Baked batata (potato) wadaa 

Potato wada is my all time favorite snack and I think it is one of the most popular selling snack item in Maharashtra. There are numerous stalls on almost every big road claiming their wada pav to be one of the best.

Well, this item is tasty and delicious and one of the reasons is that it is fried. This stopped me from making it often even though we loved it so much. The thought of baking the wada was itself so appealing that I had to try it. The idea of baking the wadas is adapted from Shital Ashar’s blog (shital's kitchen). My recipe for the wadaa and cooking style is totally different.

Ingredients:

2 large baking potatoes

Salt as per taste

3 Garlic cloves

3/4 curry leaves

Turmeric powder

Red chili powder to taste

1 or 2 green chilies

For the batter:

3 tablespoons besan/chickpea flour

1 tablespoon of rice flour

1 tsp baking soda

1 tsp baking powder

½ tsp coriander cumin powder

Pinch of turmeric and red chili powder

Salt to taste

First of all, you will need boiled potatoes. Peel them and mash them thoroughly. In a small pan, pour 1 tsp oil and add chopped curry leaves, chopped green chilies, and 3 cloves of garlic. Add this to the mashed potatoes once the tadka is ready. Add salt as per taste and a pinch of turmeric powder to the mashed potato mixture. Mix it to a soft dough and keep aside.

In a separate bowl, take 3 tablespoons of besan/chickpea flour and 1 tablespoon of rice flour and mix it with a little turmeric, red chili powder, salt and coriander-cumin powder and make a thick batter with water. Keep aside.

Now preheat the oven to 350 F and grease a baking sheet with oil spray. Just before you prepare the wadas for baking, add a pinch of baking soda and baking powder in the besan and rice flour batter and mix.

Now make small balls/wadas with the potato dough and cover/coat it with the besan batter by dipping the wadas/balls in the batter. Let the excess batter frip off and then put the wada on the baking sheet and bake for 10-15 mins till it changes color on both the sides. If you want it to be little darker in color, broil all the wadas just for 2 minutes later before serving.

Enjoy with pav and garlic chutney.