Lickety good Indian tapas
Chaat – snacks off the streets of northern India – are so explosive they really should be the next big food trend here.
THERE’S a scene from the Bollywood blockbuster Rab Ne Bana Di Jodi where Shah Rukh Khan and Anushka Sharma are licking and gulping down golgappa in an eating competition. It’s an eating orgy really, sweat and sauce mingling in a sensuous fight – which is quite a fitting way to get inducted into the racy nuances of chaat.
Chaat lives on the streets of Mumbai, Kolkata and Delhi as allday snacks, and are true flavours of India: lively and bursting with colours, flavours and textures.
The magic of chaat lies in its flavour profile known as “chatpata” – a heady combination of salty, sweet, sour, spicy and pungent, with crispy and velvety textures tossed into the mix. One mouthful of chaat tastes different from the next because you will have picked up a slightly different combination of ingredients.
And the best part is what’s left at the end; this is so tasty there’s no shame in licking the plate clean.
And that’s how it got its name. According to The Penguin Food Guide to India, the word chaat comes from the Hindi verb for “to lick”.
“In India you often eat chaat with the fingers, standing around food carts in the middle of the street,” says Jigna Doshi, co-owner of WTF restaurant in Bangsar, one of the few Indian restaurants in the Klang Valley where you can find excellent chaats. “It can get messy but so good.”
How good it is is played up by WTF, which stands for What Tasty Food and has the cute tagline, “we lickle your taste buds”! They are not kidding, chaat is lickety good here. And presented in a wide variety. A whole section with over 10 chaats are on the menu, from samosa chaat and pani puri to dahi papdi and aloo tikki. You are in chaat paradise this side of Mumbai. A typical chaat is a layered thing of beauty made of a crisp fried item dressed in sweet and tangy chutneys and flooded with yoghurt. Chopped herbs and vegetables and more crispy bits are piled up before a final sprinkling of its own masala – masala chaat, a pungent spice mix of black salt, pepper, chilli, amchoor, cumin, asaand foetida sugar. The origin of chaat is lost in time, but points to Uttar Pradesh in the north east. Northern cities like Delhi and Kolkata are renowned but today they are found across India in various regional variations and names. Pani puri (also golgappa) is a crispy hollow puff the size of a golf ball, made of semolina or wholewheat flour. A hole is punched on top so it can be filled with potato and tamarind chutney. It is then souped up in minty spiced water and the whole orb is quickly popped into the mouth.
Aloo tikkis are patties of spiced potato fried golden and dressed with yoghurt and chutneys, and garnished with crunchy sev (thin noodles of chickpea flour), ruby pomegranate seeds and coriander leaves, and finished off with masala chaat.
Papdi chaat is built from a base of small, flaky biscuits (papdi) layered with boiled potato cubes, chickpeas, curd, chutney and various garnishes. The biscuits are used to scoop up the toppings.
Samosa chaat is smashed samosa dressed with curd and chutneys.
Dahi bhalla is urad dal vadai soaked in water and wrung out to give a spongy texture before being dressed with yoghurt and chutneys, and garnished.
The list goes on but for every chaat, the chatpata is like magic dust on the taste buds, working up an appetite – the more you eat, the more you will want.
Chaat can be a meal on its own, but also makes a good appetiser served in its traditional bite-sized tapas portions.
In a country that prides itself on excellent Malay, Chinese and Indian cuisines, why isn’t chaat a part of our street foodscape?
“Many Indians in Malaysia trace their roots back to southern India; chaat is a northern Indian phenomenon,” explains Jigna, one third of three passionate foodies who set out in 2012 to open the best vegetarian restaurant in town after being constantly frustrated when they ate out. She has made it her mission to prove that “vegetarian food is more than just grass”.
“Our biggest joy is to see meat eaters delight in eating vegetarian food,” confides Jigna’s partner and best friend of 22 years, Priti Gathani.
They pride themselves on a varied and interesting menu – apart from the northern Indian classics, here’s where you can find Indianstyle Chinese food from Kolkata, momos, enchiladas, burgers and even pastas.
The simple interior set up at WTF belies the adventurous bent of the menu and fabulous desserts – where else can you find paan, sweets fashioned out of betel leaves?
If you’ve never had chaat, it’s a good idea to head to WTF first before you try your hands at making them with their recipes.