Chaat is a street food from North India and it’s a general term that just means snack or to taste. There are several varieties of it, but my favorite is papri (or sometimes called papdi) chaat which is made from papri chips (fried dough), plain boiled chickpeas and potato, yogurt, tamarind and coriander chutney, chaat masala (has a sour bite), chili powder, onion and cilantro.
It’s perfect for a party and actually quite easy to make because you can buy a lot of the ingredients at the Indian store and just assemble. It’s a fun food because everyone can make their own and decide how much of each ingredient they want – kind of like a snack buffet but you mix it all up.
This past Sunday, my cousin, Sumanth performed music to a small group of people at my friend Busayo’s house and I brought chaat to serve to the guests. I think they liked it because people were coming up for 2nds and 3rds. Some called it Indian nachos which I was quite fine with because I have a special place in my heart for nachos:) It was such a fun Sunday:
I generally like to add a few extras to my chaat so for this party I served it with channa masala and my friend Asha’s potato curry (instead of plain chickpeas and potato), some mint chutney, Maggi Tamarina Sauce, lime and tomato in addition to the rest of the ingredients. One thing that I forgot though was sev – which are tiny little fried strands of chickpea flour. In Indian markets there is a whole section usually of these fried snacks and sometimes sev is referred to as “bhujia.”
Papri Chaat
Ingredients (serves 15):
4 cups papri chips
12 oz. chickpeas – canned or boiled (have given my recipe for channa masala below, but you can also just use plain chickpeas)
2 large potatoes – boiled soft with salt and broken into bite-size pieces (you can also curry the potatoes but not necessary- provided Asha’s potato curry ingredients below)
32 ounce container yogurt
1 bottle tamarind chutney (Swad brand is good for chutneys)
Maggi Tamarina Sauce (optional)
1 bottle mint chutney (optional)
1 bottle coriander chutney
1 package sev or bhujia (Haldiram brand is good)
1 package chaat masala
1 onion – chopped
1 tomato – chopped (optional)
1 lime (optional)
cilantro
red chili powder or minced green chilis
Method:
These are just my preferences, you can add as much or as little of these ingredients for your own bowl.
For my bowl of chaat, I put about 7 papri chips on the bottom, then layer a tablespoon or two of chickpeas and potatoes. I like more yogurt, so I’ll put about 4-5 tablespoons of yogurt. Then about a teaspoon of each chutney*. I put about a teaspoon of onion and tomato. You can sprinkle on like a 1/3 teaspoon of chaat masala and a little chili powder or green chili to your taste. Top with a sprinkling of the sev or bhujia, a squeeze of lime and come cilantro. I like to mix it all up and eat it.
*If you have Maggi Tamarina Sauce, you can add a few spoons to the tamarind chutney with some water – I’d say the ratio I like is 1 part Tamarina to 2 parts tamarind chutney and add enough water so it is still liquidy.
My friend Asha made the potatoes that day by boiling and chopping them, then frying the potato in oil with cumin seed, coriander seeds, green chili, turmeric (which makes them yellow) and mixing it up with some salt, lime, coriander powder and cilantro.
This is the recipe for the chickpeas I made that day:
Channa Masala Recipe
Ingredients:
20 oz. can chickpeas
~6 cups water
1 black teabag
1 stick cinnamon
1 bay leaf
1 cardamom pod
2 tablespoons ghee or oil
1 teaspoon cumin seeds
pinch of hing or asafoetida
1 medium onion – chopped (leave some aside for sprinkling on curry later)
1 tablespoon ginger – grated
1 clove garlic – minced
1 green chili – minced
3 tablespoons tomato sauce
1 tablespoon coriander powder
1/2 teaspoon amchoor (dried mango powder)
1/2 teaspoon cumin powder
1/4 teaspoon turmeric
1/3 teaspoon garam masala
1/4 teaspoon chili powder (or to taste)
cilantro
salt to taste
Method:
Strain the chickpeas and wash with water so none of that slimy stuff is on them from the can.
In a large pot, put water, chickpeas, teabag, cinammon, bay leaf and cardamom pod and bring to a boil and simmer for about 10 -15 minutes and turn off the stove. (Usually this is done with dry chickpeas but I had a can on hand so thought I’d give this a try – flavors them nicely and makes them soft)
In a large frying pan, heat ghee or oil under a medium high flame. Once hot, put in cumin seed and hing and shake up pan so they mingle. Once the cumin seed starts to brown, put in the onions and fry them until translucent.
Next put in the ginger, garlic and chili and mix and fry for a few seconds. Next add in the tomato sauce and cook until it separates from the oil. Add in the coriander powder, amchoor, cumin powder, turmeric, garam masala, chili powder and salt and mix well. Cook for a few minutes. If it starts to get dry, add a few spoons of the water the chickpeas were boiled in.
Next, ladle in the chickpeas with a slotted spoon – I like to keep the cooking water so I can add some to the curry for more flavor. Add as much water to get to the wetness you like for the curry. Mix everything up and simmer for about 10 minutes. You can cook longer as well if your chickpeas are not too soft by this time.
Garnish with some raw chopped onion and cilantro.
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