Best Batata Vada Recipe | Aloo Bonda | Potato Dumplings
Batata Vada (Aloo Bonda) is an Indian street-style snack made with a spiced potato filling coated in a gram flour batter and deep-fried until golden and crisp. This vada, or ambade, is popular as a Mumbai street food and is often served with chutney and a cup of tea, or inside a pav to make the famous vada pav.
Servings: 10 Vada
Calories: 79kcal
Equipment
- 1 Pan for frying
Ingredients
For the vada batter
- ½ cup Chickpea flour Besan, gram flour
- 1 teaspoon Cumin seeds optional
- ¼ teaspoon Turmeric powder optional
- ¼ teaspoon Asafoetida Hing, or diluted hing water
- Salt to taste
- Water
For the vada or bonda filling: (check the tip if you want tempering)
- 3 medium-sized Potatoes boiled
- 2 to 3 Green chilies finely chopped
- 1 tablespoon Ginger grated
- 2 tablespoon Coriander leaves Cilantro, finely chopped
- 1 Sprig curry leaves finely chopped
- ¼ teaspoon Asafoetida Hing or diluted hing water
- Salt to taste
Other ingredient
- Oil for frying
Variation
- 3 to 4 Garlic cloves sautéed in oil and added for Maharashtrian-style vada, optional
Instructions
Prepare the filling for vada or bonda
- Nicely mash the boiled potatoes. To this, add green chilies, ginger, cilantro, curry leaves, hing, and salt, and mix well.3 medium-sized Potatoes, 2 to 3 Green chilies, 1 tablespoon Ginger, 2 tablespoon Coriander leaves, 1 Sprig curry leaves, ¼ teaspoon Asafoetida, Salt
- Divide this into 10-12 portions to make balls (ambade, vada).
Prepare the batter
- In a bowl, add chickpea flour, cumin seeds, turmeric powder, asafoetida, salt, and mix. To this, add water little by little, whisking to form a medium-thick batter. Check that there are no lumps.½ cup Chickpea flour, 1 teaspoon Cumin seeds, ¼ teaspoon Turmeric powder, ¼ teaspoon Asafoetida, Salt, Water
- Your vadas should be coated easily in this batter. If the batter is too thick, add water; if it is too watery, add chickpea flour and adjust as needed.
Fry the vadas
- Heat oil in a heavy-bottomed pan for frying.Oil for frying
- Once the oil is hot, dip each potato ball in the batter and drop it in the oil.
- Add 4-5 balls, depending on the size of your pan. Do not disturb it for 30 seconds to a minute.
- Then flip and deep-fry them until golden brown on all sides.
- Transfer this to a paper towel to absorb any excess oil.
- Repeat the process for the remaining potato balls.
- Serve hot and enjoy
Video
Notes
- For coastal wedding style batate ambado: Make the temper; In a small pan, add 1 tablespoon oil and 1 teaspoon mustard seeds. When they splutter, add 1 teaspoon urad dal, 1 sprig curry leaves, and ¼ teaspoon turmeric, then add it to the filling. This is the most traditional way of making ambado.
- Water ratio for batter consistency: I added approximately ⅓ to ½ cup of water to the batter. This also varies depending on the brand of flour, weather conditions, and water quality. The consistency of the batter plays a very important role in making perfect vadas. If the batter is thick, vadas will become hard, and if the batter is thin, then the stuffing will come out, and it's going to be messy.
- Oil: To check if the oil is hot, drop a few drops of batter and see if it sizzles and rises. If the oil is cold, vadas will absorb excess oil, and if it is too hot, vadas will turn brown. Best practice is to fry over a medium-to-medium-high flame.
- Potatoes: Do not boil potatoes more than necessary. It should be firm and not mushy. You can either pressure cook, peel and cube, and microwave, or boil on the stovetop.
- For a crispy exterior, add 2 tablespoon of flour to the batter.
- If you do not like pieces of green chilies and ginger, you can also make a paste out of them and add it to the recipe.
- Vendors at Streets add a pinch of baking soda to the batter to make it fluffier. I generally skip adding it and don't notice any difference.
Nutrition
Calories: 79kcal | Carbohydrates: 16g | Protein: 3g | Fat: 1g | Saturated Fat: 0.1g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 0.2g | Monounsaturated Fat: 0.1g | Sodium: 39mg | Potassium: 350mg | Fiber: 2g | Sugar: 2g | Vitamin A: 30IU | Vitamin C: 16mg | Calcium: 20mg | Iron: 1mg