Chaat is one of my favourite Indian street foods. Popular across the whole of south Asia, it normally consists of something fried, such as a poppadom, samosa or pakora, that is usually crushed up and loaded with a variety of flavourful spicy, sweet and salty chutneys and crunchy treats. It’s often finished off with a sev (fried gram flour vermicelli) topping (if you can’t find sev, Bombay mix works fine, too). One of my favourite chaats features spinach fried in chickpea flour batter; this beetroot leaf version makes a tasty, colourful and thrifty replacement.
Beetroot leaf chaat
For this year’s Ramadan, the charity Islamic Relief invited me to write a few low-waste recipes for its #FastOnWaste campaign. I gave them three: a moussaka with lentils, spinach and seasonal root veg, a spring tabbouleh with millet, and a smashed beetroot and chickpea chaat. This take on the latter uses beetroot leaves to make delicious pakoras by coating them in chickpea flour batter and frying until golden and crunchy. Make sure you wash the leaves and stalks very well, because they are often full of soil. The leaves need to be nice and dry for the batter to stick, too, so if need be, pat them in a clean tea towel. Beetroots are in season now and are often sold by greengrocers in bunches with their leaves still attached; if you can’t find any, you can also make this with rainbow chard or spinach.
Serves 2
6-8 beetroot leaves, including their stalks, well washed
60g gram flour
2 tsp chaat masala or garam masala
Vegetable or mustard oil, for frying
The toppings, to serve
1-2 tsp chaat masala or garam masala
¼ red onion, finely chopped
4 tbsp yoghurt (or a plant-based alternative)
3-4 tbsp fresh coriander chutney (see below and method)
3-4 tbsp tamarind chutney or concentrate
3-4 tbsp sev (or Bombay mix)
1 handful fresh coriander leaves
Seeds from ¼ pomegranate
For the coriander chutney
20g bunch coriander
1 tsp finely chopped green chilli
1 tsp grated ginger
½ tsp ground cumin
1 tbsp lemon juice
Black salt or sea salt, to taste
To make the coriander chutney, pick off all the leaves from the bunch, then finely chop the stalks. Put the stalks and half the leaves in a mortar with the chopped chilli and grated ginger, then pound to a coarse paste. Mix in the cumin, lemon juice and a tablespoon of cold water, then season with salt to taste and set aside.
To make the batter, mix the gram flour and chaat masala or garam masala in a bowl. Gradually stir in water to make a batter the thickness of double cream – you’ll need about 60ml water in all.
Put a centimetre of oil in a frying pan on a medium heat. Once hot, dip the beetroot leaves one at a time in the batter, shake off any excess and carefully drop into the hot oil. Fry until crisp underneath, then flip and fry until crisp on the other side. Drain on kitchen towel or a wire rack.
To assemble the chaat, arrange the beetroot leaf pakoras on a platter and dust with the chaat masala or garam masala. Top with the chopped onion and the yoghurt (or a plant-based alternative), dollop on the coriander chutney and tamarind chutney (or concentrate), then top with the sev. Garnish with the remaining half of the coriander leaves and the pomegranate seeds, then tuck in while it’s still fresh and crunchy.
