Vada pav | How to make vada pav

Vada pav recipe with video and step by step photos – Vada pav is a popular street food from India. It originated in the streets of Mumbai as a fast food that was cheap and affordable even by a common man. To make vada pav, batata vada is sandwiched in Indian bun which is known as pav.

These Batata vada are potato balls that are dipped in chickpea flour batter and deep fried. To add some zing various chutneys are spreaded generously.

These are accompanied by some fried green chilies and some chutney on the side. It is not only eaten for brunch or snack but also for breakfast.

Though vada pav emerged as a street food in mumbai, it is also served in restaurants and chaat houses in India and abroad. One can find various versions of assembling these. The way vada is made is almost same in all places, but the chutney used differs from place to place.

One can find these just served with a garlic chutney in the sandwich, while other versions come with a sweet tamarind chutney, green chutney and dry garlic chutney made with dried coconut & peanuts.

Making vada pav may look lengthy but it is easy if the chutneys used are prepared ahead. You can make them the previous day and refrigerate.

When I made vada pav recipe this time I just made the green chutney and garlic chutney. I did not prepare the sweet tamarind chutney. It tastes good even without the sweet chutney.

For more Chaats & street foods, you can check
Pav bhaji
Dahi vada
Masala pav
Paapdi chaat
Sev puri chaat

Vada pav recipe

Vada pav recipe

Mumbai vada pav is a snack made by sandwiching a batata vada in Pav or bun with a generous amount of chutneys smeared.

Prep Time20 minutes

Cook Time35 minutes

Total Time55 minutes

Servings7 to 8 vada pav

AuthorSwasthi

Ingredients (1 cup = 240ml )

Green chutney

• 1 to 1 ½ cups coriander leaves or daniya patta
• ¾ to 1 tbsp dalia or fried gram or dried coconut (optional)
• ½ tsp cumin or jeera
• 2 hot green chilies (adjust as needed)
• 2 small garlic cloves or lehsun
• 1 tsp Lemon juice or as needed
• water as needed
• Salt as needed

Dry garlic chutney

• 6 to 8 garlic cloves
• 6 to 10 red chilies (less spicy one like byadgi or kashmiri)
• ½ to 1 cup dried coconut (copra) (for more garlic flavor use 1/2 cup)
• 1 tbsp peanuts (optional)
• salt as needed
• ½ tsp red chili powder (optional, for color)

For vada pav stuffing

• 3 medium potatoes or aloo – 2 ¼ cups crumbled
• 2 to 3 green chilies (use as needed)
• ¾ inch ginger or adhrak
• 2 to 3 cloves garlic or lahsun
• 1 tbsp oil
• ¼ to ½ tsp mustard
• 2 pinches hing or asafoetida
• 1 sprig curry leaves
• 1/8 tsp turmeric or haldi
• 1/8 tsp red chilli powder (optional)
• Salt as needed
• Handful coriander leaves chopped

For vada covering

• ¾ cup gram flour or besan
• 2 to 3 tbsp rice flour or corn flour
• Salt as needed
• Pinch asafoetida or hing
• Tiny pinch soda (optional)
• 1 pinch Turmeric or haldi
• 1/8 tsp red chilli powder (optional)
• oil for deep frying

For serving

• 7 to 8 pav
• 7 to 8 green chilies deseeded

How to make the recipe

Making green chutney for vada pav

• Pluck coriander leaves, you can keep the tender stalks. Rinse them well in lot of water a few times. Drain them well in a colander.
• Add all the ingredients to a blender jar. Make a thick paste by adding 1 tbsp water at one time and blending until smooth.
• Adjust salt, lemon juice and green chili to suit your taste. The chutney must not be very runny otherwise it makes the pav very soggy quickly.
• Store this in a clean dry airtight glass jar. Refrigerate until used.

Making dry garlic chutney

• Skin the garlic and dry roast them for 2 to 3 mins.
• Add red chilies and roast until crisp. Transfer them to a plate and cool.
• To the same pan add coconut and just allow it to turn hot. Transfer this to a plate and cool.
• If using peanuts you can dry roast them until golden.
• First powder red chilies with red chili powder and salt. Then add garlic and blend once. Then add coconut and peanuts. Powder them little coarsely. Set this aside.

Making stuffing for vada

• Boil potatoes until just done. They must be firm and not mushy. You can boil them either in a pressure cooker, steamer or in a pot.
• When done, crumble them lightly.
• Make a coarse paste on green chilli, garlic and ginger.
• Heat 1 tbsp oil in a pan. Add mustard, when they begin to crackle. 
• Next add curry leaves and fry until crisp. 
• Add ginger garlic and green chili paste. Fry on a low heat until it turns fragrant.
• Next put in hing, salt, turmeric and red chili powder. Mix well and add potatoes and coriander leaves. Turn off the stove and mix everything well.
• Cool this mixture and make 7 to 8 balls.

