packed

• 1.75 cups water or add as required

• ½ tsp. cumin seeds

• ½ tsp. ginger powder (saunth powder)

• 1 pinch asafoetida (hing)

• ¼ tsp. red chili powder

• 7 to 8 tbsp. jaggery powder or grated jaggery – add as required adjusting to your taste

• 1 tsp. oil

• Salt or black salt, add as required

Other Ingredients

• Oil as required – for deep frying

• 2 tbsp. dry red chutney – optional

• 8 Pav or dinner rolls

• 3 to 4 fried green chillies mixed with some salt, optional

How to Make Vada Pav:

Making Green Chutney

• Grind all the green chutney ingredients with little water till smooth. Avoid making a watery chutney.

Making Sweet Chutney

• Soak tamarind in hot water for 30 to 40 minutes.

• Squeeze the pulp from the tamarind in the same bowl or pan. Strain the pulp and keep aside.

• Heat oil in a small pan. Lower the flame and add cumin seeds and let them crackle.

• Add ginger powder, red chili powder, asafoetida. Stir and add the strained tamarind pulp. Cook for 2-3 minutes.

• Add the jaggery and salt and cook for 4-5 mins more. The mixture will thicken. Let the saunth chutney mixture cool.

• When cooled, store the saunth chutney in an air-tight dry jar or container. Refrigerate and serve the saunth chutney whenever required with chaat or snacks.

Making Potato Stuffing

• 1. Boil 2 large potatoes. Peel and then mash them with a fork in a bowl.

• You can boil or steam the potatoes in a pan, Instant pot or pressure cooker. Remember to drain the water very well from the boiled potatoes before you mash them. 

• Also crush 6 to 7 small/medium-sized garlic cloves and 1 to 2 green chilies.

• Heat 2 to 3 tsp. of oil in a small pan. Add ½ a tsp. of mustard seeds and crackle them. Then add 7 to 8 curry leaves and a pinch of asafoetida (hing). Stir and sauté for about 5 sec.

• Add the crushed garlic cloves and green chilies mixture to the pan. Add ⅛ tsp. of turmeric powder (about 2 to 3 pinches).

• Stir for some seconds or until the raw aroma of garlic goes away.

• Pour this tempering mixture together with the oil to the mashed potatoes.

• Add 1 to 2 tablespoons of chopped coriander leaves and salt as required.

• Mix everything well. Then make small to medium balls from the mashed potato mixture. Flatten these balls a bit. Cover and keep aside.

Making Batter

• In another bowl, make a smooth batter from 1 to 1.25 cups besan (gram flour), ⅛ teaspoon turmeric powder (about 2 to 3 pinches), a pinch of asafoetida (hing), a pinch of baking soda (optional), salt and ½ cup water or as needed. 

• The batter should have a medium-thick flowing consistency. It should not be too thick or thin. If the batter becomes thin, add 1 or 2 tbsp. of gram flour. If the batter becomes thick, then add 1 or 2 tbsp. of water.

• Dip the slightly flattened potato balls in the batter and coat it evenly with the batter.

Frying Batata Vada

• Before you dip the batata vada in the batter, heat oil in a pan or wok (kadai). When the oil becomes hot, then dip the batata vada in the batter to coat as shown in the above steps.

• Carefully and gently drop these batter coated potato balls in medium hot oil. 

• Depending on the size of the kadai or pan, you can add more or less of the vada while frying. But don’t overcrowd the pan.

• When one side firms up, becomes slightly crisp and golden then only turn over gently with a slotted spoon. Fry the second side. This way deep fry them till golden, turning a couple of times as needed. 13. Drain them on kitchen paper towels. Make all batata vada this way and set aside.

Assembling Vada Pav

• Serve them when they are still hot or warm. Put all the chutneys and pav on your work surface. Slice the Pav without breaking it into two parts and set aside. 

• Spread both the green chutney and sweet chutney on the sliced pav. You can also spread green chutney on one side and sweet chutney on the other side.

• Sprinkle the dry garlic chutney on the pav. This step is optional and you can skip it if you want.

• Place the hot batata vada in the bread slices.

• Serve vada pav immediately or else the pav becomes soggy. You can also serve some salted fried green chilies and both of the chutneys with it. 

• It makes for a good filling evening snack high on carbs. A cup of hot tea or coffee can also be served as a side beverage.

Expert Tips:

• When frying batata vada the oil should be moderately hot at a temperature of 180 to 190 degrees Celsius. Alternatively, you can add some droplets of the batter to the oil. If the droplets rise to the surface gradually and start bubbling then the oil is ready. However, if the droplets rise slowly or get submerged inside then the oil is not hot enough. If the droplets rise too quickly and get burnt or browned then the oil is too hot.

• When batata vada is fried in oil that is too hot, it remains undercooked on the inside and burnt and overcooked on the outside. Frying them in oil that is not hot enough causes them to absorb more oil and become soggy and oily. 

• You can alter the amount of spices as per your taste preference. In some Maharashtrian cities like Kolhapur, the vada pav served in the street is very spicy. If you like it spicy, then add more green chilies.

• You can always alter the amount of chutneys you spread in the pav according to your taste and liking.

• To make a spicy vada pav, increase the number of chilies in the potato stuffing. Or you can more chilies in the green chutney that you make.

Nutrition Facts:

• Amount Per Serving (1 vada pav)

• Calories – 197 cal.

• Carbohydrates: – 136 cal.

• Proteins: – 26 cal.

• Fat: – 36 cal.

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