Chat Basket

This post is gonna be a bit descriptive! I love chat items .When we were in Dubai chat items were a weekend affair that I use to dream about. But when M told me that we are moving to Chandigarh, the first thought that came up was CHAAAT, Punjabi food!!!
My mind again and again went through the Punjabi recipes that I should taste and try .I was waiting for the day to land and start hogging literally! Having said that I should also admit that since the day I landed here I am having a fun time, certainly causing a considerable damage to M’s walletJ. But there are for sure, a good improvement and tasty additions to my cooking. This is one such recipe which I created inspired by Dahi chat.

Ingredients:

For Basket Dough:

All purpose flour-1 cup +more for dusting

Cumin seeds-1 tsp, roasted

Baking Powder- ½ tsp

Salt- ½ tsp

Sugar- ½ tsp

Curd-5 tbsp

Oil-for frying

For Filling/Topping:

Potato-1 large, boiled and coarsely mashed

Onion-1 medium, finely chopped

Carrot-1 medium, grated

Tomato-1 medium, deseeded and finely chopped

Capsicum-1 small, finely chopped

Cucumber-1 small, finely chopped

Chilled curd- ½ cup, beaten to creamy consistency

Oma podi/Bhujia- ½ cup (recipe coming soon)

Coriander leaves-3 tbsp, finely chopped

Sweet chutney – ¼ cup (recipe coming soon)

Chat masala-1tbsp

How It Happened:

Baskets:

1. In a bowl, mix all the ingredients except curd & oil under the ‘for basket dough’ list.

2. Add curd little by little and mix well to make dough. Knead until it becomes non sticky.

3. Let the dough rest for an hour.

4. Now roll the dough lengthwise as thin as possible and cut into strips (as shown in the picture below)

5. Make basket weaves

6. Cut into circles.

7. Heat oil in a kadai and fry the baskets as shown below.

Chat Basket:

1. Keep the baskets ready

2. Set all the chopped ingredients ready.

3. Just before serving add t few pieces of each chopped veggies one by one, add a dollop of fresh creamy curd, few drops of sweet chutney, top it off with bhujia  onto the basket and finally sprinkle the chat masala on top and serve.

It surely is a burst of flavor and texture that refreshes your mouth.

Notes:

*This amount of dough yields 50 small baskets. I made it small so each basket makes a mouthful of goodness!

*Fry to a bit more than golden brown so the basket stays crispy, crackly and crunchy for long time.

*Adjust the flame throughout the frying process and oil shouldn’t be smoking hot.

*You can also add corn kernels, other veggies of your choice. The topping is of your choice and creativity!