One of the many downsides of lockdown is not being able to give into our food cravings. Since all the eateries were closed, many have tried their hand at lot of snacks, especially Indian Chat recipes. In a recent survey, the most searched recipes during lockdown where of snacks & Chat recipes.
There is a running joke about chat: no matter how close to the recipe you stick to, the flavours are not quite the same as the food prepared by the chat vendors. Reason: We maintain hygiene while cooking, whereas the vendors are not so inclined to be hygienic and hence the snacks prepared by them are more delicious.
So this was grilled into me since childhood, street foods are not healthy, stay away from them. And I did stay away from them too; till I was introduced to chat and other street foods a bit later in my life and of course I liked street food like any other person. I was quite taken with the flavours. And so even I have tried my hand at a couple of recipes in this lockdown. Some where a miss and some were a hit!
Yesterday, I was supposed to prepare Pani Puri and I have soaked the dried peas in the morning, thinking I would prepare it for the evening snack. For whatever reason I did not feel like preparing it and so the dried peas continued to soak till today morning. While we did have the stock of readymade Puris, it was quite some time back we have brought them, so I checked on them while the peas were cooking and realized they are not fit to be eaten. And so I had to scrap the plan of Pani Puri and come up with another plan, which was Ragada chat.
It was the first time I have tried the recipe and it has come out really well! Sharing the recipe for the people who wants to try it too.
Ingredients:
- Dried Peas
- Potato (Optional)
- Onion
- Tomato
- Green Chilli
- Oil
- Ginger-Garlic paste
- Turmeric Powder
- Red Chilli Powder
- Cumin Powder
- Coriander Powder
- Salt
- Garam Masala powder
- Chat Masala powder
Preparation:
- Soak the dried peas (1 Cup) over night. Cook them along with one potato in a pressure for five whistles. I have skipped potato since I don’t like them.
- In a different Pan, heat three tbsp. oil, add one finely chopped onion, one tbsp. Ginger-Garlic paste and one finely chopped green chilli. Cook till the onions are golden brown and add one finely chopped tomato.
- Cook till the tomatoes turn mushy and add half tbsp turmeric, half tbsp red chilli powder, half tbsp cumin powder and half tbsp coriander powder, salt to taste, ¼ tbsp garam masala powder and ¼ tbsp chat masala.
- Cook till the oil splits and add cooked peas. Mix well and cook for 5 minutes on low flames. And Voila! Ragada Chat is ready!
You can serve it with green chutney, Sweet chutney, finely chopped onions and coriander.
Original Recipe by Hebbar’s Kitchen.
