Sprouts Papdi Chaat

After each and every fight with my husband I end up either finishing a tub of ice cream or a bar of chocolate, to add to my already increasing fats and calories in my body. Every time....I promise myself to not to indulge in any of those...and every time I fail miserably. Only once did I ever keep my promise and to keep myself busy...I followed this lengthy process of making sprouts chaat. Lengthy...because I had to make the papdis from scratch...where it took almost all my time and made me feel wary that whether I could finish making the chaat properly to the end or eat everything midway.

But finally I dragged myself till the end. I made a big batch of the sprouts papdi chaat and ate all of it. There is no other satisfaction that can come close to the sense of pleasure and fulfillment of relishing chaat without worrying about it's supply.  Don’t know how much it helped me with the calorie counting but it sure helped me to get over the feud between me and my husband. I could not bid adieux to the potatoes in pure sense...and kept them in a small quantity. I am an avid lover of potatoes and can’t think of chaat without them. What to do!!

Sprouts Papdi Chaat

Serves 1

Ingredients:

8 medium papdis

½  medium potato – peeled, boiled and cut into cubes

½ tomato – chopped

2 green chillies – finely chopped

½ cup of sprouts

½ small onion – chopped

 A handful of black chickpeas – boiled with some salt

A handful of coriander leaves – finely chopped

4 tbsp of the dates and tamarind chutney (recipe follows)

2 tbsp of the spicy tamarind water (recipe follows)

4 tbsp thick yogurt – whisked with some water to give it a nice drizzling consistency

2 tsp black salt

1 tbsp bhaja mosla (dry roasted and ground cumin seeds, coriander seeds, black peppercorns and dry red chillies)

Juice of 1 lime

Salt

For the date and tamarind chutney:

1 tbsp jagerry

8 dates

2 tbsp tamarind pulp

2-3 tsp bhaja mosla (dry roasted and ground cumin seeds, coriander seeds, black peppercorns and dry red chillies)

A pinch of black salt

Salt

½ cup of white granulated sugar

2 tsp red chilli powder

For the spicy tamarind water:

2 tbsp tamarind pulp

1 tbsp bhaja mosla (dry roasted and ground cumin seeds, coriander seeds, black peppercorns and dry red chillies)

4 green chillies – roughly chopped

A handful of coriander leaves – finely chopped

Juice of 2 limes

1 tsp black salt

Salt

Method:

To make the tamarind pulp, soak about 2 tbsp of the tamarind in ½ cup of water for about 15 minutes and then squeeze it with hand. Discard all the seeds, flesh and skin and keep aside the water.

Make the tamarind water:

Add 2 tbsp of the tamarind pulp to 1 cup of water. Add the green chillies and coriander leaves. Add the lime juice and squeeze the green chillies and coriander leaves with hand for a minute to get all the flavour out of them. Add the salt, black salt, bhaja mosla. Mix them and do a taste test. Adjust the seasonings. Keep the tamarind water inside the fridge to develop its flavour.

Make the chutney:

In a saucepan put together the jagerry, dates and tamarind pulp. Add about 2 cups of water and mix them well. Let it come to a boil and then add the bhaja mosla, salt, sugar and balck salt. Stir to mix and simmer for another 12-15 minutes on medium flame. When the chutney reaches the consistency of syrup, switch off the flame. Make sure that the chutney remains really thin because, as the chutney will cool down the texture will become stiffer.

Run the chutney through a fine sieve and keep the starined mixture aside to cool down.

Assemble he chaat:

In a bowl take the chopped potatoes, sprouts, chopped onions, boiled black chickpeas, tomatoes, chopped green chillies and chopped coriander leaves. Add the bhaja mosla, salt and 2 tbsp of the spicy tamarind water. Taste and adjust the seasonings.

Place the papris / papdis in a plate in circle. Scoop the filling on each of the papris in small amount.

Drizzle the chutney over the filling in generous amount.

Drizzle the whisked yogurt over them as well.

Crush some papsris on top of them and cover them with fine sev.

Sprinkle some more bhaja mosla and chopped coriander leaves.

Serve immediately.