Chaat, or chāt (

IAST The International Alphabet of Sanskrit Transliteration (IAST) is a transliteration scheme that allows the lossless romanisation of Brahmic family, Indic scripts as employed by Sanskrit and related Indic languages. It is based on a scheme that ...

: ''cāṭ)'' () is a family of savoury

snack A snack is a small portion of Human food, food generally Eating, eaten between meals. Snacks come in a variety of forms including Food packaging, packaged snack foods and other processed foods, as well as items made from fresh ingredients at ho ...

s that originated in

India India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area; the List of countries by population (United Nations), most populous country since ...

, typically served as an

hors d'oeuvre An hors d'oeuvre ( ; ), appetiser, appetizer or starter is a small dish served before a meal in European cuisine. Some hors d'oeuvres are served cold, others hot. Hors d'oeuvres may be served at the dinner table as a part of the meal, or ...

or at roadside tracks from stalls or food carts across

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Pakistan Pakistan, officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by population, fifth-most populous country, with a population of over 241.5 million, having the Islam by country# ...

Nepal Nepal, officially the Federal Democratic Republic of Nepal, is a landlocked country in South Asia. It is mainly situated in the Himalayas, but also includes parts of the Indo-Gangetic Plain. It borders the Tibet Autonomous Region of China Ch ...

and

Bangladesh Bangladesh, officially the People's Republic of Bangladesh, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by population, eighth-most populous country in the world and among the List of countries and dependencies by ...

. With its origins in Uttar Pradesh, India, chaat has become immensely popular in the rest of

Etymology

The word derives from Hindi ''cāṭ'' चाट (tasting, a delicacy), from ''cāṭnā'' चाटना (to lick, as in licking one's fingers while eating), from

Prakrit Prakrit ( ) is a group of vernacular classical Middle Indo-Aryan languages that were used in the Indian subcontinent from around the 5th century BCE to the 12th century CE. The term Prakrit is usually applied to the middle period of Middle Ind ...

''caṭṭei'' चट्टेइ (to devour with relish, eat noisily).Oxford English Dictionary. ''Chaat''. Mar. 2005 Online edition. Retrieved 18 February 2008.

Overview

The chaat variants are all based on fried dough, with various other ingredients. The original chaat is a mixture of potato pieces, crisp fried bread, dahi vada or dahi bhalla, gram or chickpeas and tangy-salty spices, with sour Indian chili and saunth (dried ginger and tamarind sauce), fresh green coriander leaves and yogurt for garnish, but other popular variants included alu tikkis or samosa (garnished with onion, potatoes, coriander, peas, hot spices and a dash of yogurt), bhel puri, dahi puri, panipuri, dahi vada, papri chaat, and sev puri. There are common elements among these variants including dahi (yogurt); chopped

onions An onion (''Allium cepa'' , from Latin ), also known as the bulb onion or common onion, is a vegetable that is the most widely cultivated species of the genus ''Allium''. The shallot is a botanical variety of the onion which was classified ...

and

coriander Coriander (), whose leaves are known as cilantro () in the U.S. and parts of Canada, and dhania in parts of South Asia and Africa, is an annual plant, annual herb (''Coriandrum sativum'') in the family Apiaceae. Most people perceive the ...

; sev (thin dried yellow salty noodles); and

chaat masala Chaat masala, also spelled chat masala, is a powdered spice mix, or Spice mix#Masala, masala, originating from the Indian subcontinent, typically used to add flavor to chaat. It typically consists of amchoor (dried mango powder), cumin, coriander, ...

, typically consisting of

amchoor Amchoor (, ), also aamchur, amchur or mango powder, is a fruity spice powder made from dried unripe green mangoes. A citrusy seasoning, it is mostly produced in India. In addition to its use as a seasoning it adds the nutritional benefits of mang ...

(dried

mango A mango is an edible stone fruit produced by the tropical tree '' Mangifera indica''. It originated from the region between northwestern Myanmar, Bangladesh, and northeastern India. ''M. indica'' has been cultivated in South and Southeast As ...

powder), cumin, kala namak (Himalayan black rock salt),

, dried

ginger Ginger (''Zingiber officinale'') is a flowering plant whose rhizome, ginger root or ginger, is widely used as a spice and a folk medicine. It is an herbaceous perennial that grows annual pseudostems (false stems made of the rolled bases of l ...

salt In common usage, salt is a mineral composed primarily of sodium chloride (NaCl). When used in food, especially in granulated form, it is more formally called table salt. In the form of a natural crystalline mineral, salt is also known as r ...

black pepper Black pepper (''Piper nigrum'') is a flowering vine in the family Piperaceae, cultivated for its fruit (the peppercorn), which is usually dried and used as a spice and seasoning. The fruit is a drupe (stonefruit) which is about in diameter ...

, and red pepper. The ingredients are combined and served on a small metal plate or a banana leaf, dried and formed into a bowl.

