Batata Vada (Potato Vada)

This weekend we saw the worst noreaster in our 15 years in New Jersey. It was snowing from Sunday afternoon unto Tuesday afternoon. Snow snow everywhere just reminded me of the Mumbai rains. Ofcorse fried pakodas with chai is what comes to mind. But, we went a step ahead and made batata vadas and then some vada pav. 

Snow day spent well in the warm kitchen cookign this up and then sitting and savoring it with a hot cup of elachi chai (cardamom flavored brewed Indian tea)

Ingredients

For Potato Mixture

6 to 7 medium golden potatoes

1/4 cup crushed garlic

2 green chilis finely chopped - add more or less as per your spice tolerance=

10 to 12 curry leaves - torn to pieces

1/2 teaspoon mustard seeds

a pinch of hing/asafoetida

1/2 teaspoon tumeric powder

2 to 3 TBS oil

salt to taste

For the covering

2 cups besan (bengal gram flour)

1/2 cup rice flour

1/2 teaspoon ajwain (carrom seeds)

pinch of hing/asafoetida

1/2 teaspoon turmeric powder

salt to taste

1/4 teaspoon eno fruit salt

water to make a paste

oil for frying vadas

Method

For Potato Mixture

Boil potatoes in a pressure cooker for 2 whistles. Once they are cooled down, peel and mash them with your hands. You should get about 3 to 3 1/2 cups roughly smashed potatoes. In a karahi, add oil. When it heats up, add the mustard seeds and let them crackle. Then add the crushed garlic and bring the heat to a medium. Mix well. Add the green chilis & curry leaves. Add tumeric powder and some salt. Mix well. Get it off the heat. To this add the smashed potatoes and mix everything well. Check to see the salt - add a little more if needed. Make golf size round balls and set them in a plate. I got about 16 portions from the mixture.

For Vadas

Mix the besan, rice flour, asafoetida, salt, tumeric powder and lightly crushed ajwain in a bowl. To this add water little by little to get a nice thinck lump free mixture. It needs to be a nice thick mixture that lines the back of a spoon very smoothly. Take a wok and add oil to it. I generally use peanut oil for frying, you could use any oil with a high smoking point. Heat the oil on medium flame.While the oil is heating, add the eno fruit salt to the besan mixture and mix well. The mixture will swell up and its fine. When the oil is heated, add a drop of the besan mixture to check if it floats to the surface, if yes then the oil is reay to fry the vadas. Carefully take a portion of the potato mixture and roll it in the besan mixture and cover it all over. Carefully put it into the hot oil. It will bubble up and immediately float to the suface. If you have a big wok, you can fry 3 to 4 vadas at one time. Use a slotted sppon to turn the vada around. When the outer covering turns a golden color, take it out on a plate lined with kitchen towels. It takes about 7 to 8 minutes to get the vadas ready. Vadas are ready to be savored as it is, with read chutney or green chutney or imli chutney. You could also make vada Pavs.