Batata Vada

I don't like deep frying food and I very rarely cook deep fried food. But during the lockdown we were trying to cook different types of food, and we were really missing home and Mumbai street food. So I decided to make batata vadas and serve them with pandesals. Pandesals are much like the pau you get in Mumbai, but somehow different. We enjoyed this treat with a hot cup of chai and the cool monsoon weather just added loads of nostalgia to the whole experience. It is a fairly simple recipe to follow and cool monsoon evenings are perfect for this treat. You can serve this with the traditional red garlic chutney, but since I didn't make it, we just had it plain. 

Ingredients for the potato mixture:

1. Boiled potatoes - 5 nos, medium sized
2. Mustard seeds - 3/4 tsp
3. Cumin seeds - 3/4 tsp
4. Curry leaves - 20 leaves, broken in half
5. Asafetida (Hing) - 1/4 tsp
6. Garlic cloves - 8 nos
7. Ginger - 1 and half inch piece
8. Green chili - 3 nos
9. Turmeric powder - 1/2 tsp
10. Coriander leaves - 1/4 cup
11. Salt and oil as needed

Ingredients for the batter:

1. Besan (Chick pea flour) - 3/4 cup
2. Red chilly powder - 1/2 tsp
3. Baking soda - 1/4 tsp
4. Carom seeds (Ajwain) - 1/2 tsp
5. Water - as needed to make a batter.
6. Salt as per taste

Oil for deep frying.

Method:

1. Wash the potatoes well and cook them whole with the skin in a cooker for up to five whistles. Wait for the pressure to release naturally. Add salt while cooking the potatoes.
2. Remove the skin of the potatoes and mash them and set aside. 
3. Finely chop ginger, garlic, green chilies and coriander leaves and set aside. 
4. In a pan, heat oil,  add the mustard seeds, let it splutter, then add the cumin, ginger garlic, and green chilies. Fry it well, while continuously stirring and add turmeric powder, asafetida and curry leaves.
5. Add in the potatoes and mix well. Let it stay on the flame for about three minutes, while you stir occasionally.
6. Let the potato mixture cool down and then make 8 to 10 medium sized balls. You can grease your palm with a little oil to help shape them.
7. Heat oil in a kadai for deep frying the vadas and prepare the batter while the oil heats.
8. For the batter - Mix all the dry ingredients in a bowl and ensure there are no lumps, now add water little by little to form a thick batter consistency.
9. Once the oil is hot, you can drop the vada in the batter and coat the vada on all sides, then gently drop the coated vada in the hot oil. You can fry as many as your pan permits. Ensure that there is enough space for you to flip them on the sides and that the pan is not too crowded.
10. Once they are fried on all sides, will take about five minutes and you will see the color of the vada change, you can remove from the kadai and drain on a kitchen towel. 
11. Enjoy them with pau and garlic chutney.