Vada pav was born in the 1960s near Dadar station in Mumbai, when Ashok Vaidya started selling batata vadas inside pav to mill workers who needed something cheap, filling and quick. It became the city's signature street food and an emblem of Mumbai itself, sold at thousands of stalls from early morning to late night.
The vada is a ball of mashed potato tempered with mustard seeds, curry leaves, plenty of garlic, ginger and green chilli, dipped in a thin besan batter and fried until crisp. It goes into a soft, split pav smeared with red dry garlic chutney and a tangy green chutney. Bits of fried batter, called chura, are often sprinkled inside for extra crunch.
It is eaten on the go, standing at the stall, with a fried green chilli sprinkled with salt. At home it makes a good monsoon evening snack. The vadas can be made ahead and fried just before eating. The garlic chutney is the soul of the dish, so make a good batch with dry coconut, garlic and red chilli and store it in a jar for weeks.
At a glance
| Region | Maharashtra |
|---|---|
| Cuisine | Maharashtrian |
| Diet | Vegan |
| Course | Street food |
| Prep time | 25 minutes |
| Cook time | 25 minutes |
| Total time | 50 minutes |
| Serves | 4 |
| Spice level | Hot |
| Difficulty | Medium |
| Gluten-free | No |
| Key ingredients | potato / besan / pav / garlic |
Ingredients
For the potato filling
- 4 medium potatoes (about 500 g), boiled, peeled and coarsely mashed
- 2 tbsp oil
- 1 tsp mustard seeds
- A pinch of asafoetida
- 10 curry leaves
- 8 garlic cloves, 1 inch ginger and 3 green chillies, pounded coarsely
- 1/2 tsp turmeric
- 1 tsp salt
- 2 tbsp chopped coriander
- 1 tsp lemon juice
For the batter
- 1 cup (100 g) besan
- 1/4 tsp turmeric
- 1/4 tsp red chilli powder
- A pinch of baking soda
- 1/2 tsp salt
- About 3/4 cup water
To assemble
- 8 ladi pav
- Dry garlic chutney (lasun chutney)
- Green coriander chutney
- 8 green chillies, slit
- Oil for deep frying
Method
- Heat oil on medium, crackle the mustard seeds, then add asafoetida, curry leaves and the pounded garlic-ginger-chilli. Saute for 1 minute until the raw garlic smell fades.
- Add turmeric, then the mashed potatoes and salt. Mix well for 2 minutes, turn off the heat and stir in coriander and lemon juice. Cool, then shape into 8 balls slightly flattened.
- Whisk the besan, turmeric, chilli powder, soda and salt with water into a smooth batter, thinner than pakora batter, that coats a spoon in a thin layer.
- Heat oil to medium-hot, about 175 C. Dip each vada in the batter, coat fully and slide into the oil.
- Fry 3-4 at a time for 3-4 minutes, turning, until the coating is crisp and light golden. Drain. Drizzle a little leftover batter into the oil to make crunchy chura and drain that too.
- Fry the slit green chillies in the same oil for 30 seconds until blistered, then toss with salt.
- Slit each pav horizontally without cutting through. Spread green chutney on one side and sprinkle dry garlic chutney generously on the other. Add some chura, place a hot vada inside and press lightly.
Tips
- Mash the potatoes by hand, not in a mixer, so the filling has texture and does not turn gluey.
- A thinner batter gives the thin, crisp shell of the street version; thick batter makes it doughy.
- Warm the pav on a tawa for a few seconds if it is a day old.
Serve with
Fried salted green chillies and cutting chai.