Chaat
- rosemary
- Apr 8
- 6 min read
"anything – crisps, samosas, leftover chana masala – can be chaat" Diya Mukherjee/Vittles
I have been increasingly aware of late of 'chaat' whether it be part of the name of a dish, or as in chaat masala. I even vaguely remember, of late trying to find chaat masala in the supermarket, but couldn't find any - even though the Coles website says it has some - in a box. Maybe it's just in particular stores. It's a bit frustrating - like za'atar, that something that seems to be in almost every other recipe is not available unless you happen to have an Indian supermarket near you. Asian ones don't always do India either. And I have to say those Middle-Eastern things like za'atar, and date syrup really should be easily available by now. I've noticed that at last harissa is making a showing, but still no za'atar - really inexcusable I reckon.
But I digress. When last week's Ottolenghi newsletter featured yet another chaat recipe - Tamarind and black chickpea salad - alas the recipe is not online unless you are a paid subscriber to his newsletter - saviedit becaue here it was again - chaat. The title does not include the word chaat but the introductory blurb does, where he directed me to an article in Vittles - a British foodie magazine - now available in a print format - which was titled How to Build Your Own Chaat, by Diya Mukherjee. Although it also included a few words about what chaat is. Which clarified the whole thing for me.
Initially I kept coming across chaat masala as an ingredient, resulting in that frustration. So I cheked out my Indian gurus and they virtually all had a recipe. The general consensus being that the ingredients generally include cumin, chilli, black pepper, ground amchoor (which is sour mango I think) salt and black salt. More frustration of course, because amchoor and black salt need specialist shops or online purchase. So yes - a frustrating ingredient, which I shall solve by not cooking anything that requires chaat masala.
I was also a little amused to find Madhur Jaffrey in her Ultimate Curry Bible book, decrying the use of chaat masala with meat:
"In north Indian restaurants and in Indian restaurants abroad, it has become quite the custom to sprinkle the ubiquitous, packaged, chaat masala on all kebabs, especially those emerging from tandoor ovens. Chaat is a special category of Indian snack food. Kebabs have never been included, as chaat is always vegetarian. Chaats are meant to titillate the palate with their very hot and sour seasonings. ... Somebody, probably in the 1960s, decided that these seasonings could be used for roasted and grilled meats and we were off and away on another 'trend' that combined a very Muslim kebab with a very Hindu spice combination."
It's interesting isn't it? I mean today there is this constant battle between being 'authentic' and doing new things with old dishes and old spice mixes. Mind you I have to say that the recent plethora of chaat recipes have all been vegetarian - or fruit based.
Almost simultaneously to the chaat masala thing, there were a number of recipes with 'chaat' in the title, and I couldn't quite work out what that meant. Fundamentally it's an Indian street snack food, which had its beginnings in Uttar Pradash but is now found all over India. The name comes from the verb chaatna which means to lick. As in 'lick the plate clean', somebody said. The one shown here is Basket chaat Lucknow - one of the more complicated iterations of the genre-:
"a cage of fried potato, which housed a separate aloo tikki: a chaat within a chaat, doused in coriander chutney, tamarind chutney, and sweetened yoghurt." Diya Mukherjee/Vittles
The writer went on to say that:
"Even though I’ll never be able to replicate the structural ingenuity of basket chaat in this lifetime, I have certainly replicated the textural wonder of good chaat in my own kitchen, with a basic formula of fried base + chutneys + as many crunchy toppings as you fancy."
This is a picture of her hash brown chaat, but alas the recipe is behind a pay wall. Suffice to say the base is hash browns with the addition of a green chutney, yoghurt I think, pomegranate seeds - probably a few other things as well. Ottolenghi elaborated a little bit on her basic formula:
"a fried base, usually chopped samosas or fried potatoes, topped with fruity chutneys, cool dairy, crunchy bits and tangy spices." Ottolenghi
And as a kind of afterthought I checked Smitten Kitchen to see if Deb Perelman had entered the chaat fray. Well no but she had this Baked chickpeas with pita chips and yoghurt which to my mind, in spite of its more Middle Eastern flavours, was essentially the same kind of thing.
Before I turn to my usual list of possibilities, check out Felicity Cloake who has a go at the perfect version - choosing the inevitable chickpeas as her base. She covers the various possibilities and the basic structure. She also had words to say on the black chickpeas that are another product increasingly appearing in recipes, and not that easy to find. Felicity didn't like them:
"Unfortunately, my testers and I find that they taste like diet food, too. Nice as kala chana are in a well-flavoured sauce, in a chaat their tough skins and slightly earthy flavour make them a clear second choice among my testers."
So don't feel bad if you go for tinned chickpeas.
So where to start with my list? Perhaps with potatoes, which, along with chickpeas seem to often be the base: Chaat masala potatoes with yoghurt - Ottolenghi - an adapted version but much copied on the net so I assume it's good; Aloo chaat - Romy Gill/BBC Good Food; Dahi puri chaat - Madhur Jaffrey/Master Class - rather more complicated, but it looks smart; Chaat-style loaded twice-baked potatoes - Nik Sharma - the title admits to the inauthentic nature of the recipe, but he is Indian and they do look good and finally New potato and chickpea chaat - Meera Sodha/Food52 - potatoes and chickpeas.
Then there are the vegetable versions where there is a little bit more innovation: Beetroot and orange chaat with mini poppadoms - Ottolenghi; Harissa and sweetcorn samosa chaat which is based on samosas - Gurdeep Loyal/delicious.UK; Blackened sweetcorn chaat - Meera Sodha; Cauliflower and pomegranate chaat - Meera Sodha/Homemade Lemon Cake; Fennel and apple chaat with caramelized almonds - Meera Sodha
And last of all there is fruit, and here I shall turn to an old Indian cookbook of mine The Encyclopedia of Indian Cooking by Khalid Aziz who seems to think that fruit chaats are merely chunks of different fruits - not too small or they will go mushy - sprinkled with a mixture of chilli powder, black pepper and salt - served as a refreshment. I have two representatives here - the first and simplest from Coles - just to show that chaat is now at the everyday level - Fruit chaat - to which they added lemon and orange juice and a small amount of sugar; and a classy looking Tomato, mango, and burrata chaat from Gurdeep Loyal/delicious.UK
Maybe I should try one for a snack prior to a barbecue - or as an accompaniment. They are, after all, often described as salads. At least I now know what they are. The picture is of a genuine Indian street snack and it sure looks good.
"I suppose this is the beauty of chaat: it is in no way designed to actually fill you up, but rather is simply created for the purposes of delight. Chaat isn’t really going to provide the physical sustenance to get you through a day’s hard grind, or a gruelling gym class. It exists as a dish purely to provide joy, not function. Chaat, to me, is the antithesis of a protein shake."
Diya Mukherjee/Vittles
YEARS GONE BY
April 8
2024 - Variations - granola
2023 - Nothing
2020 - Deleted
2019 - Nothing
2018 - A point of difference
Comments