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Vada Pav is Mumbai’s most popular street food, and for good reason. Delicious Batata Vadas (potato fritters) sandwiched between fresh ladi pav (bread), and served along with dry garlic chutney, and topped with fried green chillies.. are an absolute delight!

The Basic Elements of Vada Pav

• Batata Vada – A good Batata Vada (potato fritter) is at the very core of the Mumbai Vada Pav. If you get the Batata Vada right, you’ve almost got this dish in the bag.
• Laadi Paav -Laadi Pav is just an indian bread which you can get in nearest bakery.
• Dry Garlic Chutney – You can make a few different kinds of chutneys to go with vada pav, but the only one you absolutely need is the dry garlic chutney, which is also commonly known as Vada Pav chutney.
• Fried Green Chillies – This is the final touch you need to complete a Mumbai style Vada Pav.

Indredients for Making Vada

• Boiled Potatoes
• Oil
• Mustard Seeds
• Green Chillies
• Salt
• Spice Powder
• Gram Flour
• Turmeric
• Hing/Asafoetida
• Curry Leaves
• Water
• Coriander Leaves
• Garlic

Making gram flour (besan) batter for Batata Vada

• In a wide bowl, take 1 cup of gram flour (besan), and to it add – ½ teaspoon salt, ½ teaspoon of hing / asafoetida powder, and ¼ teaspoon of haldi / turmeric powder. I usually also add ⅛ teaspoon of baking soda, but this is optional.
• Now to it, add water, a little at a time, and start mixing it all together. I start with ½ cup of water, and then add 2-4 tablespoons more, as needed.
• Whisk everything till you get a smooth, flowing consistency of batter. Then whisk for an additional couple of minutes, to incorporate some air into the batter.
• Then cover the bowl with a lid, and let the batter rest for 15-20 minutes, before using it to coat the vadas.

Making the tadka for Batata Vada

• In a tadka pan, add 1 tablespoon of oil, and lightly heat it up.
• To the oil, now add 1 teaspoon of mustard seeds, and let it lightly roast for a few seconds, till it starts to crackle & pop.
• Then add 16 curry leaves & 4 chopped green chillies, and lightly roast them for a few seconds.
• After which add in chopped garlic (from 16 cloves), and lightly roast for 2-3 minutes, till they start to change color.
• Finally add in the spice powders (preferably all together, to avoid them from burning) – ½ teaspoon of garam masala powder, ½ teaspoon of coriander powder, ¼ teaspoon of cumin powder, ¼ teaspoon of red chilli powder, and ¼ teaspoon of turmeric powder.
• Lightly roast the spices for a few seconds (ensuring to not let them burn) and then turn off the flame. The tadka is ready.

Making the potato masala for Batata Vada

• At this point, mash the boiled & peeled potatoes, if you haven’t already. Here I have used 1½ pounds of potatoes (boiled).

• To the mashed potatoes, add 1½ teaspoon of salt, and mix it in.
• Next add the prepared tadka to the mashed potatoes, and mix it in.
• Then finally add ⅓ cup of chopped coriander to the potatoes, and mix everything together to make the potato masala.

Shaping the Batata Vadas & frying them

• In a pan, properly heat up the oil for deep frying. And test to see if the oil is hot enough, by putting a little of the gram flour (besan) batter in it. If the batter immediately rises to the top, without getting burnt, then the oil is hot enough.
• Shape the potato masala into balls. You should be able to get 18 mid sized dough balls.
• Now coat the dough balls in the gram flour (besan) batter, and put them in hot oil, one at a time.
• Here it’s best to keep the batches small, frying only a few vadas at a time, so as to not over-crowd the pan, which will bring down the temperature of the oil, and also make the vadas retain oil.
• Fry the vadas for 3-4 minutes per batch, till the vadas are golden & crispy on the outside.
• When done, place the fried vadas in a plate / bowl lined with paper towel, to get rid of excess oil, if any.

How to Make Vada Pav Chutney

The Chutney is Made of delicious Garlic Chutney So there is seperate Recepie for Special mumbai Garlic chutney.

How to Make Vada Pav // How to Put Together a Mumbai Style Vada Pav

• Take a pav, open it up, and put some dry garlic chutney on it. You can also use spicy green chutney and / or a sweet and sour dates & tamarind chutney, based on your preferences.
• Place the Batata Vada on the pav.
• Sprinkle some more garlic chutney on top of the vada, and place a fried green chilli on top of it too.
• Vada Pav is ready to serve.