As I mentioned in this post, chaat refers to wide variety of snacks made with a variety of ingredients like puffed rice, puris (Indian style tortilla chips), many varieties of beans etc. Most use a combination of sweetish dates chutney and spicy cilantro/ coriander chutney that add delicious layers of flavor to the final dish. Chaat dishes are completely customizable and the final taste can be varied to suit the taste of every member of the family. Like it a bit sweetish, add more sweet chutney, like it more spicy add more cilantro chutney, want to skip raw onions go right ahead.
If I had to choose a favorite kind of chaat I would find it very difficult to do so,I find almost all of them tempting. This aloo chana chaat is one of the things I make from time to time. It is one of the easiest chaats to make. It hardly takes any time to put together once the chutneys are ready. Sometimes I make the chutney a day in advance so that on the day that I am making this chaat, I just have to cook the chickpeas and potatoes and I am set, all I have to do mix everything together and enjoy the chaat :)
Click here for a printable view of this recipe
Ingredients and Method to make Aloo Chana chaat
1 cup cooked chana (chickpeas)
1/2 cup cooked, peeled and diced potatoes (1 medium potato/aloo/urilakizhangu)
2 to 3 Tbsp finely chopped onion (1/4 of a medium onion/ pyaaz/vengayam) (optional, see notes)
2 to 3 Tbsp finely chopped tomato (1/2 of a medium tomato/tamatar/thakkali) (optional, see notes)
1 to 2 Tbsp finely chopped cilantro (coriander leaves/ hara dhania/kothamalli)
This sweet dates/khajur imli chutney as needed
This cilantro (coriander leaves) chutney as needed
salt to taste
chaat masala a pinch (optional, see notes)
nylon sev (fried gram flour thin noodles) as needed (available in Indian groceries)
Assemble all the ingredients required for the chaat. In a large bowl, add chickpeas, potatoes. Add finely chopped onions, tomatoes, then two chutneys to taste, salt to taste, chaat masala if using, cilantro and gently mix together.
Top with sev and serve immediately.
Serves approx 1. Recipe can be easily doubled or tripled to make more servings.
Notes:
Soak chickpeas overnight and pressure cook until soft for this recipe (about 4 whistles in the pressure cooker, then turn down heat and cook another 3 minutes or so). You can use canned chickpeas too for this recipe, just make sure to rinse thoroughly.
You can cook the potatoes in the pressure cooker too, or in the microwave until it is soft.
The onions and tomatoes are optional, if you do not like the taste or raw onions or tomatoes or do not have one or the other ingredient on hand, you can skip and make the chaat with just chickpeas and potatoes too.
If I had to choose a favorite kind of chaat I would find it very difficult to do so,I find almost all of them tempting. This aloo chana chaat is one of the things I make from time to time. It is one of the easiest chaats to make. It hardly takes any time to put together once the chutneys are ready. Sometimes I make the chutney a day in advance so that on the day that I am making this chaat, I just have to cook the chickpeas and potatoes and I am set, all I have to do mix everything together and enjoy the chaat :)
Click here for a printable view of this recipe
Ingredients and Method to make Aloo Chana chaat
1 cup cooked chana (chickpeas)
1/2 cup cooked, peeled and diced potatoes (1 medium potato/aloo/urilakizhangu)
2 to 3 Tbsp finely chopped onion (1/4 of a medium onion/ pyaaz/vengayam) (optional, see notes)
2 to 3 Tbsp finely chopped tomato (1/2 of a medium tomato/tamatar/thakkali) (optional, see notes)
1 to 2 Tbsp finely chopped cilantro (coriander leaves/ hara dhania/kothamalli)
This sweet dates/khajur imli chutney as needed
This cilantro (coriander leaves) chutney as needed
salt to taste
chaat masala a pinch (optional, see notes)
nylon sev (fried gram flour thin noodles) as needed (available in Indian groceries)
Assemble all the ingredients required for the chaat. In a large bowl, add chickpeas, potatoes. Add finely chopped onions, tomatoes, then two chutneys to taste, salt to taste, chaat masala if using, cilantro and gently mix together.
Top with sev and serve immediately.
Serves approx 1. Recipe can be easily doubled or tripled to make more servings.
Notes:
Soak chickpeas overnight and pressure cook until soft for this recipe (about 4 whistles in the pressure cooker, then turn down heat and cook another 3 minutes or so). You can use canned chickpeas too for this recipe, just make sure to rinse thoroughly.
You can cook the potatoes in the pressure cooker too, or in the microwave until it is soft.
The onions and tomatoes are optional, if you do not like the taste or raw onions or tomatoes or do not have one or the other ingredient on hand, you can skip and make the chaat with just chickpeas and potatoes too.
