Ria's Collection: PAPDI CHAAT! Coming over for a chat?

Wednesday, March 24, 2010

PAPDI CHAAT! Coming over for a chat?


For the last few days, I have been craving for chaat. Now that I don't live in India anymore ( not that we had chaatwala's in Kannur), I have no other choice but to make it from scratch. I am not complaining, I always wanted to make the ever-loving tangy tamarind chutney and making papdi is a breeze.


I started off thinking I would end with Pani Puri but, I ended up with Papdi Chaat due to lack of ingredients in our pantry.Nevertheless the end result was finger-licking, spoon-licking good. So, YAYY! ;)


For all  my North Indian recipes Hetal & Anuja is my favourite source. Their recipes are fool proof. I have tried their  Besan Burfi,Kaju Burfi, Eggless Hazlenut & Date Cake, Molten Lava Cake,Reshmi Kababs, Silky Smooth Pedas and lot more recipes like Rasgulla, Rasmalai, Namak Paare which I never blogged about.

Chaats are originally an Indian street food. Nowadays they are served even in high-end hotels too. They are popular equally among teens & elderly. There are different types of chaat like pani puri or golguppas,dahi bhalla, sev puri etc. All these are made with almost the same ingredients, main one being the tamarind chutney. It is a thick tangy, spicy ,sweet & sour sauce made out of tamarind pulp and jaggery . Papdi's are deep-fried pastry roundels (or squares). They add the crunch to the chaat. On the whole, any chaat is a very mouthwatering experience!


How I made this simple: While the chutney was on the stove boiling & reducing away, I made the dough for the papdi and rolled & cut them. Once the chutney was done and safely put aside, I started frying the papdi's.Meantime I boiled channa /chickpeas (previously soaked)& potatoes. I could get the whole thing done in less than an hour's time! :)

PAPDI CHAAT
Things you will need:
Tamrind chutney(homemade or storebought)
Papdi's (homemade or storebought)
Yoghurt - 1 1/2 cup, well beaten & chilled
Onions- 1 small, chopped
Coriander leaves- 1 small bunch, chopped
Red chilli powder - 1 1/2 tsp
Cumin powder- 1 1/2 tsp
Salt- to taste

HOMEMADE TAMARIND CHUTNEY
Recipe source : Hetal & Anuja

Tamarind pulp (storebought)- 2tbsp
Water- 2 cups
Salt- 1 tsp
Jaggery-1/2 cup, powdered & packed
Red chilli powder-1 tsp
Cumin seeds-1 tsp
Fennel seeds-1 tsp


Method:
  • Heat one cup of water in a microwave (or stovetop) and add the tamarind paste to it. Mix well making sure there are no lumps in it.
  • Add the other one cup of water and boil it. 
  • Once it starts boiling, reduce the flame to medium and add the jaggery. Mix well and let it melt.
  • Let it boil till it reduces to half quantity.
  • Meanwhile, dry roast cumin seed and fennel seeds and powder them.
  • Once the chutney starts coating the back of a spoon, switch of the stove and add salt, red chilli poweder and powdered spices. Mix well.
  • Adjust the salt if needed.
HOMEMADE PAPDI
My own recipe

Ingredients
All purpose flour- 1 1/2 cups
Oil- 2 tbps
Ajwain-1/2 tsp
Salt-to taste
Water- 1/4 -1/2 cup


Method:
  • Mix together flour, salt and ajwain.
  • Add oil to it and rub well. 
  • Add just enough water and make a hard dough (not as soft as chapathi dough).
  • Let it rest covered for 20 mins.
  • Roll out thin (If you have used the right amount of water, you wouldn't need any dusting of flour while rolling)
  • Pierce the pastry all over with the tines of a fork.Cut rounds or any other shapes from it.
  • Deep fry in hot oil and drain on kitchen towel.
  • You can make this ahead and store in airtight bags/tins.

Assembly:
Place 6-7 papdi's on a plate, add some channa/chickpeas and potatoes.
Pour 3-4 tbsp of youghurt on it. Drizzles one tbsp of tamarind chutney on it.
Garnish with coriander leaves and onions.
Sprinkle salt, red chilli powder and cumin seed powder  as needed.

