Chana Chaat

 Chana Chaat

Chana Chaat is a popular Indian snack where cooked chickpeas are tossed with fresh cut onions, tomatoes, tamarind chutney, ground aromatic spices and herbs. This easy to make chana chaat is spicy, slightly sour and sweet with a punch of so many flavors and textures. More over it is healthy, protein packed, filling and is super delicious. Serve it for a snack any time of the day. It also makes a great party snack too.

Chana Chaat

Chana chaat is so much popular across India and you will find it being made everywhere. Right from the households, push carts selling street foods to the restaurants specialized in chaat foods, you will find various versions being served.

So there is no one way to make this. You will almost never find chana chaat tasting same in any 2 places. Some use yogurt, some places serve it with potatoes and some are made with all different kinds of chutneys – green, tamarind and red chutney.

In this post I share a simple and easy to make chana chaat with pantry staples. Whipping up this chaat is super easy and can be done under 10 mins, if you have pre-boiled or canned chickpeas. Just chop the veggies and mix all the ingredients together.

You can make this chaat with white chickpeas (kabuli chana) or black chickpeas (kala chana), whatever you like. I make it with whatever I have. It can also be made with any kind of soft cooked legumes or beans or even sprouts.

We are also not very particular about using sev for the topping. On occasions I end up topping with boondi or even with Chivda, cornflakes, baked chips or tortilla chips. I know this sounds funny but don’t stop yourself from making this just because you don’t have sev.

How to Make Chana Chaat (Stepwise Photos)

Preparation

1. To make chana chaat, first rinse and soak half cup chickpeas overnight or for at least 6 to 8 hours. Later drain the water and rinse them very well. Pour fresh water just enough to cover them about 1 cup.

2. Cover and Pressure cook for 3 to 4 whistles on a medium heat or in the instant pot for 16 minutes, until chana turns tender.

3. When the pressure drops, drain the water and reserve it. You can add it to soups, rasam, curry, sambar or to knead roti dough. Cool chana completely.

Make Chana Chaat

4. Add chaat masala, salt and cumin powder . Also add tamarind chutney or tamarind paste mixed with honey or dates syrup. Add chopped green chilies, onions, tomatoes & coriander leaves. Toss everything well. You can also skip tamarind chutney and use just lemon juice. Add more salt, spice and chaat masala if needed.

Serve chana chaat immediately. Top this with your favorite crunchies like sev, farsan/ mixture or boondi.

Kala Chana Chaat

This was another time I made with onions, tomatoes, grated carrots, crispy air fried potatoes and sev.

To make crispy potatoes dice the potatoes and fry them in 2 tablespoons of oil until crispy or air fry in the air fryer until crisp. I air fried for 4 to 5 minutes at 360F /180 C. Cool them first before adding here.

Add the cumin powder, chaat masala and tamarind chutney.

Taste test and adjust salt and spice powders.

Garnish chana chaat with sev. Serve immediately.