Vada Pav

Mumbai's popular street food; Vada Pav.

Flavorful potato balls deep fried and served with sweet and spicy chutneys in soft and fluffy buns, this one is full of flavor and truly tastes like the street vendors. 

Street food is such a delightful cuisine. It is available from street side vendors in almost every city of India. Each city has their favorite street foods. And every vendor has their signature recipe and add-ins.

Dabeli, ragda pattice, masala puri, pav bhaji, chole kulcha, dahi batata puri, ram ladoo, egg bhurji, pani puri and so on; the list is truly endless.

And when we talk of street foods, Vada Pav cannot be left out. A dinner roll slit into half, filled with a deep fried potato ball, sweet and spicy chutney and a fried chili. This signature recipe is from Mumbai and it is served like this all over the city.

If you try vada pav in another city, it will be a little different for sure. Some add diced onions, some toast the bread and so on. The variation is based on the city you go to.

Jump to:

• What is Vada Pav
• Why this recipe works
• Ingredients and Substitutions
• How to make this recipe
• Expert Tips and Notes
• Variations
• Making non-fried vada
• Recipe FAQs
• More Delicious Recipes from Mumbai
• Vada Pav

What is Vada Pav

Vada Pav, the most popular street food of Mumbai can be found everywhere in the city. From street vendors to restaurants and from movie theatre to fairs and events; Vada Pav is everywhere. 

The word Vada means 'deep fried potato patty' and of course Pav is a 'dinner roll'. So both of those put together and served with a spicy and sweet chutney and deep fried chili; we get the complete Vada Pav from Mumbai.

Vada Pav is best enjoyed on the streets of Mumbai; where the vendor makes fresh vadas and serves them with the pav and chutneys. 

The best vada pav in my opinion is in Parle, outside Mithibai College. In fact a chain called Jumbo Vada Pav once came up with lots of creative options like cheese vada pav, schezwan vada pav etc!

When you make Vada Pav at home; you can enjoy them for snacks or as a complete dinner!

Why this recipe works

• The recipe for vada is naturally Vegan and the pav is easy to make Vegan.
• This is a perfect snack recipe.
• We can prep the vada ahead of time and fry it right before serving.
• The recipe is versatile in terms of ingredients and how to cook the vada.
• This vada pav is just like the ones we enjoy in Mumbai.
• Adjust the spice and sweetness by adjusting the chutneys and chili.
• We can easily enjoy the vada without the pav too.
• While the vada is naturally gluten-free, the pav has gluten in it.

Ingredients and Substitutions

For the Vada

• Potatoes: Boiled potatoes are the prime ingredient here. I like to boil them whole, without cutting so they have lesser moisture within. Boil the potatoes and peel them for the recipe. I like to mash them with the tempering.
• Tempering ingredients: I temper the vada with a bunch of spices. These help flavor the potatoes and make them perfectly spicy and flavorful. Mustard seeds, asafetida, urad dal, cumin seeds and curry leaves are perfect. Try to add them all and not skip any of these. Plus, some turmeric powder is needed to get the yellow color and flavor.
• Ginger, chili, garlic paste: A lot of this seasoning paste is required for the recipe. I add more garlic, fewer chili and least ginger in the paste. However, this proportion is easy to variate depending on how you like it. Also, processed paste works better than diced or minced add-ins.
• Chickpea Flour: The vada are coated with a spiced batter made with chickpea flour. There is no substitute for this in the recipe.
• Spices: I add a handful of spices including salt, turmeric powder, red chili powder and dhania jeera powder to the chickpea flour. Together these add the perfect flavor and spice to the batter.
• Oil: We fry the vada in oil. Any neutral oil will work well in the recipe.
• Additional Seasoning: I add some salt, sugar, lemon juice and cilantro in the potato mix. These are perfect season the potatoes.

To Serve

• Pav: I like to serve the vada with eggless homemade pav. However, these are easy to buy from the Indian store as well. Use dinner rolls if you like, they tend to be tad sweet. Moreover, burger buns are a great substitute as well.
• Chutneys: For the recipe we need Green Cilantro Chutney, sweet dates tamarind chutney and spicy garlic chutney. I often buy the dry garlic chutney from the store but it can also be made at home.
• Fried Chili: A traditional add-in for the recipe is fried chili. These are easy to make by flash frying green chili. This however can be skipped for a milder version.

See the recipe card for detailed ingredient information, measurements and nutrition.

How to make this recipe

To make the Vada

1- Wash and pressure cook the potatoes with a pinch of salt for two whistles. Peel and set aside. In a pan, heat oil.

2- Add the urad dal and let it turn brown.

3- Then add mustard seeds, asafetida and cumin seeds.

4- Once they pop, add curry leaves and ginger, garlic and chili paste. Sauté till fragrant.

5- Then add turmeric powder.

6- Immediately add the boiled and peeled potatoes.

7- Also add the salt, sugar and cilantro leaves.

8- Mash the potatoes using a potato masher.

