It’s our first hot Perth weekend afternoon and beer and hot snacks are on the menu. Batata vadas, crispy fried balls filled with soft spicy potatoes, are the perfect accompaniment to cold beer. And here finally is one of our most requested recipes (the quantity below will make 20+ pieces).
For the potato filling:
About 4 large potatoes, diced and boiled
2 tablespoons of oil
A stalk of curry leaves (optional)
1 teaspoon of mustard seeds
1 teaspoon of cumin seeds
1 green chilli, finely chopped
¾ teaspoon of turmeric
Salt to taste
Lemon juice to taste
Cook the potatoes and set aside. Heat the oil in a frying pan, add the curry leaves, mustard seeds and cumin seeds and let them pop. Add the finely chopped green chilli and then stir fry the diced potatoes, the turmeric, salt to taste, and some red chilli powder if you want it to be spicier. Finish off with a squeeze of fresh lemon juice, then roughly mash the mixture and set aside to cool (make sure you are happy with the taste, adjusting salt, lemon and chilli to personal preference).
For the batter:
1 cup of besan (gram flour)
1/2 to 1 teaspoon of cumin seeds
1/2 to 1 teaspoon salt
1/2 to 1 teaspoon red chilli powder
1/2 to 1 teaspoon turmeric
Juice of half a lemon
pinch of bicarb soda or teaspoon of fruit salts
Mix all the ingredients in a bowl with luke warm water, a little at a time, enough to form a cream like consistency (like pancake batter). Adjust spice until you are happy with how it tastes.
If you can, make the batter the day before and leave it in the fridge, it's better. Just before cooking, add a pinch of soda bicarbonate or a teaspoon of Eno's fruit salts to the mixture (this is key to a light, aerated batter).
Batata vadas:
To make the vadas, take the cooled potato and make small balls from it, around 1 inch diameter. Put in the fridge to cool for half an hour.
Heat a couple of inches of good oil (like peanut oil) in a frying pan until hot.
Dip each potato ball in the batter until coated, then drop into the hot oil. Fry, ensuring all sides are coated with oil, for a few minutes until golden. Depending on the size of the pan, aim to fry 3-5 balls at any one time. Remove from pan and rest on some kitchen towels to absorb excess oil.
Serve the batata vada fresh and crispy, with more fresh lemon to squeeze over and a pinch of salt.
And most of all, enjoy! With beer x