A spicy sweet yogurt base Boiled chickpeas Fried fritters – Either Dahi barey (lentil fritters), dahi boondi (gram flour fritters) or pakoras (another gram flour fritter) in some cases Chopped raw veggies A crunchy element – Usually crushed papri or papdi (fried crispy puris) but sometimes random chips as well Condiment and spice Garnish
Preparing elements to make Chana chat
There are a couple of different elements of this dish which need to be made before the dish can be assembled. I know the list may seems daunting, but if you belong to a brown household, you probably already have most of them at home. If not, you can even get them at your local grocery stores as well:
Sweet Tamarind Chutney
This sweet and spicy chutney goes well with soooo many things, basically its like ketchup, universal and perfect for almost every desi snack out there. You can make it from scratch at home or buy a bottle from an Indian/Pakistani grocery store.
Dahi bara masala (spice mix)
This is just a fancy term for a three spice mix made with red chilies, coriander seeds and cumin seeds. Click here for the exact ratio. You can also use Chat masala instead if you don’t feel like whipping up a spice mix of your own.
Dahi barey or Dahi boondi or pakorey
The mix papri chana chaat that you get on the street usually uses dahi bareys or dahi boondis in the mix. But sometimes when I am short on dahi bareys, I use dahi boondi or even pakorey in the mix! trust me! once you use pakorey, you are not going back!
Papris –
These are crispy fried puris that can easily be made at home, but you can also get them at your local Indian/Pakistani restaurant. oh and when I can’t be bothered to make them or buy them, I use slims instead! You can use long thin potato chips as well as a substitute.
Assembling the Chana Chaat
To assemble the chana chaat, we are first going to prepare the sweet and spicy yogurt mix. It has water, sugar, salt, dahi bara masala and yogurt. And then we just start to dump things in the yogurt base! I boiled the chickpeas at home but you can ofcourse use the canned ones as well. The potatoes, tomatoes and onions are usually the only veggies this chaat has. But if you are feeling adventurous, feel free to explore with other veggies as well! Once all the elements are inside, you can decide how runny or thick you want your yogurt mix to be. I personally like it just like its served on the street, so mine usually has lots of yogurt. But this is the perfect time to adjust your salt to sugar, and yogurt to water ratio as well.
Toppings
Us brown folks are always a lil extra, so other than having all condiments and spices in the yogurt mix, we use a lil more for topping as well. Serve your mix chaat in a bowl and add some more masala, chutney and veggies on top. Sprinkle broken papri pieces generously on top of the chat and some coriander for good luck! Dig in! Unfortunately this chaat contains raw veggies so it doesn’t last longer than 2 days in the fridge. But you can prepare all the elements separately and mix them together only when you need it!
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