Papdi Chaat: Potato and Chickpea Salad

What is papdi chaat?

Papdi chaat is potato and chickpea salad with spiced-up yogurt and tamarind dressing. It is topped with papdi, the type of crunchy snack made of flour. 

This potato and chickpea salad has a unique taste. It’s sweet, spicy, and savory at the same time. It’s delicious to have before your main course.

The words papdi chaat themselves may not be easy to translate into English. Because there are no exact words that can be described in just a few words. 

Let me try. Papdi means fried crisps made of flour. Chaat means to taste, which elaborates on any finger food type of snack.

So the two words combined basically mean fried snacks to taste. Literally.

However, the actual thing is more like a salad. Because it is a mix of quite a few things.

They are potatoes, chickpeas, tomatoes, onions, spices, yogurt, tamarind sauce, and crispy papdi. 

This sweet, spicy, and savory salad is a popular snack in the Indian subcontinent. 

You can find it as street food in India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, etc. Like any food, you will find every region may offer different ways of making this papdi chaat.

Nevertheless, they all have something in common: using potatoes and chickpeas. 

Papdi chaat is also called papdi chaat masala, aloo papdi chaat, papri chaat or dahi papdi chaat (dahi means yogurt). 

It is usually served as a starter/ appetizer among a food spread. And it is popular as a choice for iftar among Ramadan recipes.

Chaat recipe in Pakistani style

So the recipe I’m sharing here is the Pakistani papdi chaat recipe. And it is one with yogurt sauce. Hence, you may call it dahi papdi chaat, as dahi means yogurt.

It is an easy recipe with simple ingredients. Though you need quite a few items to make this chaat.

You may think twice when you see the ingredient list. But, most items are quite basic and almost always available in our kitchen. 

If you like Indian/ Pakistani cuisines, I suggest you try this potato and chickpea salad with yogurt and sweet tamarind chutney. It’s so tasty and moreish.

Once you try making it yourself, you’ll wonder why you didn’t try it much earlier. 

It’s that good. 

There are many types of chaat in Pakistani/ Indian cuisine. Others you may know are samosa chaat, chana chaat, and fruit chaat.

Easy-to-get ingredients

You need to prepare fifteen items to make this sweet and spicy potato chickpea salad. 

Potatoes, chickpeas, tomato, brown onion, roasted cumin powder, red chili powder (or cayenne pepper), natural yogurt, salt, sugar, milk, imli sauce (tamarind chutney), chaat masala, thin sev, chaat papdi or mini poppadom, and cilantro/ green coriander.

It’s best to use a waxy type of potato for the potatoes. Charlotte, salad potatoes, and Jersey can be one of the options. 

Although I use canned chickpeas, you are more than welcome to use dried chickpeas. 

For this recipe, ½ cup dried chickpeas are enough. You can soak them overnight, then rinse and boil them until fully cooked. 

You can roast cumin powder on a frying pan. Do so until the spice seeds release an aroma. Then blitz them in a grinder until becoming fine powder. 

When it comes to tamarind chutney and chaat masala, you can make it yourself by following my recipe for imli sauce and chaat masala.

Or, you can get bottled tamarind sauce from Asian/ Indian shops and other ingredients such as thin sev, poppadom, chaat papdi, etc. 

How to make papdi chaat

Besides boiling potatoes and chickpeas, cooking is hardly involved in making this delicious salad for your next snack.

Once you boil the potatoes and chickpeas, leave them to cool as you prepare the sauces.

Mix the yogurt, milk, and sugar in a small bowl. You can use a fork to mix until the sugar dissolves. Mix in the tamarind sauce. 

Then chop the onion, tomato, and cilantro.

When the potatoes and chickpeas are at room temperature, add the roasted cumin powder, chili powder/ cayenne powder, salt, onion, and tomato.

Stir well until everything is coated with the spices. 

Add the yogurt mixture to the potato mixture and stir well. 

Divide the potato and chickpeas mixture into small serving bowls. Put some thin Sev over each bowl, followed with crushed papdi. 

Drizzle a teaspoon of tamarind sauce on every bowl and sprinkle a pinch of chaat masala.

Last but not least, garnish with chopped cilantro.

Top tips for the best-tasting papdi chaat

• You can prepare every ingredient and keep them in individual storage. Then assemble them when you are ready to serve the chaat. 
• It is best to leave the potato and chickpeas mixture to rest once you mix in the spices. It gives the flavor to develop better. Half an hour to an hour is good. 

More salad recipes

If you want more ideas for exotic salad, try acar timun: Indonesian cucumber salad, gado-gado: Indonesian salad with peanut sauce dressing, and apple salad with balsamic dressing. 

Thank you for checking this papdi chaat recipe. I hope you will try this potato and chickpea salad. When you do, please share your thoughts in the comment below. I really appreciate it. 

Lastly, please follow me on Facebook, Instagram, and Pinterest. To sneak a look at what’s cooking in my kitchen. 

Take care and all the best.