Vada Pav is a popular street food in India, especially Mumbai. It is the Indian version of a burger, a layman's staple diet, where fried potato tikki is sandwiched in a pav (bun), spread with green and garlic chutney. You also serve fried green chilies with it to up the spice quotient.
Vada Pao or Vada Pav is my husband's favorite. I had it for the first time on my stay in Pune, a couple of years ago. Thanks to his job, he had already been to many parts of North India and had acquired a taste for it. While I can have one, or utmost two, he can gobble close to five Vada Pavs at a time. Vada Pavs can be had for breakfast, lunch or as a teatime snack. That said, have it along with Indian Masala Chai. Ha! Bliss!
Never in my dreams did I think of making a Vada Pav at home. I always thought it was a tedious task because of the many elements in it - be it the Batata Vada, the green chutney or garlic chutney. Never knew it was a piece of cake, until today.
How to Make Vada Pav at home:
I have used store bought Pavs (buns) for preparing this dish. Preparing Vada Pav involves three steps, mainly the preparation of the Batata Vada, green chutney and garlic chutney.
Preparing Batata Vada:
Grind together garlic cloves, green chilies, and ginger. In a pan, heat a tablespoon of oil and add mustard seeds and curry leaves. Add the ground mixture and crumbled boiled potatoes. Add salt, coriander leaves, and turmeric powder. Mix well.
Cool to room temperature and make balls out of it. Prepare a thick but flowing batter out of gram flour, red chili powder, salt, and water. Dip the ball in this batter and deep fry.
Preparing Green Chutney:
Grind together coriander leaves, mint leaves, garlic, lemon juice, little water, and green chilies together.
Preparing Dry Garlic Chutney:
I have gone for the easy way for preparing this chutney. This would not be an authentic recipe, but I loved the fact that my friend shared this quick to do garlic chutney variation. Drop few drops of the prepared batter in hot oil. Fry and remove. Prepare about ¼ cup of this fritter. Grind with garlic, salt and red chilli powder!
Assembling a Vada Pav:
Slit the Vada Pav and heat. Spread green chutney on a side. Sprinkle garlic chutney and place the Batata Vada and fried green chili. Serve hot.
Vada Pav Recipe:
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Vada Pav
- Total Time: 0 hours
Ingredients
Preparing Batata Vada:
- 3 boiled potatoes
- 3 green chilies
- 5 garlic cloves
- 1" piece of ginger
- Salt
- 1 teaspoon mustard seeds
- 1 tablespoon oil
- 1 sprig of curry leaves
- ¼ teaspoon asafoetida
- ½ teaspoon turmeric powder
- ¼ cup chopped coriander leaves
- 1 teaspoon lemon juice
Preparing the Batter:
- ½ cup gram flour
- 1 teaspoon red chilli powder
- Salt, to taste
- Water - for a thick but flowing consistency
Preparing Green Chutney
- ½ cup chopped coriander leaves
- ½ cup chopped mint leaves
- 3 green chilies
- 3 garlic cloves
- Salt
- ½ teaspoon lemon juice
Preparing Garlic Chutney
- Fritters from batter (see instructions) - ½ cup
- 5 garlic cloves
- ¼ teaspoon red chilli powder
- Salt
Instructions
Preparing batter:
- Prepare a thick but flowing batter out of gram flour, red chili powder, salt, and water.
Preparing Batata Vada:
- Grind together garlic cloves, green chilies, and ginger.
- In a pan, heat oil and add mustard seeds and curry leaves.
- Add the ground mixture and cook for about 30 seconds.
- Add crumbled boiled potatoes. Mix well. Turn off flame.
- Add salt, coriander leaves, and turmeric powder. Mix well.
- Cool to room temperature and make balls out of it.
- Dip each ball in this batter and deep fry.
Preparing Green Chutney:
- Grind together coriander leaves, mint leaves, garlic, lemon juice, little water, and green chilies together. Keep aside.
Preparing Dry Garlic Chutney:
- Drop few drops of the batter in hot oil. Fry and remove.
- Prepare about ¼ cup of this fritter.
- Grind with garlic, salt and red chilli powder. Keep aside.
Assembling a Vada Pav:
- Slit the Vada Pav without breaking into two.
- Heat the sliced sides.
- Spread green chutney on the sliced side.
- Sprinkle garlic chutney and place the Batata Vada and fried green chili, sandwiched between both slices of the pav.
- Serve hot.
Notes
Do not ad more green chutney. It makes the pav soggy.
- Prep Time: 0 hours
- Cook Time: 0 hours
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Geethica Mehra says
Your blog is always a pleasure to visit. Vada Pao has been a favourite dish of mine as I like the spicy things more. Thanks for sharing the recipe. I will try this out soon.
Mayuri Nidigallu says
I love Vada Pav! And I miss my Mumbai ones!Your pics and presentation rocks, as always!
Sreesha says
Love these! The spicier the better, but sometimes I like a bit of meethi chutney as well 😀
zainab says
I know what my cheat meal this weekend is 😉
Vinodini says
Living in Mumbai for a good number of years, Vada Paav is now synonymous to me with a quick on- the- go meal. Thanks for sharing the recipe.
Cheryl Sterling says
This looks good, but we are trying to avoid deep fried foods. Can this be pan fried or baked?
rajlakshmi says
I love this these look so much better than the ones I get here. You can open your own restaurant you know