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Monday, January 26, 2015

Palak Chaat

Most of the popular and mouthwatering chaats from the Indian subcontinent involve a fried base - like puffy pooris, crispy papdis, stuffed kachori or samosas, yummy potato patties and so on. Pure indulgence, some may argue but still these remain popular in spite of novel twists the health conscious people keep coming up with. Today's recipe is a similar kind which involves fried fritters made with tender, spinach leaves. The leaves are lightly coated with a spicy chickpea flour batter and then deep fried. These yummy fritters are the center attraction of today's lip smacking chaat. This chaat was inspired from a recipe I saw in a cookbook sometime back.
The chaat can be served individually as one bite snacks or regularly as shown in the image below. I got the one bite snack idea after seeing how my husband assembled the chaat for himself. It would have been a cute presentation if I did in a similar fashion. But by that time, I already plated, pictured and even consumed my chaat portion. I was in no mood to grab his plate and start clicking again. :)
 
Ingredients for making spinach fritters / palak pakode:
3/4 cup gram flour / garbanzo flour / besan
2 tbsp. rice flour
1/2 tsp carom seeds / cumin seeds
Red chili powder to taste
Salt to taste
1/4 tsp. baking soda
15 tender spinach leaves
Oil for frying

Method:
* Wash the spinach leaves and gently pat them dry.
* Combine all the above ingredients except spinach leaves and oil in a mixing bowl. Add water and make a batter of dropping 
consistency.
 
* Heat oil for deep frying in a small kadai / frying pan.
* Dip a spinach leaf in the besan batter so that the leaf is lightly coated with batter on both sides.
* Gently drop the batter dipped spinach leaf in to the hot oil. Add as many spinach leaves as the pan can fit without overcrowding.
* Fry them on low medium flame setting until they turn light golden brown on both sides, flipping them intermittently. When done, remove them with a slotted spoon and drain on paper towels.
* Repeat the steps with the remaining leaves and the batter.


Ingredients for the palak chaat:
15 Palak pakode from above recipe
1 cup peeled and cubed potatoes, cooked until tender
Green chutney as needed
Sweet chutney as needed
1 cup lightly whisked fresh yogurt
Salt to taste
Red chili powder to taste
Roasted cumin powder to taste
Thin sev to garnish
Minced cilantro leaves to garnish
Method:
* Combine potatoes and salt in a mixing bowl.
* If planning to serve each piece individually, place fritters on a serving platter. Place about 2 tsp. boiled potatoes on each spinach fritter. Pour about 1 tsp. green chutney, 1 tsp. sweet chutney and 2 tbsp. yogurt over each fritter and gently mix. Next sprinkle a pinch of chili powder and cumin powder on each fritter. Finally garnish with sev and cilantro. Add some more quantity of chutneys if desired.
* Or place 2 - 3 fritters on a serving plate. If the pakode are bigger in size then break each one into two pieces. And add the other ingredients and assemble the chaat as required.

This goes to BM #48, under "Chaats" theme. Check here to see what my fellow marathoners are cooking during Blogging Marath on #48.

Comments

16 comments:

Kalyani said...

Simply mindblowing !! Great job u did with chats there Suma 👍👍 am bookmarking this

Varada's Kitchen said...

You have used a very interesting base for this chaat. The picture with the toppings looks awesome.

Srividhya said...

Love the palak fryums

cookingwithsapana said...

Omg ,drooling here .Palak chaat looks so scrumptious .

vaishali sabnani said...

That's a mouth watering plate ..drooling Suma..and it's perfectly fine eating from this plate and not individual bites..anytime chat time.

Srivalli said...

Suma I wanted to do this dish, but didn't get around making it...now the last pic is your husbands portion?..that must have been so inviting as well!

Srivalli said...

Ok, read again and understood!..:)

Sneha's Recipe said...

Irresistible and mouthwatering chaat.

Nalini's Kitchen said...

Mouthwatering chaat,sounds interesting and inviting...Feel like grabbing it.

Sandhya Ramakrishnan said...

Lovely chat and very innovative!

Unknown said...

This is definitely a healthy chat

Priya Srinivasan - I Camp in My Kitchen said...

Beautifully presented suma, but now i m thinking how your hubby's might be, if you yourself say it was an artistic plate!!!
Chat looks amazing, karara, chatpata, lip-smacking!!!

Priya Suresh said...

Irresistible palak chaat, just cant take my eyes from the last click.

Pavani said...

What an amazing idea to serve palak pakoda as a chaat. Looks colorful and delicious.

Harini R said...

That is a terrific idea Suma. Shall make this chaat next time I make any Pakodas :)

Jayanthi said...

Interesting chaat recipe....quite new for me. Looks awesome!