There are many ways of making the popular batata vada ( batata -potato, vada -a kind of deep fried snack). I had posted a recipe for it few days ago. I promised to post my Aayi’s version, but somehow never got to post it. I tried it again last week, so here it is now.
In this recipe, apart from potato, all other ingredients are used raw. So it has completely different taste. Aayi usually makes it for evening snacks and serves with coconut chutney . While growing up, my brother and I used to love this dish. I still remember those days, during power cuts – since my native is a small village, we have 8+ hrs of power cuts most of the time :(, she used to serve these hot vadas with ketchup and we used to throw a big tantrum. I wish we had some sense in our minds at that time.
Well, I am very careful, I never make chutney and have told my husband that these vadas are always served with ketchup. When my brother is with us, he catches me when I try to act smart :).
Ingredients: 1 cup boiled, peeled and mashed potatoes 1/3 cup finely chopped onion 1/2 tea spn finely chopped green chilies 1 tea spn chopped and crushed garlic(do not use ready made) 2-3 strands coriander leaves 1-2 tbl spn fresh/frozen coconut 1 cup(approx) besan (gram flour) 1/2 tea spn chili powder Salt Oil
Method: Mix besan , chili powder, salt with water. The batter should be quite thick so that when the vadas are dipped into it, they get a thick coating of batter. Keep aside. In a separate bowl, mix potato, onion, garlic, green chilies, coconut, coriander leaves and salt. Make small balls of the mixture. Heat oil for deep frying. Dip the potato balls in the batter and deep fry in oil. Serve hot.
Preparation time : 15mins Serves : 2-3
PS: Usually if the shape is round, it is called ‘ batata? bonda ‘ and if it is slightly pressed, it is called ‘ batata vada ‘. So technically, the one in the above picture should be called batata bonda . Since I didn’t want to confuse the food newbies, I thought of going with the name batata vada , which is more popular.
Since my love for cooking is increasing day by day, Aayi tries to give all of her own recipes as well as the ones she collected from different sources to me. I write down all of them when I talk to her and I try whenever I get time. So these days the pile of recipes are increasing and I feel I am running out of time. This is a recipe which she saw in one of the TV shows. She liked it very much and asked me to try it.
Before this, I never knew we could add peanut powder to a roti . This has a very distinct minty-peanutty taste which makes these rotis just out of the world. Peanuts make them fluffy and slightly crunchy. I never thought this would turn out so good.
Ingredients: 2 cups rice flour 3/4 cup chopped onion 2 tbl spns roasted peanuts 2-3 tea spn dalia ( hurikadale/putani ) 1 tea spn sesame seeds 1 tea spn cumin seeds 3/4 cup fresh/frozen coconut 1/2 cup chopped coriander leaves 1/2 cup chopped mint leaves 2-3 finely chopped green chilies 1/2 tea spn finely chopped or grated ginger 4-5 curry leaves Oil/ ghee Salt
Method: Make a coarse powder of dalia and peanuts. Grind coconut with green chilies, ginger and a little water to a paste of chutney consistency. Mix rice flour, onion, peanut- dalia powder, coriander-mint leaves, paste, sesame seeds, cumin seeds, chopped curry leaves, salt and warm water.
On a plastic sheet, spread a thin layer of the dough to make roti .
Heat tava and apply ghee . Keep the roti on the tava with the plastic side up. Slowly take out the paper. Roast the roti on both sides. Serve hot.
Serves : 3-4 Preparation time : 20mins
PS: – I used only 1 tbl spn mint leaves since the mint available here in US is very strong. I used less coriander leaves. – It is usually served with coconut chutney , but I served it with peanut chutney powder . – Original recipe calls for 1/2 cup dill leaves also. But I didn’t use it.
