Indian Summer Salad

During these hot Summer days I prefer to eat light and enjoy easy to prepare recipes more than ever. Most importantly, they have to be fresh and packed with flavour.

Over the past year, I have discovered Bhel Puri Chaat at a local Indian place in Malta. It is light, crisp, tangy, full of flavour as well as a light meal. I thought it is a great meal on such Summer days and have done some research to recreate this dish since I am a bit far from the Island.

This may not exactly be a replication of the dish at the restaurant or on the streets of Mumbai for that matter. However, I am very happy with the way it turned out! 😀

The salad is flavoured with cumin powder and chaat masala, a spice powder mix mainly consisting of dried mango powder, cumin, pomegranate seed, ginger, salt and chilli. Different brands of chaat masala will vary in the combination of ingredients.

For my dish, I have decided to use a mixture of white and brown puffed rice. However, it is up to your preference as it does not make a difference to taste. The puffed rice will absorb the flavour from the chutney and the spices. It is important to add the puffed rice and the sev (small pieces of crunchy noodles made from chickpea flour) at the end just before serving otherwise they will become too soggy and will lose all texture.

Indian Summer Salad

  • Servings: 2
  • Difficulty: easy
  • Print

A cold and tangy salad with Indian flavours ideal for these hot summer days

Ingredients

  • 40g puffed rice
  • 40g sev
  • 2 boiled potatoes, medium
  • 2 tomatoes
  • 1 spring onion
  • 1 green chilli pepper, small
  • Handful roasted peanuts
  • 1 tsp cumin powder
  • 1 tsp chaat masala powder
  • 1/8 tsp cayenne powder  (optional)
  • 1 tbsp mango chutney
  • 1 tsp tamarind paste
  • 1 tsp lemon juice
  • Coriander leaves

Directions

  1. Finely chop the boiled potatoes, tomatoes, spring onion, jalapeño and coriander leaves. Place them in a large mixing bowl.
  2. In a small bowl, combine the mango chutney, tamarind paste and lemon juice. Add to the large mixing bowl.
  3. Add the peanuts, cumin powder, chaat masala powder and cayenne powder and mix until well combined.
  4. Just before serving, add the puffed rice and sev.

Leave a Reply