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Vada Pav, alternatively spelt Vada Pao, Wada Pav, or Wada Pao, is a vegetarian fast food dish native to the Indian state of Maharashtra. The dish consists of a deep fried potato dumpling placed inside a bread bun (pav) sliced almost in half through the middle. It is generally accompanied with one or more chutneys and fried green chillies.

It originated as cheap street food in Mumbai, but is now served in food stalls and restaurants across India. It is also called Bombay Burger in keeping with its origins and its resemblance in physical form to a burger.

Vada comes from the Marathi compound word batata vada, which means "potato fritter". Pav is a derivative of the Portuguese word "pão", which means bread.

Boiled potato is mashed and mixed with spices, usually with green chilli, garlic, asafoetida, turmeric, and mustard seeds. The mass is then coated in gram flour batter and deep fried. The resultant fritter is served in a bread bun, accompanied by one or more chutneys and fried green chilli.

Vada pav is a yummy snack. I had it firstly in Pune, India. There was a famous vada pav stall near to my office, my friend and I used to go there and had vada pav with Indian tea (chai). It was normally our evening snack.

There was also a popular vada pav stall near to my hostel, it was operated by a family (husband and wife) and that was one of the best vada pav's I had there I Pune. They served Vada Pav with fries green chillies and ginger chilli chutney.

Vada Pav is one of my favourite snack, I can have it anytime. I started preparing vada pav at home. It's very easy to cook this yummy snack and it goes very well with hot chai (an Indian tea). Also you require few ingredients to prepare this super delicious snack.

I missed Pune as I tried many yummy snacks there. Some are Dabeli (Kacchi Dabeli), Vada Pao, Mastani, Ghee Roast Dosa and many more. And whenever I prepare Vada Pav all my beautiful memories from Pune gets refreshed.

You can have vada pav as breakfast or as an evening snack. It's loved by my whole family.

Ingredients

Preparation

To Make Garlic Chutney

• Heat oil in a pan on a medium heat. Then add garlic cloves and fry for 1-2 minutes until garlic turns slightly brown in colour. Stir in between.

• Once done take them out on a tissue paper and set aside.

• Add grated coconut in the same pan and dry roast for 2 minutes until it turns into light golden brown. Stir in between.

• Transfer it in on a plate, and set aside for later use.

• Add the peanuts in the same pan and roast them until they turn golden in colour. Stir in between so that they won't burn.

• Once done, transfer them on a plate, and set aside.

• Let them cool completely.

• Once everything gets cooled, transfer coconut, peanuts and garlic to a blender. Add in salt to taste and Kashmiri red chilli powder to it. Grind it to a coarse chutney. Set it aside for later use.

To make Vada

• Boil potatoes until they turn soft, peel them and mash them. Set them aside for later use.

• Add green chillies, garlic cloves (peeled) and peeled ginger in a blending jar. Grind it to make a coarse paste.

• Heat oil in a pan (wide pan) on a medium flame.

• As the oil gets hot, add mustard seeds into it and let them splutter.

• Once they starts to sputter, add in the curry leaves (fresh ones) and mix well. Sauté for about 30 seconds.

• Then add already prepared green chilli, ginger and garlic paste. Sauté for a minute on a medium heat.

• Add turmeric powder (haldi) and salt into it, mix well and sauté for another 30 seconds.

• Then add in the already mashed potatoes and chopped coriander leaves and mix everything well. The use of coriander leaves is optional.

• Cook this mixture for 2 more minutes.

• Remove this potato mixture from the heat and let it cool completely.

• Divide the potato mixture into 8 balls. Then flatten these balls a bit. Keep them aside.

To Make the batter:

• To make the batter, add gram flour (chickpea flour/besan) in a large bowl. Add turmeric, salt and a pinch of baking soda to it and whisk well. You may skip baking soda.

• Start adding water little by little to it, to make batter for the vadas.

• Whisk well to form a smooth, lump free batter. You may need couple of extra tablespoons of water to reach a desired consistency. The batter should neither be too thick nor too thin.

• Once done, keep it aside for 10 minutes.

To fry the vadas

• Heat oil in a kadai or in a wok on a medium-high flame.

• Dip each potato balls into the gram flour batter and coat it properly from all the sides with the batter. Then place it carefully into the hot oil.

• Fry the vada in hot oil, let it fry for a minute and so and then flip it upside down and fry the vada till it turns to a  golden brown colour from all sides. Once done drain it out on a paper towel or on an absorbent paper.

• Repeat the same process with the remaining potato balls. Adjust the flame accordingly.

To fry the Green Chillies

• Take a sharp knife and split the green chillies vertically. Keeping one side intact, slit from the other side.

• Heat some oil in a deep pan. Once oil gets hot, add in the green chillies into it and deep fry them till they turn slightly whitish in colour. Flip them to fry them from all sides.

• Drain them on an absorbent paper.

• Sprinkle some salt and toss them gently. Keep them aside.

To assemble the Vada Pav

• To assemble the vada pav, slice each vada into half but not entirely, not till end. It should be attached to one end.

• Add some butter on a pan and toast the pav from both the sides.

• Take the toasted pav and open it. Apply garlic chutney on one side of the pav.

• Place the fried vada in the centre and press down gently.

• Serve the vada pav immediately with some fried green chillies, more chutney on the side and with some hot chai (an Indian tea)

• Enjoy hot vada pav with your loved ones.