Batata Vada Recipe | Maharashtrian Aloo Vada

batata vada served on a white plate with fried green chilies kept on the left side.

4.91 from 20 votes

Batata Vada Recipe | Maharashtrian Aloo Vada

Batata Vada is made with a spiced mashed potato filling shaped into balls. The balls are dipped in a gram flour (besan) batter and deep fried until golden and crisp. This classic Maharashtrian snack is commonly served with chutney or pav. Enjoy hot for best taste.

Prep Time20

Cook Time25

Total Time45

Course: Snacks

Cuisine: Indian Street Food, Maharashtrian

Diet: Vegan, Vegetarian

Difficulty Level: Moderate

Servings: Batata Vada

Calories: 99kcal

Author: Dassana Amit

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.

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