We’ve always been pretty adventurous in our cooking and eating, but this year because we’re eating at home pretty much all the time, we’ve really made an effort to branch out in what we cook. Recently that’s included trying out chaat. I lived in northern India for a while, and although I didn’t eat chaat often, it is something I remember fondly. I’m always excited for the fresh mix of spicy, sweet, sour and creamy with that hint of funkiness from hing powder (asofoetida). For this food adventure, we tried out Maneet Chauhan’s chaat party suggestions featured in NY Times Cooking.
I was really happy with how it turned out! We made all three of Chauhan’s chutneys plus raita. The chutneys were flavorful and the various other components I picked out went well with them and were a nice mix of creamy, crunchy, fresh, sweet, and spicy. We couldn’t find bhel or other Indian snacks, so we substituted cassava krupuk, which are crispy snacks that Indonesians have with just about every meal. The krupuk was a perfect crunchy background to the riot of flavors. We will add this meal into our regular rotation!