History

Some of the dishes now categorized as chaats, such as Dahi Vada, can be traced back to ancient periods. A recipe for a dahi vada analogue called ''kshiravata'' is mentioned in '' Manasollasa'', a 12th-century Sanskrit encyclopedia compiled by Someshvara III, who ruled from present-day

Karnataka Karnataka ( ) is a States and union territories of India, state in the southwestern region of India. It was Unification of Karnataka, formed as Mysore State on 1 November 1956, with the passage of the States Reorganisation Act, 1956, States Re ...

. According to food historian K.T Achaya, descriptions of dahi vada also appear in literature far earlier from 500 BC. Another dish resembling as chaat as an organized phenomenon or distinct group of dishes, according to culinary anthropologist Kurush Dalal, originated in northern India (now

Uttar Pradesh Uttar Pradesh ( ; UP) is a States and union territories of India, state in North India, northern India. With over 241 million inhabitants, it is the List of states and union territories of India by population, most populated state in In ...

) in the late 17th century during the reign of Mughal Emperor

Shah Jahan Shah Jahan I, (Shahab-ud-Din Muhammad Khurram; 5 January 1592 – 22 January 1666), also called Shah Jahan the Magnificent, was the Emperor of Hindustan from 1628 until his deposition in 1658. As the fifth Mughal emperor, his reign marked the ...

. The royal doctors had asked the people of Delhi to consume spicy and fried snacks, as well as dahi, as a countermeasure to the alkaline water of the

Yamuna river The Yamuna (; ) is the second-largest tributary river of the Ganges by discharge and the longest tributary in List of major rivers of India, India. Originating from the Yamunotri Glacier at a height of about on the southwestern slopes of B ...

that coursed through the city. Most chaats originated in some parts of

in India later in 20th century, but they are now eaten all across

and neighboring countries. Some are results of cultural

syncretism Syncretism () is the practice of combining different beliefs and various school of thought, schools of thought. Syncretism involves the merging or religious assimilation, assimilation of several originally discrete traditions, especially in the ...

Regions

Chaat is famous in

and

Variations

* Alu chaat - Potatoes (''alu'' in Hindi) cut into small pieces, fried till crisp and served with chutney * Alu tikki * Bedmi -

Puri Puri, also known as Jagannath Puri, () is a coastal city and a Nagar Palika, municipality in the state of Odisha in eastern India. It is the district headquarters of Puri district and is situated on the Bay of Bengal, south of the state ca ...

stuffed with

dal Dal is a term in the Indian subcontinent for dried, split pulses. Dal or DAL may also refer to: Places Cambodia *Dal, Ke Chong Finland * Laakso, a neighbourhood of Helsinki India * Dal Lake, in Srinagar, Jammu and Kashmir, India * Dal ...

and fried till crisp. Typically served with alu sabji and eaten for breakfast * Bhalla/ alu tikki * Bhelpuri * Ragda patties (alu tikki chaat) * Cheela- Besan (chickpea flour) pancakes served with chutney and sooth (sweet chutney) * Chotpoti, mixture of boiled diced potatoes, boiled chickpeas and sliced onions and chillies with grated eggs on top. Many kinds of roasted spice powder are used in its preparation. * Dahi puri * Dahi vada * Kachori- or Kachauri, with variants such as Khasta Kachuari * Mangode - Similar to pakora, but besan paste is replaced with yellow

moong The mung bean or green gram (''Vigna radiata'') is a plant species in the Fabaceae, legume family.Brief Introduction of Mung Bean. Vigna Radiata Extract Green Mung Bean Extract Powder Phaseolus aureus Roxb Vigna radiata L R Wilczek. MDidea-E ...

paste * Pakora - Different things such as paneer, vegetable dipped in besan (chickpea/gram flour) paste and fried. * Panipuri * Masalapuri * Nagori Halwa * Chana chaat * Papri chaat - This contains fried patty called papri as an extra ingredient. * Samosa chaat - samosa is broken into pieces with green and sweet chutney added to it. * Sevpuri * Vada pav * Dahi bhallay ki chaat (bhallay, potatoes, chickpeas, imli chutney, chaat masala, onions, tomatoes, dahi etc.) * Beetroot & potato chaat * Dhaka chaat * Paneer chaat puri * Thattu Vadai Set *Dal ki chaat - Made with moong dal mixed with spices and chutney and accompanied with wheat biscuits. Popular in Meerut. *Raj kachori - a big hollow ball made with wheat and filled with sprouts, chickpeas, potatoes, bhalla and chutneys (sweet and green). *Basket chaat - Edible bowl made with potato and filled with sprouts, chickpeas, potato and chutneys. Popular in Lucknow. *Ram ladoo - Round fitters made from mong dal and served with radish and grey chutney. * Dabeli - a sweet and sour burger like Gujrati snack made with potatoes, sev, groundnut and pomegranate *Barule - whole potato coated with besan is deepfried and served with green chutney.

References

External links

* {{Portal bar, Bangladesh, India, Nepal, Pakistan, Caribbean, Food Bangladeshi snack foods Bangladeshi fast food Pakistani snack foods Pakistani fast food Indian snack foods Bihari cuisine Nepalese cuisine Uttar Pradeshi cuisine Indian fast food Appetizers Gujarati cuisine Street food Pakistani cuisine Bangladeshi cuisine