Potato Vadas or batatawada is my favoritest food ever and I have fond memories of my mum/ Aai making these for me as a child.

Its one of the most popular street food in our state Maharashtra and there are several origin stories, which is too much history when you are hungry. Its a great affordable carb laden food which serves as meal for hungry workers and people of all kinds  with deep or shallow pockets .

Its a deep fried potato patty spiced with chilli , curry leaves and coated with a chick pea flour batter  .

You need to cook potatoes , peel and crush them. Then make a spicy batter and fry them . Sandwich it in a bun and it becomes wada or vada and pav/which is a bun of sorts with a Portuguese influence. So the potato came from south America and the bread from portugal and apparently the idea came to a streey vendor in Bombay/now Mumbai who wanted to feed the masses with an affordable carb rich meal which is grab and go. Since the patty is in a bun doesn’t make your hands greasy and one hand stays free .

The ingredients.

Potato 1kg Boil or pressure cook with skin on . When cooked peel and crush.

Oil-2T/35ml  .

Black mustard seeds -1/2t about 2g

Cumin-1/2tabout 2g

Onion peeled and chopped -1/100g

Curry leaves-2sprigs better if you shred them fresh is best otherwise dried .

Ginger peeled and chopped-1small piece /10g

Garlic peeled and chopped -15g

Turmeric 1t /about 5g  these are not exact measurements mind you.

Asafoetida –very tiny pinch

Green chilli 3-4 about 10g

Lemon -1lemon or lime

Sugar1/2t

Green coriander -1sprig

Batter

Chickpeas flour /Besan-250g

Rice flour-30g

Ajwain-1/2t

Water to form batter approximately 150g

Oil to fry and clog those arteries

Salt to taste for potato and batter both.

• Heat oil and crackle mustard seeds till they pop add onion curry leaves cumin and saute lightly. Add turmeric ginger garlic and chopped chilli . Turn off heat
• Add crushed potatoes and salt, sugar, lemon ,and chopped coriander.
• Cool down and shape into patties or round balls..your choice as long as the mix is tasty.
• Make batter with besan , rice flour water. Lightly crush ajwain before adding it .if its too thick will not be very nice but stodgy, too thin and wont coat well. Practice makes perfect.
• Heat oil and dip patties in batter and then fry till golden and crisp.
• You can then pair this with a small bread bun and green chutney both recipes are on here. Or just gulp down as they are. Wait to cool down or your mouth is going to be burnt .
• Everyone has their favorite street food vendor who sells this . Mine is in my home town of Pune just ahead of Aurangabad silk mills on Lakshmi road . Ive been going to the same spot since 1988. Prices have gone up X 10 times since but still tastes amazing.
• Some folk also add a garlic chilli coconut chutney on the bun. I should at some stage write down how to make that too. Dont buy it folks it will usually be rancid.

I got this recipe from my father , who said that Mani-ba, my grandma , his mum used to make it this way. so the proportions might not be exact but the process is correct and all food is made by tweaking it to your taste.

• Green mangoes , washed and cut into cubes-1kg ( yes its long drawn out process).
• Salt- 25 g
• Turmeric- 5 g/ 1 t

combine all the above and keep outside in the hot sun .( with some sort of a cover so the neighbours cat doesnt come in to do a wee wee on it)

• Red chilli powder- 10g
• Methi/ Fenugreek seeds- 1tsp/ 5 g
• mustard seeds yellow- 2 T/10 g
• Vinegar- 25 ml
• Cumin powder- 5 g
• Jaggery / soft brown sugar – if you cant get jaggery-
• Mustard oil- 20 ml
• Asafoetida- pinch

Grind or crush the fenugreek seeds. Heat the oil and crackle/ pop the mustard seeds . Add the remaining ingredients and combine with the mango.

Pack this in glass jar with a tight lid and leave it to mature for a weeks .

Resist temptation to put your grubby hands inside and taste it. Use a fork. When its ready to eat the mango is  soft but not mushy and the spice are mellowed down quite a bit.

Serve with some rice or dal . Ive even once chopped it up and added it to a prawn curry. Abs flavor bomb it was .

This deep fried snacky food is the best when eaten with chai on a rainy day when you dont have to get out and get soggy socks and feet ( tea with milk indian style)- Dont call it Chai tea like a lot of people do because thats tea tea.

Its a very popular street food eaten as is or with a fabulous tamarind dip which is sweet and sour with a bit of spice to liven things up .

What pakora is is typically slices of raw or very lightly cooked vegetables which are dipped in a split peas/ chickpeas flour batter which we call besan. This ive eaten in various parts of Indian when i worked there and it used to be called bhajiya, bajji, and then the Brits  started to call it Onion bhaji..and we dont make something quite like that in India..

Todays recipe is for my new friend  who wants to make this as finger food

• Besan- 3- 4 T  ( 100 g) More or less depending on how many people you are making this for and how hungry they are.
• Water to form a semi thick batter  – this is not an exact science but rather more learnt experientially.. more times you make this the better you get.
• Rice flour – 1 T.. this makes it cripsier( not the typo). Cripsy just sounds better like the Bandra boys who always use it instead of crispy.
• Ajwain seeds- 1/4 t these are like aniseed and you can find them in an Indian store and in Australia even at Coles/ Woolies. They impart a unique flavor which has not quite a substitute thouse anise seeds could work. They also are anti flatulent which means when you eat a lot of pakoras since they are so tasty you wont be passing gas like a horsey.
• Salt to taste
• Turmeric – pinch
• Chilli powder – pinch
•  Chaat masala to sprinkle after frying ( Mix of pink salt, dried mango powder , dried pomegranate  powder chilli and a whole bunch of other things its best to buy in  from  Indian store or Indian section in Aussie supermarket.
• Vegetables- can be lighty blanced cauliflower or very thin slices of raw potato or even spinach leaves , capsicum, mushroom, peppers . There is one version of this where we slice a lot of onions and then add all the spices and besan with no water..the dry miz we then fry till crisp.. The British do a version of this but more rounded like a patty almost which they call bhaji.
• Oil to fry -and block up any arteries that might still be intact god forbid

The method is quite simple make a batter dip veggies inside they should be well coated but not very thick coating too  . That detracts from the taste . Deep fry in hot / medium hot oil. Drain in a colander / strainer over a steel bowl to collect the oil.  Dust with chaat masala and its your finger food to serve alongside some beer .

There is even a version of this where we make a savory crushed potato mix sandwich it in bread and then fry.  Thats like the potato wada mix which i will now  to put on. another blog post.

Where did this originate , who knows, we all got our chillies and potatoes only in the 15/16 century after South America was overrun by the Spanish Armada .

This is gluten free and vegan by the way if you are that way inclined.