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Chickpea and Cucumber Salad (Chana Chaat)

6 Servings

15 minutes

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Chaat is a style of savory South Asian street snack, of which there are dozens of varieties. They all combine a mix of contrasting flavors and textures—sweet, tart and spicy, as well as creamy and crunchy. This is our version of chickpea (chana) chaat; it’s a good appetizer or side to grilled meats or seafood. To mimic the crunch of fried samosa wrappers that are sometimes used in chaat, we used the fried wonton strips sold near the croutons in the supermarket. For convenience, we used store-bought tamarind chutney (look in the international aisle) and spiked it with brown sugar, lime juice and hot sauce. We preferred the acidic heat of Tabasco or Frank's Red Hot sauce. Feel free to substitute chopped tomato and/or mango for all or some of the cucumber. And if you like, drizzle with whole-milk plain yogurt.

6

Servings

Tip

Don’t use the curry powder without toasting it in a dry a skillet over medium for 1 minute, stirring constantly. This deepens its flavors and cooks out any raw notes.

15 minutes

Ingredients

  • 2

    15½-ounce cans chickpeas, drained, rinsed and patted dry

  • 1

    small red onion, finely chopped

Directions

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Reviews
Carolyn B.
August 1, 2023
Excellent combination
I really like this combination of flavors. I did substitute chopped potatoes for the cucumber. This salad uses day old samosas as the base and includes potatoes. It worked out very well. Next time I will try the cucumber. I also chopped up a tomato and served it on the side. It's a great contrast with the chat.
Peter M.
July 30, 2022
Perfect summer dish
We’ve been making this since it first came out. We serve it as a main dish for three in the summer when it’s too hot to eat anything else, and it’s perfect for that. If you have little kids or someone that hates spicy foods, be careful with the hot sauce. It was a bit too hot for my kid when he was younger.
cordell g.

This recipe was a huge hit at a dinner party. It was paired with salmon and appreciated as something different. I didn't have tamarind so I just added a bit more lime juice as well as lemon juice. I also paired it with an off-the-cuff yogurt sauce (plain yogurt, lemon juice, cucumber, salt pepper and olive oil) that really seemed to bring it together nicely.

Jon S.

Alas, no tamarind chutney at my local. Faked one using a Serious Eats recipe. Sliced wonton wrappers about 3/8" and shallow-fried and added as garnish, to keep them crisp. This was an amazing amalgam of flavors/textures and I have every intention of making it again!