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best, easy to make mumbai indian street style vada pav recipe
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5 from 6 votes

Best Vada Pav Recipe | How to make Mumbai Vada Pav

Vada Pav is a popular street food snack from Mumbai, India. It has a fantastic combination of flavors where batata vada or fried potato dumpling is sandwiched between pav or bread rolls with a spread of green mint chutney, garlic chutney, and dates or tamarind chutney, green chili.
Some occasionally refer to this snack as an Indian slider or Bombay burger 🙂
Prep Time20 minutes
Cook Time40 minutes
Total Time1 hour
Course: Appetizer, snacks
Cuisine: Maharashtra, Mumbai, north indian, South Indian
Servings: 9
Calories: 258kcal
Author: Kushi

Equipment

  • 1 Mixie
  • 2 Pan
  • 3 Bowls

Ingredients

For Batata Vada

    For the Batter

    • ½ cup Chickpea flour / Besan 
    • ½ teaspoon Red chile powder
    • 1 teaspoon Cumin seeds
    • ¼ teaspoon Turmeric powder
    • Pinch of Hing (Asafoetida)
    • Salt, to taste

    For the Filling

    • 3 Medium potatoes, boiled
    • 2 Green chilies, finely chopped
    • 1 tablespoon Ginger, grated
    • 2 tablespoon Cilantro or Coriander leaves, finely chopped
    • 1 teaspoon Mustard seeds
    • 1 teaspoon Urad dal
    • 3 Garlic cloves, finely chopped
    • Asafoetida, pinch
    • Turmeric powder, pinch
    • 1 Sprig Curry leaves,
    • Salt to taste
    • Oil for frying

    For Garlic Chutney

    • 8 to 10 Garlic cloves
    • 2 tablespoon Roasted peanuts
    • ½ cup Grated coconut
    • 1 ½ teaspoon Red chile powder
    • Salt, to taste

    Other Ingredients (Click on the link or full recipe in the post)

    Instructions

    How to make Batata Vada (Prepare the filling)

    • In a small pan, heat oil on medium to low flame. Add mustard seeds, and when they start to splutter, add urad dal, garlic cloves (and hing and sauté till the raw smell of garlic goes off (about 1 minute) and urad dal becomes light in color.
      1 teaspoon Mustard seeds, 1 teaspoon Urad dal, 3 Garlic cloves, finely chopped, Asafoetida, pinch
    • Next add turmeric powder, curry leaves and saute for another few seconds.
      Turmeric powder, pinch, 1 Sprig Curry leaves,
    • Mash the cooked potatoes. To this, add green chilies, ginger, coriander leaves, salt, and sautéed ingredients prepared above and mix well.
      3 Medium potatoes, boiled, 2 Green chilies, finely chopped, 1 tablespoon Ginger, grated, 2 tablespoon Cilantro or Coriander leaves, finely chopped, Salt to taste
    • Divide this into 9 or 10 portions or to desired size bonda or vada and make balls out of it.

    Prepare the batter

    • In a bowl, add chickpea flour, red chilli powder, cumin seeds, turmeric powder, asafoetida, salt, and mix. To this, add water little by little and whisk to form a batter that is thinner than pancake batter. See that there are no lumps and batter is not too thick or too thin.
      ½ cup Chickpea flour / Besan , ½ teaspoon Red chile powder, 1 teaspoon Cumin seeds, ¼ teaspoon Turmeric powder, Pinch of Hing (Asafoetida), Salt, to taste
    • The amount of water I added was approximately ⅓ cup but not more than ½ cup. This also varies based on brand of flour, weather conditions and water.
    • Your vadas should be coated easily in this batter. If the batter is too thick then add water, and if it becomes too watery then add chickpea flour and adjust accordingly.

    Frying Vadas

    • Heat oil in a heavy bottomed pan for frying.
      Oil for frying
    • Once the oil is hot, dip each potato ball in the batter and drop it in oil. Add 4 to 5 balls depending on the size of your pan. Deep fry them till they are golden brown in color.
    • Transfer this to paper towel to absorb any excess oil. Repeat the process for remaining potato balls.

    Making of Garlic Chutney

    • Heat oil in a pan, add garlic cloves and saute until light in color. Transfer this to the plate.
      8 to 10 Garlic cloves
    • To the same pan, add coconut and toast until light for less than 2 minutes. 
      ½ cup Grated coconut
    • Add garlic cloves, peanuts, coconut, red chili powder and salt to taste in a blender. Blend it to form a thick, coarse paste. Preferably do not add any water, but if you must limit it to 1-2 tbsp, we are aiming for a relatively dry chutney that can be spread on pavs or bread rolls without making them soggy.
      2 tablespoon Roasted peanuts, 1 ½ teaspoon Red chile powder, Salt, to taste

    Assemble Vada Pav

    • Slice the pav into halves. Spread mint chutney on one half of the pav. On the other half spread dates chutney and garlic chutney. 
      Mint Chutney, Dates Chutney, 9 Homemade Pav or Store bought
    • Place the batata vada between the pav and a fried green chili if desired.

    Notes

    • The consistency of batter plays a very important role in making perfect vadas. If the batter is thick, vadas will become hard, and If batter is thin, then stuffing will come out, and it's going to be messy.
    • If you do not like pieces of green chilies and ginger, you can also make a paste out of it and add it to the recipe.
    • Some people add a pinch of baking soda to the batter to make it fluffier. I generally skip adding it and find no difference.
    • If pavs, bread rolls, or buns are unavailable, you can use regular bread slices for this recipe.
    • Adjust the amount of chutneys you add on each vada pav as per your liking. 

    Nutrition

    Calories: 258kcal | Carbohydrates: 42g | Protein: 9g | Fat: 7g | Saturated Fat: 3g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 1g | Monounsaturated Fat: 1g | Sodium: 272mg | Potassium: 485mg | Fiber: 5g | Sugar: 5g | Vitamin A: 154IU | Vitamin C: 22mg | Calcium: 89mg | Iron: 3mg