Masala Puri chaat is a tangy and spicy mouth watering chaat, a lip-smacking Indian street food; crispy papdis (fried flour discs) are topped with a spicy and hot green peas masala curry along with the quintessential chaat chutneys, green chutney and tamarind chutney. To make the chaat more divine, lots of crispy sev and finely chopped onions are sprinkled over it!
Indians can never say no or have enough of chaats! Chaat is the most popular street food enjoyed all over India. Every street corner will have an array of vendors with their carts, selling chaats like pani puri, bhel puri, katori chaats etc. along with other street foods like dosas, Indo-chinese gobi Manchurian etc.
Masala Puri chaat is one of the more famous hot chaats; by “hot” I mean temperature wise! Bubbly hot spicy green peas curry is poured over crisp flour discs called papdis and then smothered with lip-smacking green coriander chutney and sweet and tangy tamarind chutney!
To add to the heavenly experience, finely chopped red onions and tomatoes are sprinkled over this along with a generous amount of sev (deep fried chickpea batter fine noodles)!
For hygienic reasons, I try not to eat chaats outside; and I came to know about this hot chaat from my younger son who used to enjoy it with his friends at college! I was familiar with pani puri and bhel puri but masala puri, that too hot?
Browsing the net, I came across different versions of this unique hot chaat. During my last visit to my son’s house, I decided to experiment and I dished it out to him with my version of masala puri chaat. He loved it!
That was it; I jotted down my list of ingredients and now, this is my go-to recipe for masala puri chaat. Once you have the chutneys (green coriander chutney and sweet and tangy tamarind-dates chutney) prepared ahead of time and stored in the refrigerator, all you have to do is make the green peas curry, get some ready made papdis (or make your own), some sev and you are good to go!
For the lazier or busier ones, nowadays, the chutneys along with papdis as well as sev are easily available in any Indian store. All that is left to do is the green peas curry and hot chatpata masala puri chaat is just minutes away!
For more similar street foods of India, you must try:
- Chatpata Pani Puri
- Salem Thattu Vadai Set
- Aloo Bonda/Spicy Potato Fritters
- Spicy Mumbai Pav Bhaji Masala
How to make Masala Puri Chaat:
To make green coriander chutney:
Blend all ingredients needed for green chutney (coriander leaves, mint leaves, garlic, green chillies/jalapenos, grated coconut and salt) to a fine thick, smooth paste adding very little water. Remove to a bowl, stir in fresh lemon juice and keep in refrigerator.
To make sweet tamarind chutney:
Boil tamarind and dates in 2 cups of water and once it comes to a boil, simmer for 10 minutes.
Let the mixture cool down and strain over a sieve into another bowl. Keep adding water to the thick mixture in the sieve and continue to press through the sieve to get a thick pulp in the bowl below and until the strained mixture turns almost clear.
To the strained tamarind dates mixture, add jaggery or sugar and bring to a boil. Simmer for about 15 to 20 minutes or until slightly thick. Add roasted cumin powder and black salt according to your taste and remove from heat and let cool.
This can be stored in the refrigerator in a glass bottle for at least 2 to 3 months.
To make the green peas masala:
Wash and soak dry green peas in water for 8 hours or overnight.
Next day, drain and pressure cook with salt and water until fully cooked, tender and soft.
Make a fine paste of coconut, ginger, garlic, mint leaves, coriander leaves, cumin seeds, coriander seeds, star anise, Marathi moggu (Kapok Buds), cloves and cinnamon along with the dry red chillies and fresh green chillies or jalapenos. Keep aside.
In a large saucepan, heat oil and once hot, add the chopped onions.
Saute on medium high heat until soft and translucent.
Stir in the ground coconut masala paste. Fry again on medium heat for a few minutes until the paste is almost dry.
Add the cooked green peas and required amount of water to make a fairly medium thick gravy.
Tip in chaat masala powder (available in all Indian stores) or amchur powder (raw mango powder) and salt to taste along with water and mix well.
Bring to a boil and then simmer for about 8 to 10 minutes. Adjust consistency by adding more water if necessary but the green peas masala should have a thick gravy consistency.
To make the masala puri chaat:
On a plate, break papdis (homemade or store bought) into pieces and place on a serving plate.
Pour the hot green peas masala on the crushed puris evenly.
Drizzle sweet tamarind chutney and fresh green chutney (optional) over the peas curry.
Sprinkle with finely chopped onions and/or coriander leaves.
Top with generous amounts of crispy sev and serve hot chatpata Karnataka style masala puri chaat immediately along with a hot cup of chai or coffee!
Enjoy!!!
