Batata Vada

This is not the first time I made them. Vada Pav is one of the 2 things that we miss the most here. Pani Puri is the other one. Samosa, we manage to get some decent ones. Even Bhel, Sev Puri, papdi chat etc are available in restaurants and at some places they are really nice. But not these two. The Batata (Potato) vadas available in the restaurants are more Aloo Bonda, not at all the same as the Batata wada you get on the streets of Bombay & Pune.

Wada Pav for me, in Bombay is synonymous with the thela (cart) near King George School in Dadar. And for Pune its the Joshi wadewale. You do get them at all the other places but these two are the best in the respective cities for me! Whenever we are in Pune, we actually make the Rickshaw take a route so that he passes one of the Joshi outlet, stop and have some & pack some more to savour later. King George School Wada Pav is a different story altogether. The two years of Junior College were literally spent enjoying these Wada Pavs and Samosas from a store called Nityanand right next to the college. Strategic locations, I say :)

Whenever we are in the mood for Batata Vada, we make them at home. No use searching for good ones outside. So as I was saying this was not the first time I made these. But this time I made a slight change which resulted in the Wadas being almost the same as those available on the streets. I added Eno Fruit salt to the besan (Chickpea flour) batter and the vadas turned out crisp & delicious. For those who don't know, Eno is a very popular antacid brand in India. Baking Soda can be added as a substitute for this. Although I have never liked the idea of adding soda/Eno to the frying batter, I really wanted to try it out once & see the difference. It definitely makes a difference!

Anita's A Mad Tea Party will be celebrating its Birthday & the menu for the party is Batata Vada!

Serves ???(Never mind. The consumption has no connection with the No of People!)

Instead lets just say the following will make about 11-12 medium sized vadas

Ingredients

For the batter:

• 2 cups besan (Chickpea flour)
• 1/2 tsp Turmeric powder
• 1/2 tsp red chili powder
• salt
• 1 tsp Eno fruit salt

For the potato stuffing:

• 5-6 medium sized potatoes, boiled & peeled
• 5-6 green chilies
• 3-4 cloves of garlic
• 1/4 cup chopped fresh Coriander leaves
• 1/2 tsp Turmeric Powder
• Salt

Oil for frying

Method:

Mix together all the ingredients for the batter except Eno Fruit salt and make a thick batter using a little water. The Soda/Eno should be added just before you start frying the vadas.

Grind together the green Chilies & Garlic to make a coarse paste. The quantity of the green chilies can be changed according to how hot the chilies are & also based on how spicy you like your vadas.

Mash the potatoes and add the above paste to it. Also add the turmeric powder, salt, finishing off with chopped Coriander leaves and mix everything properly.Shape into medium sized balls and keep aside.

Heat the oil in a kadai. Once the oil is properly heated, add the soda/Eno to the batter and mix properly.

Dip the potato vadas ion the batter to coat them thoroughly and deep fry them on medium high till they crisp & light brown in colour.

The most ideal way to serve these is with Pav and Garlic Chutney but I had neither and we made do with Tomato Ketchup. The vadas tasted great nevertheless.

These vadas are going to Anita's Mad Tea Party for her second Blogversary, Congratulations! I hope she has a kettle of hot tea ready to go with these Batata vadas :)