This batata vada recipe is similar to south Indian aloo bonda while the seasonings mildly differ. Batata means potato in Marathi and vada usually stands for deep fried flattened snack.
Deep fried dumpling like snacks are very popular across India. You will find snacks like masala vada, mysore bonda, aloo bonda in all Indian regions.
There are many delicious snacks made with potatoes like samosa, aloo tikki, chili potatoes, aloo puri, sabudana vada that we love at home and I make them for tea.
Aloo vada are very quick and easy to make snack, especially when kids crave for some easy evening snacks.
Potatoes are staple at most homes and so is gram flour. So making this recipe is a breeze.
This batata vada recipe I am sharing here is similar to what you get in street shops. Tastes very delicious and addictive when served hot with tea.
This Batata Vada Recipe Is
Easy, quick to make snack for tea
Delicious and crispy
Vegan and can be made gluten free by skipping asafoetida
Perfect for making vada pao
Kids Friendly snack
Popular Indian street food
How To Make Aloo Vada
To make batata vada first of all boil, peel and mash the potatoes. Next add salt, turmeric powder and tempered mustard seeds, curry leaves and asafoetida. Add coriander leaves, lemon juice,mix well and make small balls.
Adding curry leaves and coriander leaves is for flavor and lemon juice balances the taste in this recipe batata vada.
Next make a thick yet flowing lump free batter with gram flour or chickpea flour, salt, red chilli powder and asafoetida.
Dip the seasoned potato balls in this batter and deep fry in hot oil. You can also slightly flatten the balls to give vada shape.
Batata vada are one of the easiest snack you can make for tea or after school snack. You can make the batter and the potato filling, shape it and refrigerate few hours ahead. At the time of frying just dip, fry and serve hot.
I don’t add baking soda for this recipe. It is not required at all. If are used to adding baking soda in batters, you can add a pinch of baking soda along with flours.
How To Assemble Vada Pav With Batata Vada
Batata vada is usually used for making vada pao. Apart from serving as tea time snacl you can vada pao as explained below.
Take a pav bun and slit it from one, keeping one end intact. Toast it in some butter or you can use it plain too. Spread some green chutney and sprinkle some dry garlic chutney.
Stuff a freshly fried batata vada and close the bread. Serve immediately.
Step By Step Method
Batter
To make batata vada batter, mix gram flour, rice flour, red chilli powder and salt.Take 2 teaspoons oil from the frying pan and add to the flours. Mix with your finger tips.
Add around 1/2 cup water to form a thick batter.The batter should be thick enough to coat the potatoes.
Potato Mixture
Boil potatoes until soft and peel them. Mash them well so that there are no lumps.
Heat 2 teaspoons oil in a pan and add mustard, curry leaves, green chili, ginger garlic, turmeric powder, asafoetida. Fry them for a minute. Add the prepared tempering to the boiled potatoes along with the oil. Add finely chopped coriander leaves,lemon juice and mix well with a spoon. Let it cool for few minutes.
Shaping & Frying
Once they are warm enough to touch, mix well with your hands and make small balls. You should be able to make around 8-10 balls for this quantity. Keep aside.
Heat oil for deep frying in a heavy pan.
Once the oil is hot but smoking, flatten the potato balls slightly and dip in the prepared batter and coat evenly.
Deep fry 2-3 vadas at a time in medium flame, until it is golden from both sides.
Serving Suggestions
You can serve batata vada as snack or use to make vada pav as done in Mumbai. To make vada pav you should sandwich this potato vada between laadi pav and serve with green chilies.
While serving as snack you can serve this batata vada with green chutney along with masala chai.
There are many variations with this recipe. I have shared the recipe for Mumbai style batata vada here. Some spices and their proportions vary from place to place while making this vada.
Tips For Making Best Batata Vada
Potatoes- Use potatoes that are fresh and mash up well. While you have to boil and mash the potatoes well, do not make them very pasty though.
Rice flour- Adding a little bit of rice flour while making chickpea flour batter helps in making crispy vada. You can also add corn flour.