Spicy, tangy and chatpata Indian street food topped with a piping hot green peas masala curry and lip-smacking chutneys!
Ingredients
- 2 cups dry green peas
- ¼ cup grated coconut (fresh or frozen)
- 1 inch piece ginger
- 3 garlic cloves
- 2 tbsp pudina or mint leaves
- 4 tbsp coriander leaves
- ½ tsp jeera or cumin seeds
- 1 tbsp coriander seeds
- 1 star anise
- 2 marathi moggu
- 3 cloves
- 1 inch piece cinnamon
- 6 to 8 byadgi or Kashmiri chilli
- 2 green chillies/jalapenos
- 1 small onion, chopped
- 1 to 1 ½ tsp chaat masala powder or amchur powder
- Salt to taste
- 2 tbsp oil
- To serve:
- 1 cup coriander leaves
- ½ cup mint leaves
- 3 green chillies/jalapenos
- 2 cloves garlic
- 2 tbsp grated coconut (optional)
- Salt to taste
- 1 tsp lemon juice
- 1 cup tamarind, seeds removed
- 10 to 12 pitted dates
- ½ to ¾ cup jaggery or sugar
- 1 tsp roasted cumin powder
- ½ tsp black salt/kala namak or according to taste
- Additional toppings:
- Crisp papdis or pani puris
- Lots of sev (crisp deep fried chickpea fine noodles)
- Finely chopped onions (preferably red onions)
- Finely chopped tomatoes (optional)
- Pomegranate pearls (optional)
- Finely chopped coriander leaves (optional)
Instructions
- Blend all ingredients needed for green chutney, except lemon juice, to a fine thick, smooth paste adding very little water. Remove to a bowl, stir in fresh lemon juice and keep in refrigerator.
- Boil tamarind and dates in 2 cups of water and once it comes to a boil, simmer for 10 minutes.
- Let the mixture cool down and strain over a sieve into another bowl. Keep adding water to the thick mixture in the sieve and continue to press through the sieve to get a thick pulp in the bowl below and until the strained mixture turns almost clear.
- To the strained tamarind dates mixture, add jaggery or sugar and bring to a boil. Simmer for about 15 to 20 minutes or until slightly thick. Add roasted cumin powder and black salt according to your taste and remove from heat and let cool.
- This can be stored in the refrigerator in a glass bottle for at least 2 to 3 months.
- Wash and soak dry green peas in water for 8 hours or overnight.
- Next day, drain and pressure cook with salt and water until fully cooked and tender.
- Make a fine paste of coconut, ginger, garlic, mint leaves, coriander leaves, cumin seeds, coriander seeds, star anise, Marathi moggu, cloves and cinnamon along with the dry red chillies and fresh green chillies or jalapenos. Keep aside.
- In a large saucepan, heat oil and once hot, add the chopped onions.
- Saute on medium high heat until soft and translucent.
- Stir in the ground coconut masala paste. Fry again on medium heat for a few minutes until the paste is almost dry.
- Add the cooked green peas and required amount of water to make a fairly medium thick gravy.
- Tip in chaat masala powder or amchur powder and salt to taste along with water and mix well.
- Bring to a boil and then simmer for about 8 to 10 minutes. Adjust consistency by adding more water if necessary but the green peas masala should have a thick gravy consistency.
- On a plate, break papdis into pieces and place on a serving plate.
- Pour the hot green peas masala on the crushed puris evenly.
- Drizzle sweet tamarind chutney and fresh green chutney (optional) over the peas curry.
- Sprinkle with finely chopped onions and/or coriander leaves.
- Top with generous amounts of crispy sev and serve hot chatpata Karnataka style masala puri chaat immediately along with a hot cup of chai or coffee!
Notes
You can use dry white peas instead of green peas.
If you do not have amchur powder or chaat masala powder to balance the sourness in the curry, stir in some tamarind paste according to your taste.
Additional toppings for masala puri chaat are finely chopped tomatoes, pomegranate, grated carrot etc.
Adjust the spices in the chutneys according to taste.
Add required amount of jaggery or sugar depending upon how sweet you want your chutney.
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I am sharing this with our group HealthyWellthy Cuisines where the theme this time is Street Food!! Please check out the other amazing varieties of mouth-watering, lip-smacking street foods that you can enjoy in the comforts of your own home: Masala Toast Sandwich (Mumbai Style), Aloo Matar Chaat, Banarasi Tamatar Ki Chaat, Samosadillas, Pani Puri etc.
Soma
This plate of masala puri looks so tempting craving for it now???
Vanitha Bhat
Thanks so much Soma 🙂