Batata Vada Recipe | Maharashtrian Style Aloo Vada
Batata Vada is a popular Maharashtrian snack made with spiced mashed potatoes coated in gram flour batter and deep fried. The potato filling is seasoned with green chilies, ginger and spices. The batter-coated balls are fried until crisp and golden. Batata Vada is often served with chutney or inside pav as Vada Pav.
About Batata Vada
Batata Vada is one of the most popular street food snacks from Maharashtra. In Marathi, batata means potatoes and vada refers to a fried snack. In South India, a similar snack is known as Potato Bonda.
Like many traditional Maharashtrian recipes, Batata Vada has regional variations across the state. The version you find in Pune can taste quite different from those in Nashik, Kolhapur and other regions.
The potato filling differs from one region to another, and even street vendors in Mumbai have their own spice blends and styles of preparation. This variation in seasoning gives each Batata Vada its own distinct taste.
In my Maharashtrian-style Batata Vada recipe, the boiled potatoes are mixed with a freshly sautéed paste of ginger, garlic and green chilies tempered with mustard seeds, cumin, turmeric, asafoetida and curry leaves.
Lemon juice adds a pleasant tang, while a bit of sugar can be added for balance. The potato mixture is then shaped into balls, coated in a lightly spiced gram flour batter and deep-fried until crisp and golden.
This is the same Batata Vada that is used to make the famous Vada Pav, one of Mumbai’s iconic street foods.
Batata Vada is best served hot with Green Chutney, Dry Garlic Chutney and fried salted green chilies.
It also pairs well with Coriander Mint Chutney, Tamarind Chutney or even tomato ketchup. We also enjoy it with a cup of Masala Chai as an evening snack.
More Maharashtrian Street Food To Try
You can also tuck these Potato Vada into pav, burger buns or bread slices with your favorite chutneys and sliced onions or tomatoes for a simple and satisfying meal.
How to make Batata Vada (Stepwise)
Pressure Cook Potatoes
1. Rinse and then add 250 grams potatoes or 4 medium potatoes in a 2 litre pressure cooker. Also add 2 cups water.
You can opt to cook the potatoes in a pan on stove top or in an Instant pot. While cooking add enough water just so that it covers them.
If cooking in a pan, I recommend to peel and chop them in quarter for faster cooking.
2. Pressure cook for 7 to 8 minutes on medium flame or for 5 to 6 whistles.
3. When the pressure falls down on its own, remove the lid. The potatoes have to be cooked well and fork tender.
To check if the potatoes have cooked well, slid a knife or fork through the center of the potatoes and it should slid smoothly without any resistance.
Remove the potatoes and let them become warm.
4. When the potatoes become warm, peel and then mash them with a fork or potato masher. Don’t mash too much.
5. Add 2 tablespoon chopped coriander leaves and salt as required to the mashed potatoes. Keep aside.
More Prep
6. In a small grinder take 1 to 2 green chilies (chopped), 1 teaspoon chopped ginger and 1½ teaspoons chopped garlic.
Tip: Adding more green chilies will give a spicy taste to the vadas.
7. Add 1 to 2 tablespoons water and grind to a smooth paste. Keep aside.
Tip: You can also use a mortar-pestle to crush ginger, garlic and green chilies. There is no need to add water if crushing in mortar-pestle.
Make Potato Filling
8. Heat 1 tablespoon oil in a small pan. Use any neutral flavored oil like sunflower oil.
Keep the heat to a low. Add ½ teaspoon mustard seeds and let them crackle and pop.
9. When the mustard seeds crackle, then add ½ teaspoon cumin seeds. Cumin seeds can be skipped too.
10. Fry for a few seconds till the cumin seeds change color and also crackle.
After the cumin seeds crackle, optionally, you can also add 1 medium sized onion (finely chopped) and sauté the onions till translucent.
I have not added onions.
11. Add ¼ teaspoon turmeric powder and 1 pinch asafoetida (hing).
12. Quickly give a stir.
13. Now add the ginger+garlic+green chili paste. The paste will splutter, so be careful. Mix and stir.
14. Then add 6 to 7 curry leaves (chopped).
15. Sauté the paste for some seconds on a low heat until the raw aroma of both ginger and garlic goes away.
16. Now add the entire sautéed mixture to the mashed potatoes.
17. Mix very well.
18. Add ¼ teaspoon lemon juice to add some tang to the stuffing.
19. Sprinkle ¼ to ½ teaspoon sugar. Sugar is optional and can be skipped. Mix very well. Check the taste and add more salt if required.
