Chana Chaat Puri

Chana Chaat Puri is a modern British recipe (from British Indian Restaurants) for a classic vegetarian dish of chickpeas in a tomato-based gravy flavoured with chaat masala and garnished with sev that's traditionally served on a balloon bread (puri) base. The full recipe is presented here and I hope you enjoy this classic British version of: Chana Chaat Puri.

prep time

10 minutes

cook time

20 minutes

Total Time:

30 minutes

Serves:

2

Rating: 4.5 star rating

Tags : BIR CurriesChilli RecipesVegetarian RecipesSpice RecipesBritish Recipes


Chana Chaat is now a classic Vegetarian Starter in British Indian Restaurants (BIR) that’s typically served on a bed of puris (Indian balloon bread). Chana Chaat has been described as an Indian chickpea-based salad, though flavour-wise it’s much more than that. This recipe is being prepared from scratch, but if you want to cook it quicker pre-cook your chickpeas.

Ingredients:

For pressure cooking the chickpeas:
105g (1/2 cup) dried white chickpeas or chole or chana
¼ tsp sea salt
250ml (1 cup) water, for pressure cooking
1/2 medium to large potato (optional)

Other ingredients for chana chaat:
1/2 medium sized onion, finely chopped
1/2 medium sized tomato, finely chopped
1/2 green chilli, finely chopped
1/2 tsp toasted cumin powder
1/2 tsp Kashmiri red chilli powder or paprika
1/2 tsp chaat masala
1/4 tsp amchur (dry mango powder)
Sea salt, to taste
black salt, to taste
1 tsp lemon juice (or add to taste)
1 1/2 tbsps coriander leaves (cilantro), chopped
2 tbsp fine sev, to garnish

Method:

Place the dried chickpeas in a bowl, cover with plenty of water and set aside to soak over-night.

Drain the water, rinse the chickpeas then place in your pressure cooker. Add 500ml water and ½ tsp salt, then set a large bowl on top of the chickpeas. Place the potato in the bowl. Secure the lid, bring to pressure and cook for about 15 minutes, letting the pressure release naturally.

Open the lid and chieck that the potato is tender by sliding a knife or fork through it. The fork or knife should enter readily. The chickpeas should mash easily when crushed between forefinger and thumb. If tender drain the water from the chickpeas and set aside. If the chickpeas are not tender, add some more water and pressure cook for a few minutes more.

Peel the potato once it has cooled enough to be handled. Chop and set aside.

Place the cooked chickpeas in a mixing bowl then add the Kashmiri chilli powder, roasted cumin powder and chaat masala. Add both black salt and sea salt to taste. For some tang, you can also add ½ tsp dry mango powder (amchur powder).

Now add the chopped potatoes, mixing everything thoroughly to combine so the spice powders and salt coat the potatoes and chickpeas. Now mix in the finely chopped onions, finely chopped tomatoes, chopped green chillies and coriander leaves. Add up to 2 tsp lemon juice (or to taste) and mix thoroughly to coat.

Taste and adjust the seasonings (salt, chaat masala, red chilli powder, green chillies, lemon juice).

Garnish with coriander leaves and sev then serve accompanied by puris as a starter.