I’ve been cooking from Madhur Jaffrey’s Indian cookbooks for about four years now. I remember first asking my teacher at the University of Toronto if I could come to his house some afternoon and cook with his wife who once a year made an amazing buffet-style dinner of Indian food for all the students in my program. I understood the hours of preparation that went into such a meal but I knew nothing about the spices or other ingredients.
Now I know a fair bit more about toasting cumin seeds, grating asafetida, the use of turmeric with beans and lentils, the earthiness of cloves…and the wonders of blenders, food processors, coffee grinders and mortars and pestles for grinding all the flavour your broth-free Indian meal needs.
I have also come to know what to expect from Madhur Jaffrey’s recipes. I always cut down on the salt, and maybe the oil (only if I know I can get away with it), but otherwise they are perfect; I know they’ll work and they’ll be delicious. Once – just once – a lamb dish was not amazing, but I’m still convinced it was my fault, not hers.
So, Ms. Jaffrey, now that I have my second cookbook with your name on it, “At Home with Madhur Jaffrey”, I feel as though I have a new world of spiced dishes to explore and enjoy. I do, in fact, feel at home with your cookbook. From the most complicated three-day leg of lamb with figs, almonds and poppyseeds, to the simplest dal or potato chaat. So thank you.
Potato Chaat
I can’t give this recipe, but I can describe it. When I saw the recipe I was reminded of my last summer in Toronto when a friend and I would go to every cultural festival taking place every weekend. We’d do the rounds from Harbourfront Centre to Young and Dundas, to Nathan Phillips, to Christie Pitts – whatever group was celebrating something or being presented. There’d be Thai one weekend at Harbourfront, and then I’d hoof it up to Nathan Phillips to see the Mexican celebration and do some salsa (before trying a pupusa), then I’d walk up to Bloor Street where there’d be a street fair and BBq souvlaki or Ethiopian injera and spiced lentils or sambusas. Then there were the monthly Kensington Market pedestrian Sundays and the South American mom and pop grills…Cactus and chilies and corn tortillas.
I can’t say Indian was always my favourite, because it’s often to greasy at restaurants and the freshness may not be there, but I have a soft spot for the spice blends and intoxicating aromas, and I’d always look forward to an Indian or Southeast Asian festival. It was at Dundas Square that I first had chaat papri. It was one of these weekly festivals and I saw a counter that wasn’t serving samosas or bhaji.Instead it had plastic bowls filled with white, brown, green, red, and spices. I didn’t want the yogurt but what turned out to be sour/sweet tamarind chutney, savoury/salty fried dough and sev, chewy potatoes and chickpeas, fresh chilies (my endorphin-inducing heaven), and chaat spices (masala) was made even better with the cooling dairy.
There were so many flavours!! And textures! This was the most amazing bowl of anything ever, I was convinced. Yes, I felt a little sick afterward from the yogurt and all the oil and fat of the fried dough, but in the grand measure of all the things that it’s worth feeling sick for, this was up there.
So when I found a recipe for chaat in Madhur Jaffrey’s latest cookbook, I thought I was going to die of joy. Except chaat is not chaat papri. Chaat just refers to the spices, I think. She says you don’t even need to make this recipe with potatoes (potatoes would be referred to as “aloo”, not “chaat”. So “aloo chaat” would be chaat spices with potatoes). The papri is the combination of all those different things. I also figured the potato part would be complicated and involve a million spices, but no, it’s a simple boiled potato recipe with some salt, cayenne, lemon juice, black pepper and toasted cumin seeds. That’s about as easy as Indian cooking gets. Sure there are more complicated chaat masala recipes, but Jaffrey says it’s the toasted, ground cumin seeds that really makes it what it is.
All you do is take about 1 1/2 lbs of potatoes (or more of less. It’s worth making a double recipe, though this doesn’t freeze well) and boil them in their skins. No need to wash or peel them first. Let them cool and then peel them. Then cut the potatoes into a 1/2-inch cubes. You combine a little salt with a very little cayenne, a few grinds of pepper, a sprinkle of toasted ground cumin seeds (just toast the seeds gently in an oil-free skillet or frying pan for a few minutes until it darkens over medium heat, then grind them in a coffee grinder or mortar and pestle or however you can), and a big squeeze of fresh lemon juice (to taste. I think you could also get away with lime, which is kind of Thai-like with the tamarind). Stir it all together and add the potatoes. Then adjust for taste. I like it puckeringly bitter from the lemon so I added some more of that. Don’t add too much salt to start since you can always add more. The same goes for cayenne.
Jaffrey says chaat can be made with anything – tubers such as sweet potatoes, parsnips, rutabagas instead of potatoes, boiled chickpeas or mung beans or even fresh fruit! Fruit with toasted, ground cumin seeds! Next time…
Chaat is mostly a snack food but it acts as a cold potato salad (serve it at room temperature instead of reheating after peeling the potatoes) and is such a wonderful break from mashed potatoes, boiled potatoes, or roasted potatoes. I massacred some roasted potatoes yesterday, so probably I should stick to chaat…
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