Chaats: Exploring the Delights of Popular Indian Street Food
Chaats – an extremely popular category of Indian street food that describes the range of dishes that are an amalgamation of flavours and texture. Assorted sweet, tangy and spicy chutneys, dry spices, onion, tomato, coriander, sev and papdi are the primary ingredients used to make any chaat. Chaat is one such specific category that appeals to everyone as it contains every cravable element – sweet, spicy, tangy, crunchy.
The delectable chaat normally consists of pre-cooked and raw ingredients combined or assembled in layers and topped with crunchy ingredients and dry spices. Even though every region has their own version of each chaat dish, it remains an integral part of Indian food culture.
The best part is that chaats can be customised to suit an individual’s taste. People with a sweet tooth can add more sweet tamarind sauce, those who like spicy food can add extra chillies or green chutney to spice up their chaat, add more sev for extra crunch.
List of a few popular chaat dishes:
- Pani puri: One of the much-loved street foods is this delicious dish that’s also called golgappa. It is round and hollow deep fried unleavened bread called puri filled with a potato mixture, sweet and spicy chutneys and onion. Each pani puri has to be eaten in one big bite to prevent the filling from dripping all over the dress.
- Bhel puri: Puffed rice called bhel combined with crunchy pieces of puri, topped with green and tamarind chutneys, peanuts, coriander and generous sev.
- Dahi puri: Another tasty chaat made by filling puris with boiled potato cubes, sweet yogurt, sev, coriander and spices. It is one of the most common dishes sold by vendors in Mumbai streets and other north Indian places.
- Sev Puri: Small crispy puris filled with vegetables, chutneys and generous amounts of sev.
- Masala puri: A delicious south Indian street-food chaat originated in Bangalore. It is made by layering the dried pea gravy, spices, tamarind chutney, onion, tomato, sev, crunchy puris and spices. Check out the recipe at Flavours Treat.
- Aloo tikki chaat: A classic street food that’s available in most Indian restaurants outside India. Aloo tikkis are patties made of mashed potato and spices. These are placed on a chickpea curry (chana masala), topped with assorted chutneys, spices, onion, coriander and sev. Check out the delicious chana masala video here.
- Ragda patties: Crispy potato patties topped with dried white pea gravy, sev, onion, spices and chutneys.
- Papri chaat: A crunchy papdis topped with either boiled potato or chickpeas, chutneys, sev and dry spices.
- Peanut Chaat: Boiled peanuts tossed with spices, onion, tomato, coriander and sev.
- Chana chaat: Cooked chickpea combined with vegetables, tamarind chutney, dry spices, generous amounts of sev and coriander.
- Samosa chaat: A very popular Punjabi cuisine’s dish, samosa is cut into bite size pieces, layered with chana masala, assorted chutneys, dry spices, vegetables and sev.
- Corn chaat: Boiled corn combined with spices, vegetables and sev.
- Matar chaat: An irresistible street side dish made of dried white peas. It is also called ghugni chaat, ragda chaat and is very popular in Delhi streets. White pea gravy is topped with onion, tomato, chutneys, coriander, spices and sev. It is a delicious and filling dish when paired with kulcha.
