My husband loved all kinds of Indian street foods and the chaats were his favourite. He loved the hot and spicy flavours and could make a chaat using basic ingredients in the kitchen.
What is a Chaat?
Chaats are a kind of a street food in India which are made with lots of flavours, chutneys as well as salads, fruits etc. They are served mostly cold and will taste hot, sweet, spicy with onions and chilies often cooled down by some addition of sweetened yogurt. Every Chaat will be a regional chaat using seasonal or local ingredients. Most chaat’s have a topping of something crispy like sev, chevdo sev mamras, crisps or crispy puris. Whilst growing up in Kenya, we did not eat a lot of Chaat. The most we may have was alu chole (Chick peas and potatoes) topped with a tamarind dip. You either made it at home or bought it from a street hawker who served it in a newspaper cone. My first taste of samosa chaat was at an Indian restaurant in London where mini samosas were covered in sugared yogurt topped with the coriander and tamarind chutney. It tasted amazing but I felt that it didn’t have enough samosas.
What are Samosas?
They are little triangle savoury pastries which are crispy on the outside and have a spicy vegetarian or non vegetarian filling. Again the style, shape and pastry of samosas will vary from Region to Region in India. I make the East African style of samosas and my recipe for samosas is here. Whenever we have left over samosas, we make our own version of samosa chaat.
Ingredients to serve 2-3 people:
- 10-12 samosas . You can use ready made ones or us my recipe for making samosas
- 2 cups sev mamra. You can use store bought ones or my recipe for making sev mamra
- 1 cup chevdo
- 2 cups plain yogurt
- 1/2 cup coriander chutney. My recipe for chutney is here
- 1/2 cup tamarind chutney. (I used ready made Maggie’s tamarind sauce)
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon black pepper
- 1 teaspoon chilly powder
- ½ teaspoon cumin powder
- ½ teaspoon coriander powder
- 1 finely chopped tomato
- 1 finely chopped onion
- 1-2 chopped chilies (optional)
Method:
- Prepare the samosas as per my recipe.
2. Prepare the coriander chutney as per my recipe.
3. Prepare the tamarind chutney.
4. Prepare the yogurt sauce: Beat the plain yogurt and add salt, pepper, chilly powder, cumin, coriander powder. (You can also add sugar if you think your yogurt is sharp). You can add ready made Chaat masala to the yogurt if you do not wish to add all the spices I used.
5. Now you are ready for preparing the Somasa Chaat with Yogurt – Indian Snack Food. Break two or three samosas in bite size pieces and arrange them in a bowl.
6. Add the yogurt mixture on top of the samosas.
7. Pour some coriander chutney and tamarind sauce on top of the yogurt.
8. Sprinkle the tomato, chili and onion pieces on the mixture.
9. Finish off Somasa Chaat with Yogurt – Indian Snack Food with a sprinkling of sev and enjoy your Somasa Chaat with Yogurt
Other Chaat ideas from my blog are:
If you have a hunger for Authentic Vegetarian Food then subscribe to my blog and receive delectable recipes and new Innovative foodie updates! Hungry for more Vegetarian Tips ? LIKE us on facebook, Follow us on Twitter, Pinterest and Instagram. All the recipes are with step by step instructions and photographs and all of them have been tried, tested, easy to cook and delicious.
If you are interested in one to one or group cookery lessons, or any corporate team building events – email me on givemesomespice@gmail.com for more information.