A - Z Indian Street Foods ~ G for Ghugni Chaat

Bengal's ghugni aka ghugni chaat is a street food  popular both in eastern and northern parts of India. It can easily be classified under healthy and filling food category even though it is a street food. This chaat is full of flavors where dried peas are cooked in a base of aromatic spices, sweet onions and tangy tomatoes. This protein rich dish can be served as a chaat on it's own or even as a side dish for rotis / pooris.

Ingredients:

3/4 cup dried yellow peas

2 red onions, finely chopped

2 tomatoes, finely chopped

2 small potatoes - peeled, cubed and cooked

2 tbsp. oil

1 tsp. ginger paste

1 tsp. garlic paste (I didn’t use any.)

1/2 tbsp. or more bhaja masala 

1/2 tsp. garam masala

1/8 tsp. turmeric powder

Salt to taste

Ingredients to garnish:

Minced cilantro 

1 red onion, finely chopped

Sweet tamarind chutney

Bhaja masala (Recipe below)

Method:

* Soak dried peas for at least 6 hours or overnight. Pressure cook adding 2 cups of water for 2 whistles. Save the water used to cook peas.

* Heat oil in a pan, add ginger-garlic paste and sauté for few seconds. Add  chopped onion for garnishing and cook until translucent. Next add tomatoes and cook until the oil starts to ooze out. 

* Add cooked potato cubes and peas, turmeric powder, cumin powder, chili powder, garam masala and salt. Mix well and add about ¾ cup water (or saved water from cooking peas.)

* Cook on medium heat until the desired consistency is reached. Taste and adjust the seasonings if needed. (It should be thinner than my version in the pictures. I didn’t pour more liquid in the serving cups for picturing sake.)

* Garnish with bhaja masala, cilantro, chopped onion and tamarind chutney. Serve immediately.

Bhaja masala preparation:

Ingredients:

1 or 1.5 tsp. cumin seeds

2 red chillies (Use 1 chillie if less spice is preferred.) or 1/2 tsp. red chili powder 

Method:

* Dry toast the cumin seeds on low flame until they start to brown. Toast the red chillies if using. Cool and grind them together fine.

* If using chili powder, toast cumin seeds only. Grind cumin and mix chili powder to it. This is bhaja masala. 

So far, on this series,
A for Aloo Kabli
B for Bajra Vada
C for Chooda Matar
D for Dahi Batata Puri
E for Elaichi - Kesar Lassi
F for Fulwadi

 Check out the Blogging Marathon page for the other Blogging Marathoners doing BM# 87

An InLinkz Link-up

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