Vada Pav Recipe | How to make Mumbai Vada Pav
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Vada Pav Recipe | How to make Mumbai Vada Pav
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Vada Pav is a popular Mumbai street food consisting of spicy potato stuffing coated in a seasoned chickpea batter, deep-fried until crisp, and served inside pav bread with green and tamarind chutneys. The potato filling includes garlic, green chilies, mustard seeds, turmeric, curry leaves, and cilantro for flavor. The batter made of gram flour and spices creates a golden crust encasing the soft potato inside. Chutneys add layers of spice, tang, and sweetness, enhancing the sandwich’s taste.
Description
The Vada Pav starts with boiling and mashing potatoes mixed with a fresh spice blend of mustard seeds, asafoetida, turmeric, curry leaves, garlic, green chilies, and cilantro, making a fragrant and mildly spicy filling. This mixture is shaped into balls which are then dipped into a smooth batter made from gram flour, asafoetida, turmeric, and optionally baking soda for lightness. The coated balls are deep-fried at medium-hot oil temperature until golden and crispy on the outside, while the inside remains soft.
Assembling the Vada Pav involves splitting soft pav buns and spreading them with green coriander chutney and sweet tamarind chutney, along with optional dry red chutney and fried green chilies for added heat. The fried vada is placed inside and served fresh. This street food balances textures of a crunchy exterior and fluffy interior with fresh and tangy chutneys that complement the potato’s savory spices.
The oil temperature during frying is crucial to ensure the vada cooks through without absorbing excess oil or browning too fast. Adjusting the green chili amount in the potato stuffing or chutney allows customizing the spice level. The recipe scales well for making multiple portions suitable for gatherings.
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Ingredients
For spiced potato stuffing
- 350 grams potato or 2 medium to large sized potatoes
- 6 to 7 garlic - small to medium-sized
- 1 to 2 green chili
- ½ teaspoon mustard seeds
- 1 pinch asafoetida (hing)
- ⅛ teaspoon turmeric powder
- 7 to 8 curry leaves
- 1 to 2 tablespoons Coriander leaves cilantro leaves, chopped
- salt as required
For batter
- 1 to 1.25 cups gram flour (besan)
- 1 pinch asafoetida (hing)
- ⅛ teaspoon turmeric powder
- 1 pinch baking soda - optional
- ½ cup water or add as required
- salt as required
For green chutney
- 1 cup Coriander leaves chopped
- 1 to 2 garlic small to medium-sized, chopped, cloves
- 2 to 3 drops lemon juice
- 2 to 3 green chili chopped
- salt as required
For sweet tamarind chutney
- ½ cup tamarind tightly packed, seedless
- 1.75 cups water or add as required
- ½ teaspoon cumin seeds
- ½ teaspoon ground ginger saunth powder
- 1 pinch asafoetida (hing)
- ¼ teaspoon red chili powder
- 7 to 8 tablespoons jaggery powder or grated jaggery - add as required adjusting to your taste
- 1 teaspoon neutral cooking oil generic cooking oil
- salt or black salt, add as required
Other ingredients
- neutral cooking oil as required - for deep frying, generic cooking oil
- 2 tablespoons red chutney optional, dry
- 8 pav bread or dinner rolls
- 3 to 4 green chili pepper mixed with some salt, optional, fried
Instructions
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.
- With your hands, 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 & 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 would 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
- Boil or steam potatoes in an Instant pot, pressure cooker or pan until they are completely cooked. Peel and then mash them with a fork in a bowl.
- Crush garlic and green chillies to a semi-fine paste in a mortar-pestle.
- Heat oil in a small pan. Add mustard seeds and crackle them. Then add curry leaves and asafoetida. Stir and fry for about 5 seconds.
- Then add crushed garlic and green chilies paste, which have been crushed in a mortar-pestle. Add turmeric powder. Stir for some seconds until the raw aroma of garlic goes away. Do not brown garlic.
- Pour this tempering in the mashed potatoes.
- Add chopped coriander leaves and salt.
- Mix everything well and then make small to medium balls from the mashed potato mixture. Flatten these balls a bit. Cover and set aside.
