For someone who could make nothing apart from Chai and Maggi until a couple of years ago, it will be too presumptuous to write about a recipe. But this particular recipe is an exception- because it is my very own, original recipe! Yah!
Panu-puri and ragdapuri (as called in Marathi, or gol gappe and chaat, as they are called in Hindi) are amongst my favorite dishes. You get them as road side dishes on a cart for Rs. 20 (1/3rd of a US dollar! Still, I find the current price is a rip off, because they used to cost Rs 5 when I grew up!) in almost all the regions in India. If you are concerned about road side hygiene (which I am not), given the correct ingredients, they are super easy to make, and very, very tasty! But there lies the problem: the right ingredients.
After moving to Irvine, CA, I find myself at loss- ain't no road-side chaat in this country! Some of the Indian restaurants in the orange county might be serving chaat, but I am sure they don't taste half as good. But here I found a few new things, like avocado and tortilla chips. So trying to preserve what is my interpretation of the bare fundamentals of making chaat, I came up with my own version of chaat, which I call avocado chaat. It's very quick and easy to make, and tastes great, and is arguably healthier than the normal chaat!
Here's the recipe: (serves 2)
To be chopped: onions (1 medium), tomatoes (1 medium), avocados (1 medium), boiled potatoes(1 medium), and if feeling adventurous, 2-3 green chili
1. Crush 7-8 tortilla chips in each of the two bowl, add potatoes, avocados, tomatoes, onions, green chili
2. Add pasta sauce (2 tbsp), non-sweet yogurt (2 tbsp)
3. Sprinkle red pepper powder (just a pinch), chaat masala (just a pinch)
4. Add shev (bhujia- I think they can be called as Chickpea fried noodles!) as a topping, sprinkle lime juice
I want you to experiment and make your own avocado chaat- Treat this post as a source code to an open source software. Take this and build your own!
Here's a photo of the chaat that a friend of mine made:
Panu-puri and ragdapuri (as called in Marathi, or gol gappe and chaat, as they are called in Hindi) are amongst my favorite dishes. You get them as road side dishes on a cart for Rs. 20 (1/3rd of a US dollar! Still, I find the current price is a rip off, because they used to cost Rs 5 when I grew up!) in almost all the regions in India. If you are concerned about road side hygiene (which I am not), given the correct ingredients, they are super easy to make, and very, very tasty! But there lies the problem: the right ingredients.
After moving to Irvine, CA, I find myself at loss- ain't no road-side chaat in this country! Some of the Indian restaurants in the orange county might be serving chaat, but I am sure they don't taste half as good. But here I found a few new things, like avocado and tortilla chips. So trying to preserve what is my interpretation of the bare fundamentals of making chaat, I came up with my own version of chaat, which I call avocado chaat. It's very quick and easy to make, and tastes great, and is arguably healthier than the normal chaat!
Here's the recipe: (serves 2)
To be chopped: onions (1 medium), tomatoes (1 medium), avocados (1 medium), boiled potatoes(1 medium), and if feeling adventurous, 2-3 green chili
1. Crush 7-8 tortilla chips in each of the two bowl, add potatoes, avocados, tomatoes, onions, green chili
2. Add pasta sauce (2 tbsp), non-sweet yogurt (2 tbsp)
3. Sprinkle red pepper powder (just a pinch), chaat masala (just a pinch)
4. Add shev (bhujia- I think they can be called as Chickpea fried noodles!) as a topping, sprinkle lime juice
I want you to experiment and make your own avocado chaat- Treat this post as a source code to an open source software. Take this and build your own!
Here's a photo of the chaat that a friend of mine made:
Good luck, and do let me know what you think!
