Batata Vada / Vada Pav

Batata Vada and Vada Pav are one of the most popular street foods in Maharashtra. Coarsely mashed potato, coated with a gram flour batter, deep fried to a crispy golden brown and served up in bread along with chutneys. Absolute foodie heaven! Growing up in Bombay (now Mumbai), it holds a lot of fond memories for me of school and college days and the little corner stall or street vendor serving up this beautiful treat.

Ingredients:
1 batch batata bhaji (click here for batata bhaji recipe)
2 cups besan (gram flour)
2.5 tablespoon rice flour
1/2 teaspoon turmeric
1/4 teaspoon chili powder
1/2 - 1 teaspoon salt
1/8 teaspoon or a pinch of hing (asafoetida)
Oil for deep frying


Directions:
1. Prepare a batch of the batata bhaji as per the recipe linked above. This batch will make approximately 24 batata vadas.

2. Once the bhaji has cooled, coarsely mash the potatoes and form small 1.5 inch balls.

3. Prep your dry ingredients.

4. Mix all the dry ingredients together in a large bowl.

5. Add a cup of water to the mix, and stir it to a thick batter. Add a bit more water if the batter is too thick. The batter has to be thick enough to coat the potato balls, so do not add too much water. Let the batter rest for around 15 minutes.

6. Heat oil in a pan and set heat to medium. Dunk a few of the potato balls into the batter and roll them around until completely coated. Carefully drop the coated potato balls into the hot oil and fry them until golden brown. Remove and place on paper napkin to drain.

7. Serve the vadas hot in bread slathered with your favourite chutneys. I've used green coriander chutney (click here for coriander chutney recipe) and a store bought red dry garlic chutney.

Note: I made these batata vadas so that my daughter could enjoy them. In order to make them kid friendly, I used just one chili in my preparation of the batata bhaji and reduced the amount of chili powder in the batter as well. You can adjust the spice up or down as desired.


Enjoy!

Please feel free to reach out to me with feedback and/or suggestions at ddsouza@gmail.com

You can also find/follow me on the following social networks:
Facebook - Dusty's Foodie Adventures
Pinterest - David D'Souza
Yummly - Dusty's Foodie Adventures