9- Then add the lemon juice and cilantro. Mix well and set aside to cool.

10- In a large bowl add chickpea flour.

11- Add the spices and salt.

12- Mix together and then start adding water.

13- Bring together everything to make a smooth batter. The batter should not be too thick or thin. It should coat a spoon without slipping all off.

14- Take two tablespoons of the potato mixture in your palms.

15- Roll well into a tight ball.

16- Then repeat for the entire potato mixture.

17- Heat oil in the pan and wait till it is medium hot. Take a potato ball and dip it in the batter.

18- Coat the ball with batter on all sides.

19- Drop it carefully in the hot oil and fry it on medium heat. Flip the vada midway through the frying.

20- Once they are golden brown, remove from heat and place on a paper towels to drain the excess oil.

To Serve Vada Pav

1- Add green chili the hot oil.

2- Flash fry and remove them, draining all the oil and set aside.

3- Make your own Pav using this eggless pav recipe or use store bought pav. Slit a pav bread from the centre.

4- Then apply some Green Cilantro Chutney on one half and some Sweet Dates Tamarind Chutney on the other.

5- Place a vada on it; sprinkle dry garlic chutney and a fried chili on it.

6- Enjoy with some more chutney to dip and a side of Masala Chai!

Expert Tips and Notes

• Making it spicy: The vada can be made spicy by increasing the green chili and ginger garlic. Add more to make the vada super spicy. Also, add some spicy red chili powder to the batter. And lastly, add more of the spicy chutney and less sweet chutney and the resultant vada pav will be super spicy.
• Frying the vada: We want the vada to be cooked through but not burn in hot oil So make sure the temperature of the oil is 360-375 F using a candy thermometer. Alternatively, add a few drops of the batter in the hot oil. If it floats up almost immediately, the oil is ready to fry the vada. However, if it burns, let the oil cool down for a few minutes before frying the vada.
• Making ahead of time: The recipe might look daunting to make all at once. The Green Cilantro Chutney, pav and sweet dates tamarind chutney are easy to make a couple of days ahead. Moreover the potato mix and chickpea batter can also be prepped ahead of time. Simply fry the chili and vada right before serving and enjoy with Masala Chai.
• Heating leftover vada: In case you have leftover vada, it is quite easy to heat them up. Either flash fry in hot oil or place in a preheated air fryer or oven. Let them heat through for a few minutes and enjoy as desired.
• Using store bought ingredients: The dry garlic chutney is easy to buy from the store. And so are pav and the remaining chutneys. So we only need to make the vada from scratch and enjoy fresh vada pav! Moreover, Mumbai grocery stores sell a vada mix by the brand 'Surbhi'. That replaces the tempering and spices. It is an easy way to make vada.

Variations

Vada Pav is a classic Mumbai street food. What was simply served as a pav stuffed with potato vada, chutney and fried chili is now available in so many forms. Here are some popular variations:

• Cheese Vada Pav: Add a slice of American cheese with the vada and chutneys to make cheese vada pav. Some shredded processed cheese is great too.
• Grilled Vada Pav: This version makes the vada pav and then grills it on a tava or pan till the pav is crisp.
• Schezwan Vada Pav: This is definitely a lover version. Add some Schezwan Sauce along with the chutney and chili and make it. It is spicy and super delicious.
• Butter Vada Pav: Toasting the prepared vada pav in some Amul butter gives us butter vada pav. It is crips and quite amazing.
• Vada Chaat: We break the vada into pieces and top it with sweet and spicy chutneys and sev to make a quick vada chaat.
• Chura Vada Pav: When you fry the vadas, small bits of chickpea flour end up in the oil and get fried. Fry some extra chura before starting to fry the vadas. These fried chura are served in the pav with potato vada and chutneys.
• Vada Usal: A delicious street style Maharashtrian snack, vada usal has the deep fried vada dunked in spicy matki usal. It is perfect with mixed farsan, onions and pav on the side.

Making non-fried vada

While the most common method to make batata vada is to deep fry, there are several other options now to make these without frying.

• Air Fryer: This is my favorite way to make non-fried vadas. Simply make the batter thicker than the fried version so it does not drip in the air fryer. Coat the vadas in the thick batter and place in a greased air fryer basket. Air fry for 15 minutes at 390 F. Turn once mid-way. Enjoy the air fried version.
• Baking: This is actually my least favorite way to make non-fried vadas. The process is same as the air fryer, but bake for 18-20 minutes. However, the result often tends to be very dry.
• Paniyaram Stand: This is a perfect way to make mini vadas. Simply roll the vada into small balls, dip in the batter and keep ready. Then simply heat a teaspoon of oil in the cavities of the paniyaram stand and place the vadas. Cook them on all sides and remove. Enjoy with chutney or make a delicious vada pav.
• Stuffed Vada Pav: This is my favorite way to make vada pav. Simply roll the potato filling into balls and place on bread dough balls. Roll tight and bake. Follow this recipe of Baked Vada Pav.

Recipe FAQs

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