Kat vada is a very popular Kolhapur snack recipe in which deep-fried potatoes are served with spicy gravy. Kat is known as “spicy gravy” and vada is an “Indian snack”. Kolhapuri Kat Vada is a very popular street food recipe.
Maharashtrian Cuisine is particularly known for its spicy recipes! Their recipes are competitively spicy then all other cuisine. If this cuisine have spicy tambda rassa then They have phandra rassa to balance the spice out.
Maharashtrian Cuisine have some wonderful recipes. If you eat meat then you have a lot of options. We are vegetarians but we still have a lot of option. It is my dream to make an authentic maharashtrain thali one day and If that happens, I will definitely share it here.
What is Kat vada?
Kat vada is a combination 2 dishes. As I have said, Kat is “spicy gravy or sauce” which is made with very basic ingredients like coconut, onion, tomatoes etc. Do you know? Kat is the same sauce used in the misal pav recipe. In misal pav, you can add sprouts in this sauce. Kat is also known as “rassa” in Marathi.
vada is a pototo mash patty recipe which is coated by chickpea flour and then deep fried. I have already share gujarati style batata vada here and maharashtra batata vada here.
Ingredients breakdown to make kat vada
Ingredients to make kat
Coconut (shreded or diced) – Coconut is very important ingredient to make this maharashtrian rassa.
onion and tomatoes – These two ingredients plays very important role in this gravy to achieve perfect texture and color.
spices – Red chili powder, Turmeric powder, jaggery, salt and a pinch of garam masala iis used to give the distinct taste to the curry. Here measurement of each spices is really important.
peanut powder – This ingredient is listed as “optional” in this recipe. However, I still want to mention because It gives a unique texture and taste to the curry which you often get in those famous maharashtrian recipe. If you have any kind of peanut allergy or there is an availability issue then you can avoid this ingredient totally.
Other – oil, lemon juice and coriander.
Ingredients for Batata Vada
Potato Masala – This Masala is the hero of the recipe. It contains boiled and mashed potatoes, salt, chili garlic paste, a pinch of turmeric , mustard seeds, and curry leaves (if available).
Chickpea Coating – For the coating, We need to make a batter from chickpea flour. I am using regular chick pea flour (besan), water, salt and a pinch of turmeric. Adding a pinch of turmeric into the batter will give a nice yellow color to vadas.
Reasons to love this kat vada recipe,
- Super delicious
- easy to make – trust me, This recipe is super easy to make.
- Made with Regular ingredients
- Ingredients are Easily available
- perfect brunch recipe
- perfect weekday light meal recipe
- light on stomach (if you can handle a little bit of spiciness)
More Maharashtrian recipes you may like,
- jowar bajra roti – This one is one of the very common flat bread recipe found in most of the maharashtrian homes.
- Mango mastani – If you haven’t try this recipe yet, then do it quickly. You won’t regret.
- Sabudana vada – another popular maharashtrian street food recipe.
- Besan Pithla – Alow fat, No vegetables curry recipe that goes best with jowar bajra roti.
How to make Kat vada?
Kolhapuri kat vada
Equipment
- deep pan
Ingredients
for batata vada, potato mixture
- 2-3 medium potatoes, boiled and mashed
- salt to taste
for batata vada temparing
- 1 teaspoon oil
- 1 teaspoon chilli garlic paste
- a pinch of turmeric powder
- ¼ teaspoon mustard seeds
- 3-4 curry leaves
for batata vada, chickpea batter
- 1½ cup chickpea flour (besan)
- ½ cup + 3 tablespoon water, adjust for medium thick consistency
- salt to taste
- a pinch of turmeric powder
For kat
- 1½ tablespoon coconut, shreded or diced
- 1 tablespoon peanut powder, optional
- 1 medium onion , chopped
- 1 medium tomato, chopped
- 2 cups water
- 1 teaspoon jaggery
- lemon juice to taste
- salt to taste
- 1 tablespoon red chili powder
- ¼ teaspoon turmeric powder
- a pinch of Garam masala
- fresh corinader, for garnishing
- 1 tablespoon oil, for first tempering
- 1 tablespoon oil, for second tempering
Instructions
for batata vada filling
- Boil and mash potaotes and add salt to your taste.2-3 medium potatoes, salt to taste
- Heat oil in a pan. Add mustard seeds. when they crackle, add chili garlic paste and turn off the flame.1 teaspoon oil, ¼ teaspoon mustard seeds, 1 teaspoon chilli garlic paste
- quickly add curry leaves and a pinch of turmeric powder.3-4 curry leaves, a pinch of turmeric powder
- pour this tempering onto the potato mixture.
