Colorful Papri Chaat with Beetroots
Papri Chaat ions essentially a creation that is well loved in the street food universe of Indian cuisine. There are many varieties of chaat. The distinction of papri chaat is that the chaat uses Indian crisps or crackers called Papri. If you have the time and patience, you can make your own papri. But a visit to the Indian store will get you in the Papri business as well. This colorful Papri Chaat gets it vibrant color from the addition of some beets along with the potatoes. It is a fall favorite in our house now.
Papri Chat is often served with sliced potatoes and called Alu Papri Chat. This trip to Kolkata ended with me getting sick. I then got the kids sick. We lost power and not all seems well.
Well, to cheer all of us and of course to use up the beetroots we have been getting in the garden, I have devised this adaptation of the classic potato recipe. The recipe takes a little planning and there are a few steps to put together. I promise you that the effort is well worth it. Plan on serving this for your next party, I am sure you will find the colors and flavors quite intoxicating.
Chaat Lexicon and basic steps:
A Chaat is a street style savory dish originating from Northern India. You will find chaat variations in other parts of India too.
A chaat has a mélange of flavors, sweet, spicy and savory. This usually comes from the use of a spice blend called chaat masala and the combination of chutneys. The tamarind chutney which is sweet and the green chutney which is spicy. Most chaat varieties use yogurt. And in the case of papri chaat, the base is made using papri or Indian crackers.
I actually did make the papri or crackers at home and my kids loved them as is, promptly calling them Indian Nachos. I actually added this extra step mostly because I love the lightness of the homemade crackers.
A crisp salad like street food dish, that is traditionally made with potatoes
Ingredients
- For the Beets and potatoes
- 2 beets
- 1 medium sized potato
- 1 lime
- 1 teaspoon black salt
- 1 and 1/4 cup flour
- 1/4 cup semolina
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 2 tablespoons oil
- 3/4 cup cold water
- Oil for Frying
- For the Chaat
- 2-3 tablespoons each of Green Chutney, Yogurt, Store bought Tamarind Chutney,
- Sev and chopped cilantro to garnish
Instructions
- Pre-heat the oven to 350 degrees. Wrap the beetroots in foil and bake for about 45 minutes. Remove from the oven and cool the beetroots. Boil the potato and peel and set aside to cool.
- Cube the beets and potatoes. Sprinkle with the lime juice and the salt and set them aside for at least 30 minutes.
- While the beetroots are cooking add the flour and semolina and salt to a mixing bowl. Add in the oil and mix well with your fingertips to form an even mixture.
- Gradually add the cold water and mix in to form a firm and pliable dough. Set the dough aside for 30 minutes.
- Roll out the dough to a thin (about 1/4 inch) circle. Cut the dough into circles using a round 2-inch sized cutter. Prick the circle well.
- Heat the oil in a wok for about 3 minutes and add about 2 to 3 of the dough circles and fry until nice and golden but not too brown. These fried dough circles are called papri.
- Remove with a slotted spoon and set them aside to cool completely. This does take a considerable amount of time, so if you are busy, skip and buy store made papri.
- To assemble place the papris in a single layer. Top them with the cubed beets and potatoes.
- Add some of the green chutney, tamarind chutney and the yogurt. Add in the chopped onions and the crispy sev and enjoy!
Notes
The time includes making the papri crackers from the scratch