Chola Chotpoti / Spicy Black Chickpeas / Masale Chole / Chole Chatpate

In the evening when the school was about to be over...lots of street food vendors used to line up in front of our school from a distance to tempt us with their food. There used to be panipuris / phuchka, ghughni and many more. We, who were accompanied by their guardians were of course not allowed to have them. But those, who used to take school buses or other public transports, used to devour them almost every day. And I had nothing to do but envying them, as I used to hold my mother's hand and took our way to home. The same thing happened in the local railway stations. Many food vendors used to scatter here and there in the platform...and some occasionally gave a loud call to the public drawing the much needed attention to their food.

The situation has not changed a bit even today and with time the variety of food has increased and have become more mouthwatering. You will have to choose from the lot...all of whom are your favorites, the most favorite one. "Jhalmuri" - a spicy mixture of the puffed rice with boiled potatoes, sev and boiled yellow peas or black chickpeas, is something, that you can not miss. Then comes "ghoti gorom". Ghoti Gorom is a mixture of hot sev with lots of spices, chopped onions and green mangoes. I love them.

 This year I noticed a new name on the counter and that is "chotpoti". Being curious I bought them and savored its taste. Basically its nothing different from the "alu-kabli - the spicy potato mixture", but I think chotpoti is a lot more nutritious as it contains only boiled black chickpeas or yellow peas sans potato or any other stored sauces.

As a remedy of my bad health, I started to have a good diet plan from the last month and I included this chotpoti as my evening snack. Its healthy, spicy and at the same time nutritious.

Chola Chotpoti / Spicy Black Chickpeas / Masale Chole / Chole Chatpate
Serves 2

Ingredients:

• 1 and half cup of chole - soaked overnight in water
• 1/2 of a medium sized onion - chopped
• 1/2 tomato - de-seeded and chopped
• 1 small cucumber - chopped
• 1 green chili - chopped
• 1 tsp finely chopped ginger
• 1 tsp green chili paste (optional)
• 2 tbsp chopped coriander leaves
• 2 tbsp thin tamarind pulp
• 1 tsp bhaja / roasted masala ( dry roast the cumin seeds, coriander seeds, black peppercorns, dry red chili and then grind them to a fine powder)
• 1 tsp black salt
• 1 tsp chat masala
• 1 tsp red chilli powder
• a handful of sev
• Juice of 1 lime
• salt

Method:

• Boil the soaked chole in water with a generous amount of salt.
• When done, drain the water and leave them to cool down.
• To make the tamarind pulp, at first soak the tamarind in water for half an hour and then mash them with your hand. Strain and collect the pulp in a different bowl.
• Mix the bhaja / roasted masala, black salt, chat masala, green chilli paste and salt.
• Now take a big bowl and mix every ingredient listed above.
• Sprinkle some sev and chopped coriander leaves on top just before serving.