Sunday, August 24, 2008

Party Pavs

Dear Foodies,

batata_vada
Its been a year since our last party and unlike then, I scrambled to get my party menu this time. But I could not afford to miss this one, how could you, when the task Anita set for us was to indulge in batata vada's and I din't want to be a spoil sport either:( I had the original Mumbai vada pav just once on a trip to Bombay, in Hyderabad the aloo bonda was the norm. Only while making these batata's did I realize how simple they are to make, just our plain potato curry, batter fried and yet I've never made it until now! So if you haven't already had a lot of these yummy mouthfuls over the last month, here is one more from me :)

Ingredients: for 8 key lime sized batata's

Potato filling:
  • 4 nos - Potatoes, medium sized
  • 1/4 cup - chopped Onions
  • 2 nos - Green chillies (the Indian kind/ thai bird chillies)
  • 1 nos - huge Garlic clove
  • 1 tsp - finely chopped Ginger
  • 1/2 tsp - Turmeric
  • 1 Tbsp - Oil
  • pinch of hing and curry leaf powder
  • salt to taste
  • 1 tsp - lemon juice ( I used lemon pepper seasoning instead)
Batter:
  • 1/4 cup - Besan/ gram flour
  • 1 Tbsp - Rava/Semolina
  • 1/4 tsp - Chilli powder
  • Salt to taste
  • pinch of crushed ajwain seeds
  • ~ 1/4 cup water
  • 1 Tbsp oil for frying 7 batata's
Method:
  1. Scrub the potatoes under running water and halve them. Boil them in salted water until cooked completely. I used a pressure cooker to do the job, 2 whistles and they were cooked perfectly. Peel the skins when cool enough to handle and set aside.
  2. Place the green chillies, garlic and ginger together in a heap on the cutting board and chop finely.
  3. Heat 1 Tbsp of oil in a pan on medium heat and add the ginger-garlic-chillies, turmeric, hing and curry leaf powder. Saute for a minute and then add the onions and some salt (to soften the onions faster), ~2mins. I used lemon pepper seasoning instead of salt here. If adding salt, add a tsp of lemon juice towards the end of the dish.
  4. Next add the potatoes, crumbling them with your fingers. Mix well and cook for 5 mins until the flavors are well blended and the potatoes resemble a mash.
  5. For the batter, mix together all the ingredients listed and mix with water just enough to get a batter that coats the back of the spoon. A runny mix will not hold onto the potato filling. Tip: If using the regular deep frying method, add a few tsps of hot oil while mixing batter before using water. This will reduce the amount of oil absorbed while deep frying.
batatas_cooking
  • Now after Jai used the appam pan for frying these, can I even dare to go the regular way ? Ofcourse no! so heat up the appam pan, mine is a small non-stick one and I used 1 Tbsp of oil overall between the 7 holes. Make small round balls of the potato filling, drop them into the batter, coat them well on all sides and spoon them into the appam pan.
  • Allow one side to cook for about 2 mins, flip it over using a spoon or chop stick and cook for another 1-2mins until golden brown on all sides.
  • Serve it sandwiched between a pav with some garlic chutney to make a yummylicious Vada Pav! ( I used a quartered kaiser roll for the 'pav')
  • hot hot batata vadas

    A very Happy Blog Birthday to you Anita, and a huge Thank you for taking care of my Sunday brunch :) Looking forward to many many more parties from you. And thanks to Jai for a guilt free way of frying them up and to Ashwini for the wonderful lasun chutney recipe.

    15 thoughts:

    anudivya said...

    Priya, that is so innovative! But I dont have appam pans, how else could I make them?

    Priya said...


    Divya, you can deep fry them as you would pakodas and vada, by heating oil in a kadai. If you plan to buy the pan, I got this non-stick one at the Indian grocer for 10$, or you get aebliskever pans at the regular stores/online here in the US.

    Anonymous said...

    Another first timer! Yay! Welcome to the party, Priya! Themore vadas, the merrier!
    Batata vadas (and others of the ilk) are never going to be the same after Jai! There are just no reasons left to not make such beauties! Thankfully, I have an appe pan. [What did you think - I was a Southie in my past life, remember?!]

    Anonymous said...

    Really nice batata vadas Priya! I love the idea of appey pans..thanks to Jai, now I'll be deep frying more often than I used to. :-)

    Pavani said...

    Yum.. Yum.. Lovely vada pavs the guilt free way.. I have to start using my appam pan now for these treats.. Thanks Priya.

    bee said...

    i love the pics. 1 tbsp oil for seven? that's borderline illegal. you should use atleast 3 tbsps.

    Sangeeth said...

    delicious pavs....easy to make too

    Unknown said...

    looks perfect!

    Priya said...


    Yes Ms.Southie, thanks to you we are all having a blast every year :) And, there are absolutely no doubts left regarding your past life :)

    Meera, less oil for cooking can only mean more fritters for eating!! :))

    Pavani, more than the oil saved its the convenience in using them thats great. And my mom can relax knowing that I am no way close to hot oil :)

    Bee, you make a batch of batata's and a bowl full of crispy vada's and still come here and complain! Hmph!

    Sangeeth, yes, very easy! My initial plan was to make the pav, green and imli chutneys etc...but this was really satisfying.

    Divya, thanks to the appam pan all the batata's were properly shaped :)

    Sonia said...

    Hi Priya,
    First time came across to ur blog. Nice Party Pav recipe. I just impressed to ur blog as it's neat and simply beautiful. and ur blog name is very thoughtful..!
    Thanks for sharing.
    Sonu:)

    Bhawana said...

    Great Priya this is a good way of avoiding oil. I dont like deep fried recipes, but still sometimes I cook them. I can try this one.

    mitr_bayarea said...

    Priya-

    pavs with the aapam pans well used...innovative recipe.

    Anonymous said...

    A kaiser roll eh? When I went roll-searching I found lots of square, pav-esque rolls, but I also settled on some with more substance. The quartering fooled me! (Why didn't I think of that?) Gorgeous photo... and yes, now that Anita got us to make these how can we deny ourselves in the future? She's mean, I tell ya...

    Priya said...


    Sonu, Welcome here! and thanks a ton for your kind words :")

    Bhawana & Mitr, the appam pan is a ingenious way to fry things up, convenient and healthy.

    Pel, my initial plan was really huge, to make my own pavs, chutnies and batata's. But at the last minute all I could manage was the batata's and I did not want to buy a whole pack of pav'ish buns for 8 teeny weeny batata's. I had two kaiser rolls left in the freezer and 8 batata's, the math could not be easier :D

    Maaya said...

    looks so good... I love the baking and all. looks yummy!

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