It is difficult to describe a ‘chaat’ because it is not a single dish, but a category in itself. Chaat can be hot and spicy like Delhi’s aloo tikki chaat, or sweet and salty like Papdi chaat, or sour and tangy, like Kamrak(star fruit) ki chaat. The Indian street food made with a combination of vegetables, fruits and spices has been around since time immemorial. The Manasollasa, a Sanskrit manual of 12th century India, talks about soaking vadas in curd or milk or rice water. When Shahjahan decided to shift his capital from Agra to Delhi, his hakim was miffed and announced that the kingdom could never flourish as Delhi’s main source of water, the river Yamuna, was polluted. Upon asking for a solution, he suggested that people would have to mix in a lot of spices in their food, to counter the bacteria in the water, and this also paved way for the popularity of ‘Chaat’ in Delhi, and Delhi’s long-lasting love affair with ‘spicy’ food as such.
The word ‘Chaat’ is derived from the Hindi words ‘chaatna’, which means to lick, as in to lick your fingers or plates clean. While there is no good or bad time to have chaat, not many people like to kickstart their day with a plate of ‘chaat’, owing to its very spicy, and greasy contents. But what if you could eliminate all that, and fix yourself a chaat that is wholesome, flavorful and healthy at the same time? This potato-papdi chaat recipe by nutritionist Pritika Bedi has been one of our go-to breakfast recipes for a while, and we bet, you won't be able to resist a bite as well.
Made with the goodness of shakarkandi or sweet potato, this chaat comes with goodness of yogurt, chutneys, pomegranate seeds and more. Have a look at the recipe.
Ingredients
- ½ Sweet Potato
- ¼ Chopped Onion
- ¼ Chopped Tomato
- 1 tsp Green Chutney
- 2 tbsp yogurt
- 3-4 pieces of Papdi
- ¼ tsp Chaat masala
- ¼ tsp Red Chilly Powder
- 1 tbsp Lemon Juice
- ¼ tsp Salt
- Chopped Coriander leaves
- Pomegranate seeds
Method:
- Wash the sweet potato thoroughly and roast it for 10 minutes. Let it cool and chop them roughly into cubes.
- Add Onion, Tomato, Papdi, Green chutney, Yogurt, Chaat masala, Salt and Red Chilly powder to the sweet potato cubes, toss them nicely and ensure the masalas are coated nicely.
- Transfer the mixture into the serving bowl.
- Now add the lemon juice and garnish it with Coriander leaves and Pomegranate seeds.
- Serve the yummy chaat.