Vada Pav || Mumbai Vada pav

Vada Pav is one of Mumbai’s most famous food. It’s almost synonyms with the city, in fact, I remember when I was in Mumbai a few years back, it was one of my goals to eat vada pav! This popular street food is loved by one and all.

I ate vada pav in many places in Mumbai and it was always so delicious! I still make sure that I buy vada pav whenever I visit Mumbai. However, when I am craving vada pav and can’t get to Mumbai, I make them at home.

What is vada pav?

So Pav is basically a bread or a bun which is very soft and small in size. It is also called ladi pav in Mumbai. Though ladi pav is easily available in Indian stores, you can make it at home from scratch too by following my step by step recipe of ladi pav.

Vada pav, pav bhaji and misal pav are popular recipes of Maharashtrian street food. However, nowadays, you will find them in every part of the country and maybe abroad too. But, I really feel that you have to visit Mumbai to get that authentic taste of all these delicacies.

Anyway coming back to Vada Pav. This recipe has 4 main ingredients – the batata vada, the dry garlic coconut chutney, the green chutney and the sweet tamarind chutney. You can skip the green and sweet chutney if you don’t like sweet in your food but I highly recommend not skipping the garlic chutney. It’s what makes the vada pav in my opinion. There are several recipes to make coconut garlic chutney. I have a different version too. However, I am sure that this version of mine will give you that authentic taste of the vada pav.

How To Make Batata Vada/Bonda-

Batata vada/ Bonda is fried batter-coated potato dumpling fritters. The batter is made with nutty gram flour (besan) and spices. The filling consist of savoury, spiced mashed potatoes.

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

steps to make Batata vada / Aloo Bonda-

step 1. Boil potatoes, chop onion, green chilli, coriander and keep aside.

step 2-

Heat oil in a pan and add onion, ginger and green chillies to it.

step 3-

stir onion till it turns trasulant now add dry masala and mashed potato in it. Mix properly and your mixture for bonda is ready.

step 4-

Make rolls out of it and keep aside.

Step 5-

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 tablespoons of gram flour. If the batter becomes thick, then add 1 or 2 tablespoons of water.

Step 6-

Dip the slightly flattened potato balls in the batter and coat them evenly with the batter. Dip balls one by one in basan batter roll it properly.

step 7-

Before you dip the batata vada in the batter, heat oil in a pan or wok (kadhai). 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. Deep fry bondas in hot oil in medium flame. Till it turns golden and crispy.

What is pav?

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, superstores and sweet shops in India. You can make ladi pav from scratch by following this recipe of mine. Ladi pav.

However, you can use store-bought pav to make delicious vada pav.

How To Make Chutneys:

Chutneys are the most important part of this dish how to make these delectable chutneys. These tasty chutneys are sprinkled in the filling of vada pav. You can use these chutneys to make any Indian chaats or even on sandwiches.

For lehsun chutney :

Grind dried coconut, red chillies and besan boondi and garlic together to a Spicy and piquant dry chutney made from garlic, desiccated coconut, sesame seeds and red chilli powder. Dry garlic coconut chutney is also called lasun khobra chutney in Marathi. This spicy chutney is usually served with vada pav. 

Green coriander chutney– Green coriander or coriander+mint chutney adds spicy flavour with a strong herb flavour.

Tamarind chutney– Tamarind chutney or imli chutney gives a tangy and sweet taste to vada pav.

How to assemble vada pav:

1. Slice the pav without breaking it into two parts and set aside.
2. 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.
3. Sprinkle the dry garlic chutney on the pav. This step is optional and you can skip it if you don’t have garlic chutney.
4. Place the hot batata vada in the pav slices.
5. 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. You can see how to make salted fried green chillies in vedio attached with the recipe.

Finally, I would like to suggest a few more chaat/street food recipe from my blog :

• How To Make Ladi Pav From Scratch
• Misal pav ( Maharashtrian cuisine )
• Banarasi Tamatar ki Chaat- An Indian Street Food
• Bread Dahi Vadas- A Tasty Street Food
• PANEER TIKKA ‘GRILLED COTTAGE CHEESE’
• Aloo Tikki Chaat’ An Indian Street Food’
• MATAR KI CHAAT – STREET FOOD