Deep fried heaven on the streets of Mumbai- This is also a staple of the people of Bombay (Mumbai). Seriously- I doubt there is even one person in Mumbai who has not succumbed to the guilty pleasure of a hot spicy batata wada or the vada pav - which is basically a fresh batata vada served between a split pav (kinda like a sourdough dinner roll) with a spicy garlic chatney.
Every time I go back to India- I head to my favourite batata vada stalls. One is in Chembur- right at the end of the lane where we lived- Nandu's vada pav. The other is Shrikrishna vada pav in Dadar BB opposite Chabilldas school - for some reason we called the place Manju che vade. The third is Joshi vadewale in Pune. I am sure there are plenty more places which make awesome vadas- but these 3 are my personal favourites.
This is a pure Maharashtrian recipe - many others have tried to adapt it- I once had the MISfortune of eating a 'Banaras' style or North Indian style batata vada which had basically some form of aloo-mutter stuffed inside and the batter was so thick that ....well you can imagine. They better not attempt to bastardise this pure Marathi dish.
Now that I have lived in US/Canada for the past 15+ years I have made many attempts to recreate that bit of culinary heaven in my kitchen. But when I go back to India I head straight to my favourite haunts- nothing compares.
But here goes -
For the filling:
250 Gms Potatoes
3 green chillies
2 springs of curry leaves
1 tsp shredded ginger (not paste)
1 tsp finely chopped garlic (again - not paste)
2 TBs chopped coriander leaves - no stalks
1/2 tsp turmeric
1/2 tsp asafoetida (hing)
Salt
1/4 tsp mustard seeds
1/2 tsp udad dal
1/2 tsp lime juice
2 TBs oil (for the tempering)
Boil, peel and mash the potatoes. Add the salt. chopped chillies and coriander leaves. Heat oil in a frying pan, add the mustard seeds, when they splutter, add the hing, udad dal, turmeric, ginger, garlic and curry leaves. Fry on a low flame till the ginger and garlic lightly cooked. Do not burn the garlic. Add this tempering to the mashed potatoes. Mix well and shape into balls about and 1.5 inches in diameter.
150 gms besan (chick pea flour)
water
salt
1/4 tsp turmeric
1/4 tsp red chili powder
pinch of baking soda
Oil for deep frying
Make a thick batter - adding water a little at a time. It should be a bit thinner than pancake batter.
Heat oil in a deep fryer or a small wok (kadhai). It should not be smoking hot.
Dip the potato balls one by one in the batter and fry them in the hot oil till a lovely golden colour. Drain on paper towels.
These have to be served hot with garlic chutney and with or without the pav.
Garlic Chutney
There are again so many variations of this chutney. The dry version is a Marathi staple again. It has always been served with Batata vada or bhajias. A great side dish with dal - rice. And awesome when eaten with bhakri (rotis made with jowar or bajra flour). But more on that later. For now the basic lasun (garlic) chutney recipe.
1/2 cup peeled garlic cloves
1/2 cup desiccated dry coconut (UNsweetened)
10-12 dry red chillies or 2 tsp red chili powder
salt
pinch of sugar
1 tsp oil
In a non-stick frying pan, roast the garlic cloves with oil till golden brown. Be very careful, you do not want burnt garlic. Then roast the coconut till brown. Let everything cool. Then add all the ingredients from garlic to sugar to a food processor and blend till coarse. You can adjust the spice level by increasing or decreasing the red chilies or chili powder.
Serve this chutney with the batata vadas and close your eyes and imagine yourself in the bylanes of Mumbai. yummmm.
Every time I go back to India- I head to my favourite batata vada stalls. One is in Chembur- right at the end of the lane where we lived- Nandu's vada pav. The other is Shrikrishna vada pav in Dadar BB opposite Chabilldas school - for some reason we called the place Manju che vade. The third is Joshi vadewale in Pune. I am sure there are plenty more places which make awesome vadas- but these 3 are my personal favourites.
This is a pure Maharashtrian recipe - many others have tried to adapt it- I once had the MISfortune of eating a 'Banaras' style or North Indian style batata vada which had basically some form of aloo-mutter stuffed inside and the batter was so thick that ....well you can imagine. They better not attempt to bastardise this pure Marathi dish.
Now that I have lived in US/Canada for the past 15+ years I have made many attempts to recreate that bit of culinary heaven in my kitchen. But when I go back to India I head straight to my favourite haunts- nothing compares.
But here goes -
For the filling:
250 Gms Potatoes
3 green chillies
2 springs of curry leaves
1 tsp shredded ginger (not paste)
1 tsp finely chopped garlic (again - not paste)
2 TBs chopped coriander leaves - no stalks
1/2 tsp turmeric
1/2 tsp asafoetida (hing)
Salt
1/4 tsp mustard seeds
1/2 tsp udad dal
1/2 tsp lime juice
2 TBs oil (for the tempering)
Boil, peel and mash the potatoes. Add the salt. chopped chillies and coriander leaves. Heat oil in a frying pan, add the mustard seeds, when they splutter, add the hing, udad dal, turmeric, ginger, garlic and curry leaves. Fry on a low flame till the ginger and garlic lightly cooked. Do not burn the garlic. Add this tempering to the mashed potatoes. Mix well and shape into balls about and 1.5 inches in diameter.
150 gms besan (chick pea flour)
water
salt
1/4 tsp turmeric
1/4 tsp red chili powder
pinch of baking soda
Oil for deep frying
Make a thick batter - adding water a little at a time. It should be a bit thinner than pancake batter.
Heat oil in a deep fryer or a small wok (kadhai). It should not be smoking hot.
Dip the potato balls one by one in the batter and fry them in the hot oil till a lovely golden colour. Drain on paper towels.
These have to be served hot with garlic chutney and with or without the pav.
Garlic Chutney
There are again so many variations of this chutney. The dry version is a Marathi staple again. It has always been served with Batata vada or bhajias. A great side dish with dal - rice. And awesome when eaten with bhakri (rotis made with jowar or bajra flour). But more on that later. For now the basic lasun (garlic) chutney recipe.
1/2 cup peeled garlic cloves
1/2 cup desiccated dry coconut (UNsweetened)
10-12 dry red chillies or 2 tsp red chili powder
salt
pinch of sugar
1 tsp oil
In a non-stick frying pan, roast the garlic cloves with oil till golden brown. Be very careful, you do not want burnt garlic. Then roast the coconut till brown. Let everything cool. Then add all the ingredients from garlic to sugar to a food processor and blend till coarse. You can adjust the spice level by increasing or decreasing the red chilies or chili powder.
Serve this chutney with the batata vadas and close your eyes and imagine yourself in the bylanes of Mumbai. yummmm.
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