Channa Chaat

Channa chaat is a traditional street food in India but translates really well to a British table as a spicy potato salad.

I first came across a channa chaat recipe online years ago. The writer described how buying this sour salad from a street vendor was a guilty pleasure in her childhood. Her family was very particular and kept a good kitchen – eating street food was a culinary betrayal that made the dish even more delicious.

Traditionally, chaat is made with chaat masala, a sour spicy spice blend with mango powder (anchoor) in it. If you can’t find it, don’t worry about it.

The preparation time depends on your knife skills: it’s all about chopping and boiling. Smaller pieces of potato cook faster. You can whip up a batch of channa chaat in about half an hour if you don’t chop the veg too finely.

Serves 4. Prep: 10 minutes. Cooking time: 20 minutes. Cooling: 20 minutes.
Stores: In the fridge for a couple of days in a sealed container.

Tools

• Knife
• Chopping board
• Salad bowl
• Pan

Ingredients

• 1 kg salad potatoes
• 1-2 red or sweet onions
• 1 punnet cherry tomatoes, or 3-4 ripe, tasty tomatoes
• 1 red chilli
• 2 inch cube of fresh ginger
• 1-2 tbsp of your favourite Indian-style spice blend
• 1 can chick peas
• Juice from 2 lemons
• 1 handful fresh coriander
• Sea salt to taste

Method

1. Chop the potatoes into bite-sized pieces.
2. Boil the potatoes until soft.
3. Quarter the cherry tomatoes or cube large tomatoes into cubes about the same size as the potato pieces.
4. Meanwhile, chop the onion and the chilli and put in a large bowl.
5. Grate the ginger and prepare the spices and put in with the onion and chilli.
6. When the potatoes are almost done, throw the chickpeas into the water to warm through. (This step isn’t strictly speaking necessary. I like my channa chaat hot the first time I eat it and this helps it stay that way.)
7. Drain the potatoes and chickpeas and mix in with the onion and spice mix.
8. Pour over lemon juice and stir.
9. Add coriander and sea salt when serving.

Channa chaat stores well in the fridge for a couple of days.