20. Then make medium sized balls from the potato mixture. Slightly flatten the potato balls as it helps to fry the vadas easily. Keep aside.
Make Batter
21. In another bowl, take 1 cup besan (gram flour), ¼ teaspoon turmeric powder and ¼ teaspoon red chilli powder.
Tip 1: In place of besan you can use white chickpea flour.
Tip 2: In place of red chilli powder you can use cayenne pepper or paprika.
22. Then add 1 pinch baking soda and ½ teaspoon salt or add as per taste.
23. Add ⅓ cup + 1 tablespoon water in parts.
24. Begin to whisk.
25. Adding water in parts whisk to a smooth batter. Make a medium thick batter. If the batter looks thin, then you can add some more besan.
Check the taste of the batter and add more salt if needed.
Fry Batata Vada
26. Heat oil for deep frying in a kadai or wok. Keep the flame to medium. Use your preferred oil with a high smoking point and neutral flavor.
27. When the oil becomes hot in the pan, then take ¼ to ½ teaspoon hot oil from the pan and add it to the batter. Mix very well.
Note: Be careful as the oil will be hot and use a long spoon.
28. Check a small portion of batter in the oil and it should come up gradually and steadily on top. Now the oil is ready for frying aloo vada. Keep the flame to medium-low or medium.
29. Take a potato vada and dip it in the besan batter.
30. Gently coat it with the batter evenly all over.
31. Then gently place the batter coated vada in hot oil.
32. Do not overcrowd the kadai. Add vadas depending on the size of the kadai. Fry on medium flame.
33. When one side becomes opaque, firms up, lightly crisp and light golden, turn each vada with a slotted spoon. Continue to fry the second side.
34. When the second side is light golden, turn the batata vadas again.
35. This way turn them a couple of times till they are golden.
36. Remove fried potato vada with a slotted spoon.
37. Place them on kitchen paper towels. This way fry the remaining batches of vadas.
Fry Green Chilies
38. In the same oil, fry 2 to 3 green chilies. Do slit each green chili before frying so that they don’t burst in the oil while frying.
39. Fry till the green chilies become lightly crisp and faintly golden.
40. Remove on kitchen paper towels.
41. Once the green chilies become warm, then sprinkle some salt on them. Mix salt with the green chilies.
Serve batata vada hot or warm with the fried salted green chilies, sweet tamarind chutney, Coconut Chutney and Coriander Chutney.
You can also serve these delicious batata vadas with pav (dinner rolls) or burger buns or bread. You can also stuff them inside the burger buns or bread slices.
Dassana’s Recipe Tips
- Cooking Potatoes: Cook the potatoes in a stovetop pressure cooker, Instant Pot or pan until fork tender. Drain well and let them cool slightly before peeling and mashing. Add water as needed for the cooking method you use.
- Adjust the Spice Level: For a spicier Batata Vada, add more green chilies to the ginger-garlic-green chili paste. You can also adjust the amount of red chili powder in the batter to suit your taste.
- Oil: Use any neutral-flavored oil for the tempering, such as sunflower, canola or avocado oil. You can also use peanut oil. The same oil can also be used for deep-frying.
- Variations: The cumin seeds and sugar are optional and can be omitted. For extra flavor and texture, you can also add some finely chopped onions to the tempering before mixing it with the potatoes.
- Batter: You can use white chickpea flour instead of gram flour (besan) if that’s what is available. In place of red chili powder, use cayenne pepper for more heat or paprika for a milder flavor and color.
- Batter Consistency: Make a batter with a medium-thick, flowing consistency so it coats the potato balls evenly. A thick batter gives a heavy, doughy coating, while a thin batter absorbs more oil and may not cover the potato filling properly during frying.
- Scaling: This Batata Vada recipe can easily be doubled or halved depending on the number of servings you need.