Gluten free – To ease digestion you can some carom seeds in the batter. Asafoetida is added for the same reason. To make gluten free batata vada skip asafoetida and add carom seeds.
Consistency of batter– Make a thick batter that will coat the shaped potatoes well in this recipe. If the batter is runny the potato mixture will break in hot oil.
Spice Powders- Spice powders like red chilli powder, turmeric powder are added for flavor and taste. You can vary the quantities of spice powders as per preference. Turmeric powder also lends color to this vada. Instead of red chilli powder you can add paprika or ground peppercorns.
While making for kids you can serve with sweet chutney or mildly spiced green chutney also.
The batata vada recipe can be doubled, tripled and halved.
More Potato Snacks Recipes
I hope you will try this batata vada recipe and enjoy as much as we did. P
Batata Vada Recipe
Ingredients
For batata vada batter
- 3/4 cup chick pea flour OR gram flour
- 1/4 cup rice flour
- 1/2 teaspoon red chilli powder
- 2 teaspoons hot oil
- salt
For batata vada stuffing
- 1 teaspoon mustard seeds
- 1 teaspoon cumin seeds
- 1/2 inch ginger peeled and minced
- 2 garlic cloves peeled and minced
- 2 green chilies
- 10 curry leaves
- 1/4 teaspoon asafoetida
- 2 large potates boiled, peeled and mashed
- 1/4 teaspoon turmeric powder
- 1/2 teaspoon red chilli powder optional
- Salt
- oil for deep frying
- 2 tablespoons chopped coriander leaves
- 1 teaspoon lemon juice
Instructions
To make batter
- Heat oil in a deep frying pan.
- Mix gram flour, rice flour, red chilli powder and salt.Take 2 teaspoons oil from the frying pan and add to the flours. Mix with your finger tips.
- .Add water to form a thick batter.The batter should be thick enough to coat the potatoes.
To make potato stuffing for batata vada
- Boil and peel the potatoes. Mash them very well so that there are no lumps.
- Add salt and turmeric powder to the mashed potatoes.
- Heat 2 teaspoons oil and add mustard, curry leaves, green chili, ginger garlic, asafoetida. Fry for a minute. Add the tempering to the potatoes along with the oil. Add coriander leaves, lemon juice and mix well with a spoon. Let it cool for sometime.
- Once they are warm to touch,mix well with your hands and make small balls.You should be able to make 8-10 balls for this quantity.Keep them aside.
To make batata vada
- Heat oil for deep frying.
- Once the oil is hot, flatten the potato balls slightly and dip in the prepared batter and coat evenly.
- Deep fry 2-3 vadas at a time in medium flame,until it is golden from both sides.
- Serve piping hot with green chutney,sweet chutney or sauce.
Notes
- The addition of oil in batter is to ensure crispiness. We often do this for south Indian deep fried snacks.
- The consistency of batter is crucial. If it is too thin then it will not coat the potatoes,if too thick then the batter will remain uncooked.The consistency should be something like idly batter
- If you are not going to make vada pav,there is no need to flatten the potato balls,you can just keep them round.
Julie says
loved the platter beneath the actual plate n the cute spoon..yummy batata vada,had lots during college in Pune
Hamaree Rasoi says
Awesome and delicious looking batata vadas. Wonderfully prepared.
Deepa
Mayuri Patel says
my favourite snack and wondering why I haven’t blogged it as yet!! Adding curry leaves must be adding a different flavour to the vadas.
Gita Jaishankar says
Lovely presentation and tasty looking vada recipe 🙂
Sapana Behl says
Vada looks so delicious ! Want I grab from screen.
Ramya Venkateswaran says
perfect for this season
Veena Theagarajan says
perfect snack .. Looks yum!
Karthika Srinivasan says
Inviting dish and Nice Presentation…:)
veena says
Batata vada brings back so many memories. I made this for our tea yesterday and turned out so yum. I just love your fool-proof recipes