Moong Dal Puri Chaat

Today we are moving to the desert state of India, Rajasthan - The land of kings. This western state of India is home for some of the beautiful palaces of India. The desert region, the arid climate and scarcity of fresh vegetables have largely influenced Rajasthan's cooking style. Food that could be stored for longer and which needed no reheating were preferred. Some of the famous dishes from the region include dal bati choorma, ghevar, mawa ke kachori, malpuas, pyaz kachori, Bikaneri bhujiya, ghatte ki subzi and papad ki subzi.
After going nuts over whether to cook ghevar or mawa ke kachori for months, I ended up preparing a chaat instead. I was looking for an evening snack and happened to see this at Sanjeev kapoor's website. We love chaats and so naturally enjoyed this.  

Ingredients:
1/2 cup yellow moong dal
2 cups wheat flour / atta
Salt to taste
1/2 inch piece ginger
1/2 tsp cumin seeds
1/2 tsp coriander seeds
2 green chillies
2 tbsp oil + extra for frying
2 potatoes, peeled, cubed and boiled
1 cup yogurt
Sweet date-tamarind chutney
2 tbsp green chutney (I added extra.)
Red chili powder as required
Black salt / kala namak as required
Cumin powder as required
Sev
Cilantro

Making pooris:
* Soak moong dal in water for about 30 minutes and drain.
* Grind together moong, ginger, green chillies, cumin seeds, coriander seeds and salt. Transfer the ground mixture to a bowl and add wheat flour and 2 tbsp oil to it. Knead into a stiff dough adding water as needed.
* Divide the mixture into marble sized balls and roll them into small discs. Make a few slashes on the discs so that they won't puff up while frying.
* Heat oil in a small kadai / deep pan. Gently slide the rolled out disc and fry till brown and crisp. Drain on absorbent towels. Repeat the process with the remaining discs.

Assembling:
* Add green chutney and yogurt to a bowl and mix well.
* Arrange the puris on a serving platter. Put a few potato pieces on puris. Sprinkle salt, chili powder, black salt and cumin powder. Drizzle yogurt chutney, sweet chutney, cumin and chili powders, sev and cilantro. Serve immediately.

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