This is my recent guest article on The Kitchn..
Chaat always brings back memories of carefree childhood weekends spent at my parents’ beach house in India. I’d walk over to the beach in the afternoon when the tide is low enough to pick sea shells. I’d return home with my pail full and stomach empty. A gorgeous bowl of chaat would be waiting for me – crunchy, sweet, tangy, spicy, filling all at the same time. I’d sit on the verandah eating chaat, listening to the waves crashing near by and watching the kites sail over me.
Chaat on weekends still transports me back to those balmy evenings in India. Sev puri is my favorite kind of chaat (‘chaat’ is a general name for this Indian street food; there are several variations). Sev puri are little puffed, fried rounds of dough (puri) stuffed with crispy noodles (sev), potatoes, onion, yogurt, tamarind chutney and mint chutney. The whole thing is then finished with a sprinkling of amazingly zestful chaat masala – a blend of salt, red chilli, coriander, cinnamon, ginger, anise, pepper, cumin, cardamom, clove, mace, carom and dried mango.
Above: Armando, the man who works at the local Indian store. He is El Salvadorian and his kowledge of Indian ingredients is encyclopedic. He watches all the bollywood movies and gets offended if they dont offer spanish subititles! Gotta love DC/VA!
You will need to make a trip to the Indian store for this recipe. You could attempt to make all the ingredients at home, but that would be time consuming. Why bother when you can buy the same thing at a store!
This is a basic recipe for sev puri; I encourage you to be creative with it..you are limited only by your imagination. When pomegranates are in season, I like to sprinkle some on top for a colorful, refreshing sweetness. A little chunk of pineapple tucked into the sev puri is divine (toss the pineapple chunks in chaat masala for a delightful sweet-savory flavor). To make these sev puris vegan, simply leave out the yogurt and use hummus, tahini or cashew butter instead. If you don’t have pani puris, try making this with tortilla chips instead; Scoops! will be perfect for this.
Finally, there is only one way to eat a sev puri – put the whole thing in your mouth! Don’t try to bite into it, just pop the whole thing in your mouth!
Sev Puri (Chaat) Recipe
Serves about 6
1 medium potato, boiled, peeled and diced
½ cup canned chickpeas, drained
3-4 tablespoons finely chopped red onion
40 pani puris* (fried rounds of dough)
½ cup yogurt
½ cup sev* (crispy noodles)
¼ cup date-tamarind chutney*
¼ cup mint chutney*
1 tablespoon Chaat Masala*
1/4 tablespoon red chilli powder or cayenne or paprika
A few sprigs of cilantro
*easily available at any Indian store
Mix together the boiled diced potato, chickpeas, red onion, ¼ teaspoon chaat masala and salt. Set aside. Gently poke a hole on one side of a pani puri. Make it large enough so you can stuff it with the potato mixture. Place some potato mixture inside the pani puri cavity. Top with about ½ tablespoon of yogurt. Sprinkle some sev on top of the yogurt. Then add date-tamarind and mint chutneys. Finish by sprinkling a little chaat masala and chili powder over the top. Repeat with all pani puris. Serve immediately.
This is pure temptation and nothing else…cool clicks
[Reply]
What a great treat! Those puffs look so delicious!
Cheers,
Rosa
[Reply]
I have not had this after the last trip to India. I so wish we had a Indian store here which stock up all the things you have written.
[Reply]
Hey, we use tostitos scoops instead of the puris..and I also put some tomatoes and onions in it too.. love these little pieces of heaven.
[Reply]
I love how you’ve described everything… i always buy the puris from the store too and with channa, some alu bhujia and boiled potatoes and some chutneys on hand this is something i can whip up in no time…
The pomegranate and pineapple are such great ideas – i can’t wait to try them next time.
[Reply]
Oh..I have been craving for this thing since God-know-when..Neither I like to try the store bought poori nor I have the patience n nerve to try a home made (deep fry) one..This is just too much Sala..n I think none else’s pics makes food more appetizing than yours ..WOW!!!
[Reply]
People like Armando make me realize how little I know about my own country’s cooking!
This looks great Sala. I am all about popping those pani puris whole!
[Reply]
LOVE IT! I am addicted to sev puri ( I make SP even with tortilla chips) and ur pictures are stunning and so very tempting! I would NEVER have had the patience to wait for a picture, I’d have eaten it!
[Reply]
This looks incredible! I HAVE TO make it somehow!
[Reply]
gorgeous Sala!!
[Reply]
Those look brilliant!
[Reply]
Wow gorgeous clicks! I guess this is the north Indian version of it… in Mumbai we call these dahi batata puri… I have a post of mumbai sevpuri on my blog too… not as cool looking as urs for sure!
BTW what camera do u have? I am planning to buy one soon…
[Reply]
Sala @ Veggie Belly Reply:
May 12th, 2010 at 12:17 pm
I have a canon rebel and a 50mm 1.8 lens and love them both
[Reply]
Fantastic pictures. U made me crave it. I am a total chat freak and can eat it anytime of day.
I make this with tortilla chips may times, as you said.
[Reply]
Sev puri looks very tempting to me, your pictures are breathtaking…making one very hungry right now:):)
[Reply]
I have been waiting to see the pictures ever since I read about the camera
Well worth the wait for the pictures are just GORGEOUS. If I were there, you would not get a single one of those , or we would end up fighting I guess 
[Reply]
I attempt to make once or twice at home. My DH started gobbling all of them in one day! I stopped doing at home! The pict re gorgeous!
[Reply]
I had bought pani puris at the Indian store and we liked them but it would have been so much better with all these other ingredients! Next time!
[Reply]
What a cool snack – looks so light and airy and perfect with all kinds of fillings, yum!
[Reply]
Please send me a recipe for the little pani puris!
[Reply]
Sev puri chaat looks fantastic, I feel like grabbing some right now!
[Reply]
Beautiful, beautiful presentation. My mouth is water already and a visit to the Indian store is in order . Of course the number of Indian stores in our region is truly god send, not that we don’t cross the Potomac to sample those on the other side but the stores in MD can’t be left behind.
[Reply]
Wow, they would make amazing canapes, I don’t think I have ever seen pani puri sold here in NZ though, have you ever made your own?
[Reply]
Sala @ Veggie Belly Reply:
May 12th, 2010 at 12:19 pm
Here is the recipe for the pani puris.
3 parts fine semolina
1 part ap flour
2 parts water (you may not need to use it all)
salt
Mix everything into a firm dough. Pinch off about a teaspoon sized ball of dough. Roll it gently using a rolling pin. Keep the dough and the rolled circles of pani puris covered with a damp towel. Deep fry the pani puri circles a few at a time.
[Reply]
oooh thats really yumm sala…
[Reply]
Gorgeous and incredibly delicious looking. This post makes me think of Rasa and all the amazing foods I tried for the first time there. There is a tiny Indian grocer near us and I think I’m going to have to go check it out. Amazing party food!
[Reply]
Oh, so that’s what I ate at The Cinnamon Club! Nobody told us what the amuse bouche was. Go and look – am I right??
http://www.greedygourmet.com/2010/02/10/the-cinnamon-club/
If it is chaat, I really loved it. Could have eaten a whole plateful and more!
[Reply]