SPICY MATAR CHAAT (CHAAT MADE OF PEAS)

Delhi is famous for its foods and flavors but the real flavor comes from the chaats, savory snacks.  There is so much variety in this category.  There is papri chaat, potato chaat, kachalu(taro root) chaat, sweet potato chaat and matar chaat. There is no end to this list.

 The word Chaat is used for a group of hot, spicy and tangy, vegetarian snacks from north India. The Hindi word ‘chaatna’ means 'to lick'. Chaat dishes are so delicious that they make you smack your lips and lick the plate clean. Chaat is a comfort food often sold by street vendors... You can see people standing all around a Chaat cart, eating and licking their plates.  When you find many people around a chaat vendor or shop, it is a certificate that his chaat is simply scrumptious.  It’s a kind of celebration in congregation.

So I have decided to explore this area of Delhi street foods over next few times. Today we are going to get into matar chaat.  This is a delicious yet easy snack to make, using dry peas, or 'matar.  These peas are creamy and light greenish in color, almost like chickpea. They are available in the lentil section of any grocery store.

Ingredients: 

2 cups of dry peas, salt to taste, ½ tsp red chili powder, 1 tsp cumin seeds roasted and coarsely ground, 1 tsp chaat masala, 1 tsp of tamarind pulp

Ingredients for garnishing:

1 onion peeled and finely chopped, 1 medium potato boiled and cut into small cubes, 2 green chilies finely chopped(optional), ¼ cup  chopped fresh coriander leaves, 3 tbsp green chutney made of mint and coriander leaves, 3 tbsp sweet chutney made of tamarind or dry mango powder. (For the recipe of green chutney and sweet chutney see my blog Papri Chaat of May 7, 2012)

Method:

Wash and soak peas overnight. Place in a pressure cooker with four cups of water. Once pressure is made, cook for 5 minutes on the full flame. If you don’t want to boil in the pressure cooker, boil the peas in a covered pan until they turn soft. Once cooker cools off, check that peas are soft enough. If too much water is there, drain it.  Now mix tamarind pulp in ¼ cup of hot water, stir it well and add it to dry peas. Add chaat masala, chili powder, salt, cumin powder to the peas. Just before serving add chopped onion and potato and green chilies. Sprinkle fresh coriander leaves on the top.

Serve green chutney and sweet chutney in separate bowls so that your guests can help themselves as per their need.  Some people like more tangy taste so they prefer just green chutney but others might have little sweet tooth so they might be opting for sweet and sour tamarind or dry mango powder chutney. Personally I like to mix both in my chaat for a magical taste.