Making batter
- In another bowl, make a smooth and thick yet flowing batter from the besan, turmeric powder, asafoetida, a pinch of baking soda (optional), salt and water.
- The batter should not be very thick or thin. If the batter becomes thin, add 1 or 2 tablespoons of gram flour. If the batter becomes thin, then add 1 or 2 tablespoons water. Set aside.
Frying
- In a kadai or pan, heat oil for deep frying.
- When the oil becomes medium hot, then dip the slightly flattened potato balls in the batter and coat it evenly with the batter.
- Gently and carefully add 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 vadas while frying. Don't overcrowd the pan while frying.
- When one side becomes crisp, lightly golden and firms up then gently turn it over with a slotted spoon and fry the second side. Turn over when the second side is fried.
- This way turning a couple of times fry the batata vada till they are evenly golden on all sides.
- Drain them on kitchen paper towels. Make all batata vadas this way and keep aside.
- When they are still hot or warm, you need to serve them. Take all the chutneys and pav on your work surface.
Assembling & serving
- Slice the pav without breaking it into two parts and keep aside. If you don't have sweet chutney, then just make the vada pav with green chutney.
- 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. This is optional and if you don't have you can skip it.
- Place the hot batata vada sandwiched in the bread slices.
- Serve vada pav immediately or else the pav becomes soggy. You can also serve some fried salted green chillies and both the chutney along with it.
- You can also serve them as an evening snack with a side of ginger chai or coffee.
Notes
- Adjust the amount of chutneys applied to the pav according to your desired spice and flavor levels.
- Maintain medium-hot oil while frying the vada to ensure proper cooking inside without excess oil absorption or burning outside.
- Increase the number of green chilies in the potato mix or green chutney to make a spicier version of Vada Pav.
- This recipe can be easily increased to prepare a large batch for parties or get-togethers.
Nutrition Information
Show Details
Serving
1vada pav
Calories
296kcal
(15%)
Carbohydrates
47g
(16%)
Protein
7g
(14%)
Fat
9g
(14%)
Saturated Fat
1g
(5%)
Polyunsaturated Fat
1g
(6%)
Monounsaturated Fat
1g
(5%)
Cholesterol
1mg
(0%)
Sodium
824mg
(34%)
Potassium
221mg
(5%)
Fiber
4g
(16%)
Sugar
19g
(38%)
Vitamin A
187IU
(4%)
Vitamin B1 (Thiamine)
1mg
Vitamin B2 (Riboflavin)
1mg
Vitamin B3 (Niacin)
12mg
Vitamin B6
1mg
Vitamin C
26mg
(29%)
Vitamin E
3mg
Vitamin K
8µg
Calcium
96mg
(10%)
Vitamin B9 (Folate)
132µg
Iron
5mg
(28%)
Magnesium
25mg
(6%)
Phosphorus
58mg
Zinc
1mg
Nutrition Facts
Serving: 8vada pav
Amount Per Serving
Calories 296 kcal
% Daily Value*
| Serving | 1vada pav | |
| Calories | 296kcal | 15% |
| Carbohydrates | 47g | 16% |
| Protein | 7g | 14% |
| Fat | 9g | 14% |
| Saturated Fat | 1g | 5% |
| Polyunsaturated Fat | 1g | 6% |
| Monounsaturated Fat | 1g | 5% |
| Cholesterol | 1mg | 0% |
| Sodium | 824mg | 34% |
| Potassium | 221mg | 5% |
| Fiber | 4g | 16% |
| Sugar | 19g | 38% |
| Vitamin A | 187IU | 4% |
| Vitamin B1 (Thiamine) | 1mg | |
| Vitamin B2 (Riboflavin) | 1mg | |
| Vitamin B3 (Niacin) | 12mg | |
| Vitamin B6 | 1mg | |
| Vitamin C | 26mg | 29% |
| Vitamin E | 3mg | |
| Vitamin K | 8µg | |
| Calcium | 96mg | 10% |
| Vitamin B9 (Folate) | 132µg | |
| Iron | 5mg | 28% |
| Magnesium | 25mg | 6% |
| Phosphorus | 58mg | |
| Zinc | 1mg |
* Percent Daily Values are based on a 2,000 calorie diet.
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4.9
98 reviews
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