Verdict: As soon as Jobin got back home, I served him a platefull. Zapp came the response:
It was seriously delicious. I have some chutney leftover from yesterday. Just can't stop licking it everytime I open our refrigerator ;) Guess I'll have a chaat night every week :)

24 Comments:

Unknown said...

Just Yumm!!Am so tempted to make chaat right now.

RV @ Food for 7 Stages said...

wow Ria, it is a lip smacking chat.Yumm yumm.. You are really super fast in cooking. I can't think of completing all of them in an hour.

Divya Kudua said...

So you did make the puri/papdi on your own hmm??necessity is the mother of...:):):).I have some tamarind chutney in the freezer,I really should make this one..you have me craving for these with so many yummilicious pictures..:):)Good going!!

Indian Khana said...

It does look finger licking gud...man am so tempted

Tina said...

Manushyane ingane kothipikkanoooooo...Yuuummmmyyyy.

Aps Kitchen said...

Hey Ria... I actually related ur story to mine when I was away from India..... I was missing chaats like crazy.....Even Though I don't know u personally I have adored Ur recipes and have tried few(Not bogd though :P)... I tried out your konju varuthatu.... almost 5 times (I m a veggie though).... for my hubby.... It was a super super super hit... I cudn get clicks as they wud never remain.... I promise to blog it soon
Nd Wishing U A happy Married Life.... U luk like a princess :)....
Regards,
Aps

Suparna said...

Great going Ria! the preparation looks tempting!

RMM said...

oh..wow Ria...that was so nice of u ..for sharin this recipe ..and so..so fast....was lookin for somethin this weekend...looks yummy....used to love the chaats we ate in mysore(me studied in Mysore)...couldnt find chaats to beat them anywhere else...will definitely try...thnks !!Reny.

beans said...

love ya gal! u have awesome talent and i know u already know tat. i havnt had lunch yet.. am sittin here and droolin at the pics.. miss ya bum!

San!!! said...

You have made my taste bud to tickle now.Chaat foods ,it's been long time since i ate them.Mouthwatering papdi chaat.

Arc said...

Here in the US, the short-cut for making papdis is to fry tortillas cut into diamonds.. it tastes really great. My panju frnd showed how to do it.

Unknown said...

I LOVE chaat! Luckily, there's a lot available, more than 10 options in a 5 min radius! Off to eat some right now!! :P :P

Why'd you disable right clicking?? I was trying to open all those delicious links in tabs!!

Lena Jayadev said...

hai ria....orkutile photos ellam kidilan tto.. :) adichupolikuvaanennu manassilayi... kalyaana photos valare nannayittundu.. :)

Lena Jayadev said...

snap s too tempting.. :) love to have it right nw.. :)

Ozoz said...

You're making me hungry. I love the tamarind chutney....and the rest of the meal!!!!!!!kitchenbutterfly.com

Amy @ cookbookmaniac.com said...

Oh my, this looks so delicious.

Prerna said...

Wow! Just visited your blog..Loved it! I recently started writing about my experiments with food and felt really good to see someone as passionate as I am about the art of cooking.
I guess will come back again.
Keep up the good work!

Rosa's Yummy Yums said...

Mmmhhh, what gorgeous food! I love the way those papdi look...

Cheers,

Rosa

Swapna said...

You are tempting me to make chaat at home Ria:)....will try this one soon ...super clicks too!!!

Michelle said...

Such an interesting recipe and it looks like something my husband would just love!

Bharathy said...

Wonderful Pics and presentation, Ria!! I am not a great fan of chat(though I get to munch out from the next street chat wala)... the papdi chat here is too YUM to resist!!!
again...LOVELY Pics!!

Anonymous said...

Hi Ria, i'm a regular reader of ur blog,u've got some great recipes. Will try out some of 'em. take care :-)
Cheers
Anjana

Ann said...

to all chat lovers round the world, here is the ideal solution for limited availability of chaat ingredients...just follow the recipe and u will end up in a fav nostalgia....

Unknown said...

Made this today evening and we loved it :)

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