Snacks & street food · Maharashtra

Vada Pav

Mumbai's everyday snack: a spiced potato fritter in besan batter, tucked into a soft pav with fiery dry garlic chutney, green chutney and a fried chilli.

Prep 30 min · Cook 30 min · Total 60 min · Serves 4

Ingredients

Potato filling

• 4 Medium potatoes, boiled and peeled
• 1 tbsp Oil
• 1 tsp Mustard seeds
• 1 sprig Curry leaves
• ¼ tsp Asafoetida
• 1 inch Ginger
• 6 cloves Garlic
• 3 Green chillies
• ½ tsp Turmeric
• 1 tsp Salt
• 1 tbsp Lemon juice
• 2 tbsp Coriander leaves, chopped

Batter

• 1 cup Besan (gram flour)
• 1 tbsp Rice flour
• ¼ tsp Turmeric
• ½ tsp Red chilli powder
• 1 pinch Baking soda
• ½ tsp Salt
• Oil for deep frying, to taste

Dry garlic chutney

• ¼ cup Dry coconut, grated
• 2 tbsp Peanuts
• 8 cloves Garlic
• 2 tsp Red chilli powder
• ¼ tsp Salt
• 1 tsp Oil

Green chutney

• 1 bunch Coriander leaves
• ¼ cup Mint leaves
• 3 Green chillies
• 1 tbsp Lemon juice
• ¼ tsp Salt

To serve

• 8 Pav (soft dinner rolls)
• 8 Green chillies, for frying

Method

1. Make the chutneys. For the dry chutney, toast the coconut and peanuts in a dry pan until golden, then fry the garlic in the oil until browned. Pound or pulse everything with the chilli powder and salt to a coarse, dry crumble. Blend the green chutney ingredients with 2 tbsp water to a thick paste.
2. Make the filling. Pound the ginger, garlic and chillies to a coarse paste. Heat the oil, crackle the mustard seeds, then add the curry leaves, asafoetida, the paste and turmeric and fry 1 minute. Add the potatoes, mashed with your hands into small lumps, the salt, lemon and coriander, and mix well.
3. Shape. Cool the filling slightly and roll into 8 balls the size of a small lime, flattening them a little.
4. Make the batter. Whisk the besan, rice flour, turmeric, chilli powder, soda and salt with about 1/2 cup water to a thick batter that coats a spoon. Stir in 1 tbsp of the hot frying oil.
5. Fry. Heat the oil to medium-hot. Dip each ball in batter and slide it in; fry 3 or 4 at a time, turning, until deep golden and crisp. Drain on paper. Fry the slit green chillies for a few seconds in the same oil and sprinkle with salt.
6. Assemble. Slit each pav, leaving one side attached. Spread green chutney on one side and a big pinch of dry garlic chutney on the other, press in a hot vada and serve with a fried chilli.

Tips

Keep the batter thick and add the drips of crisp fried batter left in the oil (chura) to the pav for the proper stall-style crunch.