Papri Chaat

What is Chaat ?

Chaat or Chat is a family of savory snacks that is originated in India. There are various different kinds of chaat you can find in India. There is always one base ingredients like flaky crackers, chickpea, potatoes, etc. You add yogurt along with green and red chutney for the sweet and savory taste. Everything combined with few other ingredients like raw onion, sev, cucumber, pomegranate etc. makes every bite moreish and finger licking good. In India, you can find chaat on road side stalls, and small restaurants. Some big restaurants have now started to serve chaat in gourmet style too.

Papri Chaat Ingredient Notes:

Papri - Savory flaky crackers prepared with all purpose flour. It is easy to make at home but also available in Indian store in snack sections. Substitute: if you absolutely cannot find these savory crackers, try the same dish using tortilla chips or any savory flaky crackers. Boiled Potatoes: You can either roughly mash the boiled potatoes or slice into bite size and seasoned with chaat masala, chili powder and salt. You can use boiled chickpeas too. Yogurt: You season yogurt with cumin powder, salt and sugar. Green Chutney and Red Chutney: These two chutneys are a must in every chaat. Green chutney is prepared with a mix of fresh mint and fresh cilantro leaves. Red Chutney is prepared with tamarind and dates. Raw Onion, Cucumber, Tomatoes, pomegranate: You add these on top for refreshing crunchy bites. In this recipe, I added onion, cucumber and pomegranate, but you can add tomatoes too. Sev: Sev is another famous snack that is prepared with chickpea flour. Sev are tiny stands of noodles, and you can find various different ones in the store. For chaat, I like to use the very thin variety. Spices: Cumin Powder, Chili Powder, Chaat Masala

Steps to prepare Papri Chat

You can serve Papri Chaat is two different ways. You can either serve the elements separately and let people top everything on the papri. Or layer the different elements in a serving plate and then use it as a dip with papri. I prefer the dip serving, as that way, you can even spoon the layers dips straight on the papri individually. 1: In a serving plate add the thick plain yogurt along with cumin powder, salt and sugar. Whisk and spread it evenly on the plate. 2: Drizzle the green and red chutney on top. 3: Top it with mashed or bite size boiled potatoes seasoned with chaat masala, salt and chili powder. 4. Add chopped cucumber, onion. You can add tomatoes too. 5: Sprinkle chaat masala, pomegranate seeds and sev. 6: Serve it as a dip. 7. Serve in individual papris.

Recipe Video:

Variations to add:

Finding papri can be difficult if you don’t have any Indian store nearby. A good variations would be to use crunchy tortilla chips, or any savory crackers. You can add boiled chickpeas instead of boiled potatoes.

Couple keynotes:

If you are using cucumber and tomato, make sure it doesn’t have seeds, as that will release water, spoiling the creamy texture of the yogurt potato dip. If you are making this in advance, make sure you add the sev just before serving.