his again is a story related to me coming to the US after getting married.
Ask anyone who has grown up or lived in India for a while (especially the female kind :) and they will swear by the taste of this roadside delicacy and will have a story or two to tell you with a twinkle in their eye (while their taste buds start to tingle). And my dear friends, that is no exaggeration.
During my college days, I got my fix of chaat atleast once every week. I took it for granted as it was available everywhere. When I got married and was preparing to come to the US with hubby, he gave me this shocker (among a few others). Very calmly he announced that I should get my fix of as much chaat as possible as I would not find it in the US. I was taken aback but underestimated the truth in his statement, after all there were Indian restaurants in the US and they sold chaat... I was gonna be okay. Never had I been so wrong. I found the so called chaat here to be not even close to being worthy of being called chaat. It simply was some papdi with boiled potatoes and a chutney that tasted like tomato ketchup :o
Anyway, long-story-short, I decided to make my own. Here goes the recipe. If you really want your chaat to taste awesome, pay special attention to the chutney recipe.
Chaat is a generic name for a plate of savoury, spicy, tangy snack, typically served at road-side stalls or carts in India. Originally a street food, now it can be found in high end restauarants too. There are dozens varieties of chaat like pani puri or phuchkas, dahi bhalla, sev puri etc. All these are made with almost the same ingredients (with a different base), main one being the tamarind dates chutney. It is a thick tangy, spicy, sweet and sour sauce made out of tamarind pulp, dates and jaggery. Papdis are deep-fried pastry roundels that add the crunch to the chaat.
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eekend mornings ~ don't we live for them! At least I most definitely do (yes I realize it is Monday and its not fair to remind you all of the weekend which is a good five days away). On weekends, we like to sleep in a little late and then I absolutely do not like waking up and having to think about what to make for breakfast. Our most common routine was to get ready and step out for a leisurely brunch at our favorite Indian restaurant. Of late, we've gotten bored of that routine, especially with a toddler. So, on most days, it is a fruit salad or juice followed by a homemade brunch. This weekend I got up a little early (yes I did :) wanted to make and eat something interesting, not the usual, something totally indulgent. I thought of making Paneer Tikka and then thought some more. I remembered seeing a recipe a while back on Sanjeev Kapoor's website. I remembered it only in its theme. After recalling the flavors, eventually it resulted in combining two of my most favorite things in one, tandoori and chaat - this killer tandoori flavored mixed veg and paneer chaat... no one was complaining :)
umbai is famous around the world as the center of Indian cinema "Bollywood", what some do not know that it is also famous for its array of mouth watering street foods especially the chaats available at every street corner. Juhu beach, especially is the most famous hub - a very crowded place where you often find yourself wading through a sea of people with the sound of the waves crashing in the background often looking for the next yummy food stall that gets your attention among the numerous street food vendors lined up. No trip to this beach is complete without having those delectable chaats they serve there and possibly a healthy dose of pani poories, vada pav, batata, bhel. Watching the vendors mix up the ingredients and cook up your snack to order with sheer abandon - without a care in the world, while keeping a keen eye for anyone who needs that extra little chutney, is a pleasure by itself. These street foods have crossed boundries of the city (and even the country) and are found practically everywhere there is Indian food sold.
