Vada pav is a Mumbai street food made from a spiced potato fritter served inside a bread bun.
The fritter, called batata vada, is prepared from mashed potato mixed with ingredients such as green chilli, garlic, mustard seeds, turmeric and asafoetida. It is coated in gram-flour batter, deep-fried, and placed inside pav, a soft bun. Chutneys and a fried green chilli commonly accompany it.
Vada pav became associated with Mumbai’s mill workers and railway commuters because it was inexpensive, filling and easy to eat. Ashok Vaidya is often credited with starting a stall near Dadar railway station in 1966, although other early vendors are also mentioned in accounts of its origins.
It is sometimes called a “Bombay burger,” but it is not the same as dabeli, which usually contains a sweeter, nutty potato filling, or pav bhaji, which is mashed vegetables served with buttered buns.