Step by Step Photo Guide Above
Batata Vada Recipe | Maharashtrian Aloo Vada
Ingredients
For pressure cooking potatoes
- 250 grams or 4 medium-sized potatoes
- 2 cups water
For ginger-garlic-green chilli paste
- 1 to 2 green chilies – roughly chopped
- 1 teaspoon or 1 inch ginger – roughly chopped
- 1½ teaspoon or 4 medium-sized garlic – roughly chopped
- 1 to 2 tablespoons water – for grinding
For potato filling
- 2 tablespoons coriander leaves – chopped, (cilantro)
- salt as required
- ¼ teaspoon lemon juice
- ¼ to ½ teaspoon sugar – optional
For tempering potato filling
- 1 tablespoon oil
- ½ teaspoon mustard seeds
- ½ teaspoon cumin seeds – optional
- ¼ teaspoon turmeric powder
- 1 pinch asafoetida (hing)
- 6 to 7 curry leaves – chopped
For batata vada batter
- 1 cup besan (gram flour)
- ⅓ cup + 1 tablespoon water or add as required
- ¼ teaspoon turmeric powder
- ¼ teaspoon red chilli powder
- ½ teaspoon salt or add as required
- 1 pinch baking soda
- oil – for deep frying, as required
For frying green chilies
- 2 to 3 green chilies
- 1 to 2 pinches salt or add as needed
Instructions
Pressure cooking potatoes
- Rinse and then place the potatoes in a 2 litre stovetop pressure cooker. Also add 2 cups water.
- Pressure cook for 7 to 8 minutes on medium heat or for 5 to 6 whistles.
- When the pressure drops naturally on its own, remove the lid. The potatoes have to be cooked well and must be fork tender.
- Remove the potatoes and let them become warm.
- When the potatoes become warm, peel and mash potatoes with a fork or potato masher. Don’t mash too much.
- Add the chopped coriander leaves and salt as required to the mashed potatoes.
Making green chili+garlic+ginger paste
- In a small grinder take the chopped green chilies, ginger and garlic. Note that adding more green chilies will give a spicy taste.
- Add 1 to 2 tablespoons water and grind to a smooth fine paste. Keep this paste aside.
- You can also use a mortar-pestle to crush ginger, garlic and green chilies. No need to add water if crushing in mortar-pestle.
For tempering potato filling
- Heat 1 tablespoon oil in a small pan. Keep the heat to a low.
- Add mustard seeds and let them crackle and pop. Use any neutral flavored oil.
- When the mustard seeds crackle, then add cumin seeds.
- Fry for a few seconds till the cumin seeds change color and also crackle.
- Add turmeric powder and asafoetida. Quickly give a stir.
- Now add the ginger+garlic+green chili paste. The paste will splutter, so be careful. Mix and stir.
- Next add 6 to 7 curry leaves that have been chopped.
- Sauté the paste for some seconds on a low heat till the raw aroma of both ginger and garlic dissipates.
- Now add the entire sautéed mixture to the mashed potatoes. Mix very well.
Making potato filling
- Add lemon juice and sugar.
- Adding sugar is optional and can be skipped.
- Mix very well. Check the taste and add more salt if needed.
- Make medium sized balls from the potato mixture. Slightly flatten the potato balls as it helps to fry the vadas easily. Keep aside.
Making gram flour batter
- In another bowl, take the besan (gram flour), turmeric powder, red chilli powder, baking soda and ½ teaspoon salt or add as per taste.
- Add water in parts. Begin to whisk.
- Adding water in parts whisk to a smooth batter. Make a medium-thick batter. Keep aside.
Frying batata vada
- Heat oil for deep frying in a kadai or wok. Keep the heat to medium. Use your preferred neutral flavored oil with a high smoking point.
- When the oil becomes hot in the pan, then carefully remove ¼ to ½ teaspoon of the hot oil with a long spoon and add it to the batter. Mix very well.
- Check a small portion of batter in the oil and it should come up gradually and steadily on top. Now the oil is ready for frying batata vada. Keep the heat to medium-low or medium.
- Take a potato vada and dip it in the besan batter.
- Gently coat it with the batter evenly all over.
- Then gently place the batter coated potato vada in hot oil.
- Do not over crowd the kadai. Add them depending on the size of the kadai. Fry on medium flame.
- When one side becomes opaque, firms up, lightly crisp and light golden, turn each batata vada with a slotted spoon. Continue to fry the second side.
