Chaat - The king of junk food

Rather than a chutney, I decided to write this post on chaat. That supreme, sublime, ethereal street food sold in its many-splendoured glory throughout India. That street food which requires minimum two and at best three chutneys. That street food which has chutneys as its backbone. That street food which can bring tears to the eyes of the Indians living abroad, that street food that has to be had on a visit to India even if it means an upset stomach and being out of action for a few days.

So what's the big deal with chaat?

• Chaat is the collective name for a variety of dishes.
• The ingredients for all these dishes are the pretty much the same.
• All these dishes have a riot of flavors - hot, salty, sweet, tart, sour - which burst onto your tongue and perform a merry, rhythemic dance.
The chaat includes the following dishes. I, by no means, claim to give the complete set of dishes included in chaat. The set is fluid and flexible.

Bhel - Sweet dates and tamarind chutney and hot cilantro chutney is added to puffed rice (unsweetened rice puffs cereal works too) along with pieces of boiled potatoes, finely chopped red onion, chopped cilantro, raw mango pieces for added piquant taste and sev (thin and tiny pieces of deep fried noodles made of chick peas flour) salt and red chile powder as per taste. No, sir, this is not to be eaten with a spoon. Instead a deep fried round, small puri made of all purpose flour is used to scoop up the bhel.

Pani puri - Small, puffed, deep fried puris made out of all purpose flour and cream of wheat are stuffed with boiled potato pieces, soaked moong beans, sweet dates and tamarind chutney and a green power-punched liquid. This liquid, unappealing as it may sound, is actually the heart and soul of pani puri (pani in Hindi, the national language of India, means water). It's made by grinding fresh mint leaves, cilantro, green chiles, lime juice into a paste and adding it to water along with a generous dose of black powder to increase the provocation.

Sev Puri - Flat deep fried puris made out of all purpose flour are laid out on a plate. On it are placed pieces of boiled potatoes, all the chutneys, cilantro and topped with sev.

Dahi puri - This is sev puri but with plain yogurt. Before adding sev, place a spoonful of yogurt (whisked) on each puri.

Apart from the sweet dates and tamarind chutney and the hot cilantro chutney, garlic chutney can be used in chaat. Mind you, it is for heat freaks only.

Garlic chutney

With what


• 5 dry red chiles soaked in hot water for an hour
• 2 medium cloves of garlic
• 1/2 tsp salt
• water to make the chutney loose and pliable in a grinder

How to

Grind all the ingredients fine. The consistency of this chutney should be runnier than a paste.

Use this chutney to spice up a marinade or a dip.

I'm planning to write the next post on my favorite produce, chile peppers. Adios!