- mix well.
- take a portion of potato mixture and prepare a medium size ball. prepare balls from the left over mixture.
- keep the balls aside.
For chickpea batter
- take a mixing bowl.
- transfer chick pea flour in it. add salt and a pinch of turmeric powder.1½ cup chickpea flour (besan), salt to taste, a pinch of turmeric powder
- slowly add water and mix well.½ cup + 3 tablespoon water
- You will need a medium thick batter. Do not add too much water. your batter should be thick enough and should bein pouring consistency.make sure the batter is lump-free.
- keep aside.
Frying batata vada
- Heat oil for deep frying in a kadai or wok.
- Keep the flame to medium.
- When the oil becomes hot, add ¼ to ½ teaspoon hot oil in the batter. Mix very well.
- Take a potato vada and dip it in the besan batter.
- Gently coat it with the batter evenly all over(use a fork or spoon).
- Then gently place the vadas in hot oil.
- Do not over crowd the kadai. Add vadas depending on the size of the kadai.
- Fry on medium flame until light golden brown.
- Place them on kitchen paper towels. This way fry the remaining batches of batata vada. keep aside.
making Kat
- heat oil in a pan. mean while chop your tomatoes and onions.1 medium tomato, 1 medium onion
- add coconut and roast it for a minute.1½ tablespoon coconut
- add onion and tomatoes. also add peanut powder at this stage if available.1 tablespoon peanut powder
- saute for 3 to 4 mins until tomatoes are soft and mushy.
- once the tomatoes are cooked, turn off the flame.1 medium tomato
- transfer this mixture into a mixer jar and crush them to a smooth paste.
- heat oil again in the same kadai.1 tablespoon oil
- add crushed masala paste.
- add water.2 cups water
- add red chili powder, turmeric powder, jaggery and salt.1 teaspoon jaggery, 1 tablespoon red chili powder, ¼ teaspoon turmeric powder, salt to taste
- also add garam masala.a pinch of Garam masala
- mix well.
- simmer 5 to 8 mins. add some fresh corinader of you like.
serving
- Place 2 batata vadas in a plate and cover them with the kat.
- sprinkle some onions, lemon juice on the top and serve hot.lemon juice to taste
Notes
- you can either use fresh shredded coconut or dry coconut. I prefer fresh shredded coconut.
- Adjust red chili powder according to your taste.
- I am using kashmiri red chili powder here which gives nice red color to the curry.
- For the extra bright red color, heat 1 tbsp oil in a pan. Once the oil is hot enough, turn off the flame and add 1 tsp red chili powder. quickly pour this second tempering on the curry at the time of serving.
- peanut powder adds nice texture to the curry. However it is totally optional.
We can’t wait to try this recipe. Just from your list of ingredients we can tell this recipe is a winner. the boys love potatoes and chilis so you know they are going to be begging for this soon.
You will love this 🙂
This recipe sounds incredible, Priya! Trying it this weekend, thank you so much 🙂
Thanks dear 🙂 let me know how it turns.
Priya, this kat vada looks wonderful! You can’t go wrong with potatoes, spicy tomato sauce, and fried – YUM! I have all the ingredients on hand – can’t wait to try it!
Thanks a lot kelly 🙂
I have two teenage boys who will flip for this! What an amazingly delicious blend of spices and other ingredients. I love it! 🙂 ~Valentina
Thanks a lot valentina 🙂 You guys will love this recipe for sure.
It looks like it takes a but of time, but I would love to try making it. I actually have all the ingredients on hand! I hope this will be my weekend cooking project!
thank you david.
Thanks For Sharing this amazing recipe. My family loved it. I will be sharing this recipe with my friends. Hope the will like it.
Thank you so much 🙂