Vada Pav - Batata Vada
A world famous, spicy, and savory Vada Pav is absolutely irresistible. A deep fried, crispy, spicy potato patty is sandwiched between soft and fluffy bread, and is smeared with various chutneys.
Ingredients
For Vada
- 3 large Potatoes 500 grams
- 4-5 Green chillies
- 1/2 inch Ginger
- 3 large Garlic cloves
- 1/4 cup Cilantro chopped
- 1/2 tsp Lime juice
- 1 1/4 tsp Salt or as required
For Tempering
- 1 tsp Mustard seeds
- 1/4 tsp Asafoetida
- 1/4 tsp Turmeric powder
- 8-10 Curry leaves roughly chopped
- 2 tsp Oil
For Batter
- 1 1/4 cup Besan
- 1 tbsp Rice flour
- 1/2 tsp Turmeric powder
- 1/4 tsp Red chili powder
- 1/2 tsp Salt or as required
- 3/4 cup Water *add little less than 3/4 th cup
- 1/8 tsp Baking soda
- 1 tsp Hot oil
For Frying
- 8-10 Green chillies *optional, slit
- 1/8 tsp Salt
- 1.5 cup Oil for frying
Green Chutney
- 1.5 cup Cilantro
- 1/4 Mint leaves
- 1/8 inch Ginger
- 5-6 Green chillies
- 1 tsp Lime juice
- 1 tbsp Roasted dalia split
- 1/4 tsp Cumin seeds
- 1/4 tsp Salt or as required
- 1/8 tsp Black salt
For Assembling
- 12 Laadi pav
- 1/2 cup Green chutney
- 1/4 cup Tamarind date chutney
- 1/2 cup Dry garlic chutney
Instructions
Boiled Potatoes
- Wash the potatoes very well and slightly cut them in the middle if they are very large.
- Add 1.5 cups of water to the bottom of a pressure cooker, place the potatoes in a steamer basket or steel container, close the lid of the pressure cooker, and cook the potatoes for 5-6 whistles. You can boil some water in a large pot, place the potatoes, and cook them until tender for about 20-25 minutes. Add enough water to cover the potatoes completely.
- Once the potatoes are completely cool, remove the peels and roughly mash them into small sized chunks with your hands or a fork. Do not mash them completely.
Green Chutney
- In a blender jar, add all the chutney ingredients.
- Add 3-4 ice cubes and blend into a smooth paste. Add 1-2 tsp cold water if needed while blending the chutney.
Tempering
- In a pan, heat some oil on medium heat.
- Once the oil is hot, add the mustard seeds and let them crackle.
- Turn off the heat, add asafoetida, curry leaves, and turmeric powder.
Making The Vada Mix
- Crush the ginger, garlic, and green chillies in a chopper or grate them.
- Transfer the crushed green chillies, ginger, and garlic to the mashed potatoes.
- Add cilantro leaves, salt, lime juice, and the tempering.
- Mix everything well and taste the mixture at this point. Add some more chillies and salt according to your taste.
- Grease your hands with some oil and shape the mixture into the size of a golf ball.
- Gently press the ball in the middle, shape 12 balls in the same manner, and set aside.
- Heat some oil in the pan for frying the batata vada.
Making The Batter
- In a medium mixing bowl, combine the besan, rice flour, turmeric, red chili powder, and salt with a whisk.
- Add some water little at a time to make a lump free, thick batter. Mix everything well with the help of a whisk. * The batter should not be too thick or thin and it should coat the potato balls very well.
- Add some baking powder, pour 1 tsp hot oil over, and mix the batter.
Frying The Vada
- Pick up the potato ball with a spoon, dip into the batter, lift, and transfer it to the fork to remove excess batter.
- Keep the temperature on medium heat while frying the vada.
- Gently transfer the coated vada to hot oil. Fry 3-4 vada at a time without over crowding the pan.
- Flip the vadas with a slotted spatula once they turn golden brown for about 40 seconds.
- Fry the vadas until golden brown from the other side as well.
- Transfer the vada to a lined plate using a slotted spatula to drain off the excess oil.
- Repeat the same process until all the balls are finished.
- Pour the remaining batter with the help of a spoon in a random shape.
- Fry the vadas until golden brown and crispy. Transfer this chura to a lined plate using a slotted spatula to drain off the excess oil.
- Place the slit green chillies on the slotted spatula, dip the spatula in hot oil, and fry the chillies until crispy. Transfer the green chillies onto a plate and immediately sprinkle some salt.
- Assembling The Vada Pav
- Slice the ladi pav in the middle, generously spread some green chutney on both sides.
- Next, spread some tamarind date chutney on both sides.
- Add 1 tsp garlic chutney on the bottom side of a pav.
- Place the vada on the top, slightly press it, sprinkle some dry garlic chutney, some chura, and close the bread by gently pressing it.
- Serve some salted green chillies, chura on the side, and enjoy!
Notes
- Boil the potatoes and let them cool completely or the potato mixture will turn mushy.
- Do not mash the potatoes completely with a potato masher. Mash them into small chunks with your hands which will give the best texture to batata vada.
- Chopping the curry leaves before adding into the tempering gives the best taste to the batata vada.
- Keep the batter on a thicker side so the vada can get well coated with the batter.
- Do not skimp the dry garlic chutney. It is a star ingredient in this recipe which enhances the taste of vada pav. Check out my father’s dry garlic chutney recipe.
- Use the authentic ladi pav for the best vada pav experience. Don’t forget to try out my pillowy soft eggless ladi pav recipe.