- When the second side is light golden, turn them again.
- This way turn them a couple of times till they are golden. Remove with a slotted spoon draining as much oil as possible.
- Place them on kitchen paper towels. This way fry the remaining batches of batata vada.
Frying green chilies
- In the same oil, fry the green chilies. Do slit each green chili before frying so that they don't burst in the hot oil.
- Fry till the green chilies become lightly crisp.
- Remove on kitchen paper towels.
- Once the green chilies become warm, then sprinkle some salt on them. Mix salt with the green chilies.
- Serve batata vada hot or warm with the fried salted green chilies, sweet tamarind chutney, coconut chutney and coriander chutney. You can also serve them with pav (dinner rolls) or bread or burger buns.
Dassana’s Notes
- You can alter the spices as per your taste preferences.
- The batter consistency is medium thick and flowing. Don’t make the batter thick as the texture becomes doughy. And also don’t make the batter thin or runny as then it does not coat the potata vada and the filling comes out while frying. Moreover a thin batter coated batata vada will absorb a lot of oil making it soggy.
- Fry them on medium heat. If they are fried in warm oil they will soak a lot of oil. If they are fried in very hot oil then the outer layer of the batter gets browned or burnt leaving the inside layer of the batter uncooked.
- The approximate nutrition info is for 1 batata vada.
- The recipe can be doubled and tripled.
Nutrition
Batata Vada recipe from the blog archives was first published on Aug 2009.
Thank you for sharing your delicious and amazing recipe.
Hi Dassana, thanks for the wonderful recipe.. i tried out Batata vada recipe and it turned out very well indeed..my wife,son and mom just loved it.
I have tried some of your other recipes too like Masale bhat and Gujarathi Kadhi and these have become my family’s favorites. You rock..keep it up..
Thanks a lot Amit. Glad to read your feedback on the recipes you have made. Nice to know.
Tried your batata vada recipe Dassana. Was really yummy. Thank you so much for sharing.
Will try some of your other recipes.
thanks marlene for the review and rating on the batata vada recipe. glad to know you liked the recipe. yes, do try some other recipes too. welcome and happy cooking.
Thank u so much for this recipe. It came out very well. With paav is tested more better. Please keep sharing more recipes.
Perfect recipe for some lip smacking Batata wada.
thank you for the feedback and the rating.
wow. It’s mouth watering & Healthy
It indeed turned out very tasty….did it exactly as instructed….Vegrecipesoindia always turn out to be good????????
thanks archana for the feedback. glad to know. happy cooking.
Awesome!
Can I half fry the car as nd carry on US flight ? Will it get spilt.
i am afraid, i did not get what you are asking. could be due to spell check errors. let me know.
thanks for reply Dassana,,,,
I will try again…but everytime myy vadas become sticky and heavy.
welcome arusha. do try. if you use the right type of potatoes, the vadas won’t become sticky and heavy.
hello Dassana,
I alaways follow your recipe…..
My batata filling becomes very sticky after mashing them… what could be the reason?? Is there any special type of potaotes that wehave to select?
should I mesh them after they r cold or room temperature or mesh them when they are really hot??
once I tried with sieve but became very sticky…
I o not know why my vadas become heavy……please let me know where I go wrong..
its due the quality of potatoes. if you live in india, then the usual indian potatoes will work. don’t use new potatoes. if you live in US, you can try red potatoes. they should work well. you can mash them when they are warm or once they cool down. its easier to mash potatoes when they are hot or warm. don’t use seive. just mash them and they should be fine. its due to the stickiness of the potatoes, the vadas are becoming heavy.
Please do share Maharashtrian Dry Chutney recipe.Thank you so much.
Welcome Beena. I will try to add.
Loved the recipe. Tastes really good . I have tried this recipe times now . Today sadly my potato filling was too mushy and broke while frying. Luckily I had two different batches of fillings made one turned out brilliant but the other was way too soft .
What can I do to avoid this ? Could it be because I had boiled the potatoes early in the morning but actually made the vada’s in the evening?
could be. after boling potatoes, avoid keeping them in the same water for a long time. drain all the water and let the potatoes become warm. once they become warm, then mash them or chop them. keep them in a steel box covered with a lid and refrigerate. then you can use it the same day or next day. water should not be there while mashing the potatoes. even a bit of water can make the potatoes mixture soft.
