Chana Chaat Recipe (Chickpea Chaat Snack)

5 from 19 votes

Chana Chaat Recipe (Chickpea Chaat Snack)

Chana Chaat or Chickpea Chaat is a tasty, tangy and easy chaat snack made from white chickpeas or chana, spice powders, onions, tomatoes, potatoes and lemon. You can also use canned chickpeas to make this chatpata chana chaat snack.

Prep Time5

Total Time5

Course: Snacks

Cuisine: Indian

Diet: Vegan, Vegetarian

Difficulty Level: Moderate

Servings:

Calories: 238kcal

Author: Dassana Amit

Ingredients

For pressure cooking chickpeas

1 cup dried white chickpeas or chole or chana
½ teaspoon salt
2 cups water - for pressure cooking
1 medium to large potato - optional

Other ingredients for chana chaat

1 medium sized onion - finely chopped
1 medium sized tomato - finely chopped
1 green chili , finely chopped - optional
1 teaspoon roasted cumin powder
1 teaspoon kashmiri red chili powder or paprika
1 teaspoon chaat masala
½ teaspoon dry mango powder (amchur powder) - optional
regular white salt or rock salt (edible and food grade) - add as per taste
black salt - add as per taste
1 to 2 teaspoons lemon juice or add as per taste
3 to 4 pani pooris or papdis crushed - optional
2 to 3 tablespoons chopped coriander leaves (cilantro)
¼ cup fine sev - optional

Instructions

Cooking chickpeas

Soak 1 cup kabuli chana (white chickpeas) in enough water overnight or for 8 to 9 hours. Later drain all the water. Rinse the chickpeas in running water and again drain the water. You can also use 2.5 to 3 cups canned chickpeas. if using canned chickpeas, then you just need to mix the spices, onions, tomatoes etc and enjoy the chole chaat.
Take the chickpeas in a 2-litre pressure cooker. Add ½ teaspoon salt and 2 cups water.
Place a bowl on top of the chickpeas. Rinse and keep a medium to large potato inside the bowl. You can skip the potato if you want.
Cover tightly with the lid and initially pressure cook on medium flame. When you start hearing the hissing sound in the cooker, lower the flame a bit and cook for 10 to 12 whistles.
When the pressure falls on its own, then only remove the lid.
Check the potato by sliding a knife or fork through it. The fork or knife should slide easily.
Also check the chickpeas. You should be able to mash the cooked chickpeas easily. There should be no hardness in the center. The chickpeas should have a melt in the mouth texture. If the chickpeas is not cooked, then add some more water and pressure cook for a few more minutes.

Preparation for chana chaat

Drain all the water and keep the cooked chickpeas aside.
Peel the potato once it becomes warm. Then chop and keep aside.
Rinse, peel and then finely the onion, tomato and chilli. Also rinse and then finely chop some coriander leaves. Keep aside.

Making chana chaat

Take the cooked chickpeas in a mixing bowl.
Add all the spice powders - kashmiri red chilli powder, roasted cumin powder and chaat masala. Add both black salt and regular salt as per taste. For some tang, you can also add ½ teaspoon dry mango powder (amchur powder).
Add the chopped potatoes. Mix very well so the spice powders and salt coats the potatoes and chickpeas.
Add the finely chopped onions, finely chopped tomatoes, chopped green chillies and coriander leaves.
Add 1 to 2 teaspoons lemon juice or add as required.
Again mix very well. Check the taste and you can add salt, chaat masala, red chilli powder, green chillies, lemon juice more if you want.
Serve chana chaat in a bowl instantly. While serving garnish with some coriander leaves and sev. Adding sev is optional. You can even garnish with some crushed papdi or pani poori.

Notes

You could adjust the spice powders, black salt and lime juice as per your taste
When you boil the chickpeas, add some salt to the water in which you would boil them.
Do not add green chilli if you do not want to eat a spicy and hot chaat.
If you want to serve the chana chaat cold, then do not add the onions, tomatoes, sev, crushed pooris and coriander leaves before keeping the chaat in the fridge. When you plan to serve the chaat, then only add these ingredients and mix them.
The chana chaat will be warm if you have freshly cooked the chana and are not using leftover cooked chana.
To cook the chana or chickpeas in a pot or pan, soak the chickpeas overnight. The add 3 to 4 cups water in a pan with the soaked chickpeas and salt. Also add a few drops of oil, so that the foaming and frothing are reduced. If the water froths too much, then cook without the lid.
You can make a big batch of this recipe for get togethers and parties. The recipe can be easily scaled.

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