🍔 Vada Pav
Vada pav is Mumbai's favourite street snack: a spicy mashed potato ball, seasoned with mustard seeds and green chilli, dipped in chickpea-flour batter and deep-fried, then tucked into a soft bread roll (pav). The fritter is crisp outside and soft inside, and it is often served with fried green chillies and a dry chilli chutney.
Diets
Allergens
Contains (in a typical recipe):
What it is made of
Recipe
Ingredients
- 500 g potatoes, boiled and mashed
- 120 g chickpea flour (besan)
- 2 green chillies, crushed
- 1 tsp mustard seeds
- 1/2 tsp turmeric
- 4 soft bread rolls
- 1 tsp salt
- Oil for deep-frying
Method
- Heat 1 tbsp oil, crackle the mustard seeds, add chillies and turmeric, then mix in the potatoes and salt.
- Shape the potato mixture into 4 balls.
- Whisk chickpea flour with water and a pinch of salt into a thick batter.
- Dip each ball in the batter and deep-fry at about 175 °C for 3–4 minutes until golden.
- Slit the rolls, put a hot vada in each and serve.
How to make it lighter
- One vada pav is a snack; add a salad or fruit rather than a second one.
- Drain the vadas well on paper towels before assembling.
- Pan-fry flattened vadas with 1 tsp oil each instead of deep-frying for a lighter version.
History
Vada pav is usually credited to Mumbai street vendors of the 1960s–70s, who sold it near the city's textile mills and railway stations as a cheap, filling meal; it remains a symbol of the city's street food.
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Values are estimates per 100 g for a typical recipe; home and restaurant versions vary. Diets and allergens are worked out from the ingredients of a typical recipe — always check with whoever cooked the dish. Not medical advice. Nutrition data: Me Nutrition dish database v13. How we count →