Indian street food always gets me excited!
I enjoy food-tripping every time I visit India. The street food flavours you find in each city is completely different even if the dish shares the same name. For example, in Mumbai, we have a street food called Pani Puri, while the same thing is called Gol Gappe in the Northern cities. It’s an experience in itself wandering around the streets, seeing the colourful vendors cook up their specialities with such panache.
Channa Chaat is a healthy way to add lentils to your diet without spending too much time in the kitchen. In fact, on the streets they make it with dark green chickpeas and a sinful overload of salted butter. I enjoy fruit chaat too, it’s an assortment of fruits in a salty- sweet and tangy mix. Have you tried my sweet corn & strawberry chaat recipe? Give it a go, it’s actually a fusion chaat concept, click here for the recipe.
So coming back to this Channa chaat, it’s a gluten-free, vegan recipe idea that is perfect for the upcoming hot summer days. And if you want to make it for kids, just omit the green chilli. Enjoy this super easy recipe and don't forget to tag me on socials with #saffronbowl
Ingredients
1/2 cup white dry chickpeas/ kabuli channa
1 medium red onion
1 medium tomato
1 cucumber
¼ cup pomegranate seeds (optional)
1 tbsp chaat masala
the juice of 1 fresh small lemon
1 tsp himalayan salt or rock salt
a handful of coriander leaves
1 green chili (optional)
Wash the chickpeas well, then soak it overnight in plenty of fresh water. Pressure cook the chickpeas with salt the next day, or boil it until it’s tender to touch (but hasn't lost it’s shape), and drain it.
Wash all the veggies, peel the cucumber and onion. Chop the onions finely, and dice the cucumber and the tomato into small bite sized cubes. In a large serving dish, add the cooked chickpeas along with the chopped onions, cucumber, tomato, green chili, chaat masala, and mix it well. Just before you’re ready to serve, add the salt and the lemon juice. Now it’s ready to be served.
Tip- if you don’t have white chickpeas, use the black or the green ones, or even cooked red kidney beans are a wonderful substitute. If you’re allergic to lentils, use cooked white potato or sweet potato as a substitute. If you have none of these, even boiled macaroni will work as an innovative vegan salad idea.