Shallow Fried Mumbai Batata Vada

A very popular shallow fried Mumbai snack , made of less oil and delicious with Pav !!

Makes: 8 vadas

Ingredients

For batata (potato) vada:

1 tablespoon oil

1 teaspoon mustard seeds

1 green chilli, finely chopped (1 big size or 2 small size)

1 – inch piece ginger, finely chopped

4 curry leaves, chopped

½ teaspoon turmeric powder

2 pinches hing (asafoetida)

3 medium size potatoes or 4 small size (310 g net weight), boiled and mashed

½ teaspoon salt (or to taste)

1 tablespoon chopped coriander leaves

1 teaspoon lemon juice

Method

In a pan / kadai, heat oil. Add mustard seeds. When they crackle, add chopped green chilli, ginger and curry leaves. Fry on a low heat for 2 – 3 minutes or until fragrant.

Add turmeric powder and hing. Stir well on a low heat.

Add boiled and mashed potatoes and salt to taste. Mix all the ingredients well. Do not add water when cooking. Cover with a tight lid and cook on a low heat for 10 minutes. Switch off the heat. Finally, add chopped coriander leaves and lemon juice. Mix well. Keep aside to cool for 15 minutes.

Divide potato mixture into 8 parts, make 8 round balls (each ball weighs 38 g) and make flat shape (like tikkis and 1/2 inch thickness)

For batter :

½ cup (Indian standard measuring cup of 100 ml / 4 oz capacity) gram flour ( besan / kadala maav / chone pitti )

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon red chilli powder

1/4 teaspoon turmeric powder

¼ teaspoon hing (asafoetida) - optional

Water for mixing ( approximately 60 – 80 ml )

To prepare batter :

Mix gram flour, salt, red chilli powder, turmeric powder and hing. Add water and make a batter of pouring / dropping consistency. Keep aside for 15 minutes.

Final preparation of batata vada:

Method (8 teaspoons of oil required for 8 batata vadas):

In a non stick frying pan, heat 4 teaspoons of oil. Reduce heat to medium. Dip each batata vada in batter (gram flour batter) and arrange gram flour vada carefully. Shallow fry on a medium heat to low heat until golden color on both the sides. Sprinkle remaining oil when turning the other side (approximate frying time for each side is 10 minutes on a medium to low heat). Carefully remove with a flat spatula. Serve as a low calorie vada for vada pav with spicy garlic chutney or serve hot with tomato sauce / green chutney or with tea / coffee.