Sweet and Sour Chickpea Chaat Recipe
Another street food classic, chickpea/garbanzo bean chaat can be found all over India and is quite essential for all-day snacking. It also makes a really fun starter to an Indian feast. Mowgli fans will be familiar with my Yogurt Chat Bombs – this is basically the deconstructed version. You can mix up the toppings to suit your own taste, building your own chaat bowl at the table. This is something I’m always a huge fan of – make it yours!
Ingredients
- 2 tbsp vegetable oil
- 1 tsp cumin seeds
- 1 red onion, finely chopped
- 1 small potato (about 100g/3½oz), finely chopped
- 2 tsp ground coriander
- 2 tsp ground cumin
- 1 tsp ground turmeric
- ¼ tsp chilli powder
- 1 tsp salt
- 1 x 400g/14oz can chickpeas/garbanzo beans, drained and rinsed
- 150ml/5fl oz/2⁄3 cup water
- small bunch of fresh coriander/cilantro, stems and leaves finely chopped
- juice of 1 lemon
- 1 tsp sugar
- 1 tsp garam masala
Toppings
- 2 green chillies, finely sliced
- 1 tomato, finely chopped
- 4–5 tbsp nylon sev
- 2 tsp black salt (kala namak) (optional)
- 2 tbsp tamarind sauce (optional)
To serve 2
- Heat the oil in a medium saucepan that has a lid over a medium heat. When hot, add the cumin seeds and cook until dark brown, then add half of the red onion. Cook for 5 minutes, or until softened, then add the chopped potato with the ground spices and salt.
- Add the chickpeas and measured water and cook, covered, for 15 minutes, or until the vegetables are cooked through.
- Stir through the chopped coriander, lemon juice, sugar and garam masala.
- To serve, spoon into bowls and let everyone help themselves to the toppings. Enjoy on its own or with Bengali Plain Flour Puris.
Extracted from Meat Free Mowgli by Nisha Katona (Nourish, an imprint of Watkins Media, 2022). Available at any good book retailer
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