Thank you so much for the recipe.
Have you tried Vada Pav from Ashok Vada Pav which is near Kirti College in Dadar?
What might be the ingredients that gos into their potato filling?
Also,please share the recipe of Maharashtrian Dry Chutney and Gujarati Dry Chutney.
welcome beena. i have not tried the vada pav near kirti college. so cannot say what goes in the potato filling.
i do plan to add the dry chutneys in some time.
Why my batatavada always open its cover(spoil) when I frying in oil?i tried many times but same problem.
make a thick batter and fry in hot oil.
too good and very basic nice recepies. cooking something different theraupitic i guess
thanks padma
After looking at name “Shree Krishna Batat Wada”. My old days (1980-1990) comes in my mind, will never forget taste of Wada and specially Samosa’s which I do most like.
same here and thanks for commenting.
Hi Dassana, how would you incorporate garlic into this recipe? I tried making a similar recipe tonight. Not a total disaster but the recipe called for the green chillis and garlic to be added to the potato mixture uncooked. Is this traditional? I felt the raw garlic overpowered the dish so I think I would cook it in the oil next time.
the garlic and green chilies have to be sauteed in a bit of oil before you add them to the boiled and mashed potatoes. they are not added raw. they would be too overpowering if added raw. once you crackle the mustard and the urad dal, you add the garlic and green chilies along with the curry leaves, cumin and asafoetida. if adding garlic, you can skip adding ginger. now you can add this tempering to the mashed potatoes or add the mashed potatoes to the tempering mixture in the pan. just mix everything well. let the mixture cool and then make the batata vada.
Hi Dassana,
I recently discovered your recipes online by a stroke of good luck. So far I have tried aloo gobi, dal makhani, mushroom pulao and they all were just fabulous. Thanks for sharing your recipes and the fantastic pictures too. I was looking at this batata wada recipe and couldn’t see where you used the urad dal? Also could you tell me how to make the salted fried green chilly? Thank you again.
thanks charmaine. i have missed mentioning about the urad dal. they are added with the mustard seeds. just saute or fry the green chilies in oil. once done then sprinkle some salt on them and mix well.
Oh gosh everything looks so yum. I just moved to India several months ago and I am in the process of discovering the ingredients. I really enjoy the recipes and photos on your website, the presentation is just so aesthetically pleasing <3
thanks eva for this amazing feedback. glad to read your comment.
I agree with your comments about Shree Krishna Batata Wada. It was my favourite joint during my working days as I would halt at Dadar for vegetable shopping and my legs would automatically take me to Chhabildas School gully for a bite of batata vada. Oh! What a crowd would gather at this place every evening. Good old days! Much later, they started steadily jacking up their price thanks to the ever increasing crowds at their joint and I stoppedvisiting them. But then you must have also tasted the Batata Vada at Karjat railway station. Every long distance train that is compelled to halt at Karjat would be greeted by scores of vendors all spaced out to cater to each and every compartment of the train so that no passenger had to go far to buy it. I think the Karjat batata vada by far beats every otherplace in Mumbai/pune region. It is called Diwadkar’s batata wada.. I noticed that in your recipe, you have not included garlic as one of the ingredients for the vada.It tastes even better with a noticerable bit of garlic. Have a nice day.
thanks for reminding me the good old days again. in fact whenever we would go to dadar for buying veggies, we would always end up having the batata vada there and even getting some home. they hiked their prices too much in recent times. i have never ever had the vada at karjat station. i have to sample this batata vada after your feedback. in this recipe i have not added garlic. i agree that the vada tastes good even if a little garlic is added. i have made them with garlic too at times.
I can’t wait to try this!!!
Love this website so much.
thanks again kimberly. do try this snack. i often make these during the monsoons and winters. they are best had with some soft buns or rolls drizzled with indian chutneys.
maharashtrian dry chutney recipe pls
i already have a ready made batch of the maharashtrian dry chutney. so will post once this batch gets over.
You know how much I love potatoes! I have been trying to run away from deep fried for a while now .. looks like I can’t any more!
sometimes it is better and good to have some deep fried snacks 🙂
Just what I want to eat right now as it’s raining outside!
very good recipies
i really like these recipies i love it
batata wada recipe