Chickpea Chaat Salad ~CHOLEY CHAAT

The inspiration for this salad comes from the Indian street food “chaat”. Chaat is a medley of puffed rice, fried crispies, chickpeas, boiled peanuts, a selection of sauces and a few raw veggies, it’s not limited to this combination but extends to everything similar with a hot, sweet, sour, spicy and piquant  flavor.

The chickpeas for this recipe hit all the flavor notes as mention above and the raw summer veggies make it fresh and delightful while keeping it healthy and light. It’s like a roller coaster in your mouth.

You could use a can and half of chickpeas or soak and cook dried chickpeas as mentioned in the recipes. I prefer the latter because fresh cooked taste way better.

CHOLEY AUR SABZI CHAAT KI SALAD

For the chickpeas

• 3/4 cup dried black or regular chickpeas soaked over night, then cooked till soft either in a pan instapot or pressure cooker or use 1 1/2 can chickpeas
• 1 teaspoon ground cumin seeds
• 1/2 teaspoon Garam masala
• 1/2 teaspoon black salt
• 1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper
• 1/2-1 teaspoon amchur (dry mango powder) available at Indian grocery stores or online
• 2 inch piece ginger minced about 1 Tablespoon
• sea salt to taste
• 2 T any neutral oil
• 1/2 t cayenne pepper, optional

• For the veggies

• 2 Persian cucumbers, diced into small pieces
• 1 cup baby tomatoes halved or quartered
• 1 cup halved radishes, or quartered
• 1 red pepper seeded and cut into 1 inch pieces
• 1 medium red onion diced small
• 1/2 cup cilantro, packed
• 1/2 cup flat leaf parsley, packed

• for the dressing

• 1/2 cup yogurt
• Juice of 1 lime
• sea salt to taste
• 1/2 teaspoon maple syrup or sugar
• 1/2 t chaat masala

Chop all the veggies, mix and set it aside in a bowl.

Mix all the ingredients for the dressing and set aside.

In a medium sauce pan warm the oil and add all the spices for the chickpeas. Taking take not to burn or you have to start all over. The spices should sizzle in the warm oil. The idea is to take the raw taste off. Add the chickpeas and mix well till well coated. Add a little water if needed. Heat through. Take it off the heat and Let it rest for 10 minutes for the spices to absorb. If you find the spices not enough for your taste add as needed a little water and cook again till heated. Serve with the salad and dressing drizzled over. Makes about 2-3 servings.