Making vada

• Heat oil for deep frying.
• Add besan and rice flour or corn flour to a mixing bowl.
• Next add salt, hing, turmeric and red chilli powder (optional). Mix everything well adding water as needed and make neither too thick nor too thin batter. Check salt and spice.
• When the oil is hot enough, add a tiny pinch of soda to the batter. Mix well. This is optional.
• Check if the oil is hot enough by dropping a small amount of batter in oil. The batter should rise.
• Regulate the flame to medium.
• Dip each ball in the batter, coat the potato balls with batter and drop in oil. You can use your fingers or a tbsp to do this. You can drop 3 to 5 balls in each batch depending on the size of your kadai.
• Do not disturb them for a while, gently stir and fry until golden.
• Drain them on a kitchen tissue.
• Deseed green chilies to prevent them from bursting. Place the green chilies in a mess strainer or colander. In the same hot oil, fry the deseeded green chilies lightly. Do not over fry them.

Assembling vada pav

• Slit each pav bun to sandwich it. Make sure one side is intact.
• Smear green chutney on both the inner sides of the pav. Sprinkle garlic chutney.
• Place a batata vada. You can also flatten the vada first and then place it.
• Serve vada pav with fried chilies and chutney on the side.

Video

NUTRITION (estimation only)

Calories: 306kcal | Carbohydrates: 32g | Protein: 12g | Fat: 17g | Saturated Fat: 4g | Sodium: 261mg | Potassium: 1786mg | Fiber: 6g | Sugar: 6g | Vitamin A: 2440IU | Vitamin C: 253.5mg | Calcium: 440mg | Iron: 15.8mg

If you are a beginner or new to Indian cooking, I highly suggest you to check the supporting step by step photos for best results. Step by step photos with description available below after the recipe card.

Preparation

To make vada pav we will need green chutney, dry garlic chutney and sweet tamarind chutney.

1. First begin by making the dry garlic chutney. Dry roast garlic for 2 to 3 mins. Add red chilies and saute until crisp. Set these aside to cool. In the same pan, saute dried coconut just until hot. Do not over roast or brown it.

If you like to use peanuts, roast them as well until golden. Cool them all. Powder red chilies first with salt, then blend garlic for a minute. Add coconut and peanuts.

Blend all together to a coarse powder. You can also add little red chili powder while blending for little color.

2. To make green chutney, blend all the ingredients together with little water as needed. Make a smooth chutney. I have used fried gram to prevent the chutney from turning runny. You can also skip them. Set this aside.

3. Boil or steam peeled potatoes until just done. Make sure they are not mushy. I cooked in a pressure cooker for 2 whistles with little water. Cool them and crumble. Set aside. Make a paste of ginger garlic and green chilli.

Potato stuffing to make vada

4. Heat oil in a pan and add mustard seeds. When they crackle add curry leaves.

5. When they turn crisp, add ginger garlic and chili paste. Saute till the raw smell goes off.

6. Add salt, turmeric, hing and chili powder.

7. Mix everything well.

8. Add potatoes and coriander leaves.

9. Turn off the heat and mix well.

10. Cool completely and make balls.

Make vada for vada pav recipe

11. Add besan, rice flour, salt, hing, turmeric and chili powder.

12. Mix everything well. Add water little by little and make a slightly thick batter.

13. Do not make the batter runny as the covering will turn very thin. Add a pinch of soda and mix well. This is optional.

14. Heat oil on a medium flame. When the oil is hot enough, drop a potato ball in the batter and coat it well.

15. Gently drop the batter coated ball in oil.

16. Do not disturb for 2 mins as they may break. After 2 mins keep stirring and fry on a medium heat until golden.

17. Drain them and set aside. You can fry in batches if using a small kadai.

Frying chilies for vada pav recipe

18. Deseed green chilies to prevent bursting in oil.

19. In the same hot oil, partially fry them for a minute. Take care if there are any seeds left they may burst. You will need to fry them lightly.

How to make vada pav

20. These are the ingredients needed for assembling.

21. Slit a pav bun keeping one end intact. Apply the green chutney on both the sides and sprinkle some garlic chutney. Flatten the vada and then place it in the center. Vada can also be flattened while eating.

Enjoy Vada pav with fried green chilli and chutney. It is good to consume immediately as it turns soggy.