Samosa Chaat
Sep 21, 2019
Tangy and spicy Samosa Chaat is popular north Indian street food! Crunchy samosa is served with spicy chickpea curry (chole), yogurt and chutneys!
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Tangy, spicy Samosa Chaat! Spicy chole (chickpeas) are served with samosa and dollops of yogurt and chutney.
This popular Indian street food is one of my favorite ways to enjoy samosa!
Indian street food! Can there ever be anything better?
If you would ask me, I would say no.
I can be biased and I would accept that but in my opinion there’s nothing better than Indian street food.
All the tikki, chaat, samosa, the list is endless! I can’t wait to go back home this year and indulge in all the deliciousness!
There mere thought is making my mouth water!
This Samosa Chaat is a another popular Indian chaat where samosa is served with chole (chickpea curry).
Chaat is a broad term used for all Indian street food. It’s mostly spicy, tangy and topped with yogurt and chutneys.
I made this Samosa Chaat the day I made homemade Samosa but I couldn’t get around sharing it until today.
With Diwali and the festive season around the corner, this would make a great party appetizer!
This Samosa Chaat
✓ is bursting with flavors and texture
✓ has layers of chickpea curry and crunchy samosa
✓ is tangy and spicy
✓ pairs up so well with chai!
The samosa chaat is very easy to put together.
However in order to do, you have to make sure that all the components of the chaat are ready and good to go!
Components of Samosa Chaat
Now, this chaat has several components to it. Let’s see what these are!
Samosa: of course the main ingredients and star of the recipe here. You can either make homemade samosa or get samosa from stores.
I have used my homemade samosa here but totally okay to get them from store.
Especially if you are serving them at a party and running short on time, the short cuts are more than welcome!
Chole: aka the chickpea curry! For this samosa chaat recipe, I used my favorite chole recipe.
It’s literally the best chole and one of my most popular recipes for a good reason.
Yogurt: thick creamy yogurt is an essential ingredients here.
Chutneys: of course no chaat is complete without good chutneys. This recipe calls for cilantro chutney and sweet tamarind chutney.
Extra garnishes: and the chaat is finally topped with sev (fried savory snack), pomegranate arils and cilantro.
It short, it’s an explosion of flavors!
This samosa chaat is best served immediately. Once you have layered everything together, just serve it.
I don’t like soggy samosa in my chaat. No please!
Method
1- Soak dried chickpeas overnight in 4 cups water. In the morning drain the water, and then rinse the chickpeas.
Transfer the chickpeas to a pressure cooker and then add the whole spices- green cardamom, black peppercorn, bay leaves and cinnamon stick.
Also add black tea bags, water (around 4 to 5 cups) and salt. Please note: the tea bags are for giving the chole a dark color. They do not impart any taste to the final product.
2- Pressure cook on high heat for 2 whistles. After that lower the flame to medium and let the chickpeas cook for another 10 to 12 minutes. Remove the cooker from heat and allow the pressure to release naturally.
You should be able to press the chickpeas easily with your fingers once cooked. Set aside.
If using Instant Pot cook for 30 minutes on high pressure with natural pressure release.
3- Start making the masala. Heat oil in a pan on medium heat. Once the oil is hot, add the grated/pureed onions to it.
4- Cook the onions until the raw smell goes away completely. Then add the ginger-garlic paste and cook for 1 minute.
5- Add the pureed tomatoes and mix. Cover and cook the tomatoes for 15 minutes on medium heat, stir once or twice in between. This step is important, so do not rush cooking the tomatoes.
6- Once the tomatoes are cooked, add the chole masala, red chili powder, paprika powder, cumin powder and more salt. Mix and cook the spices for 1 minute.
7- Add the cooked chickpeas into the pan and stir.
8- Cover and let the curry simmer for around 30 minutes on low-medium heat. Again, don’t rush the step for best tasting chole. The curry will thicken considerably and that’s what we want for the chaat.
The curry is now done. Taste test and adjust salt etc. at this point. Let it simmer while you make the tempering.
9- For the tempering, heat ghee in a pan on medium heat. Once the ghee is hot, add the ginger julienne to it and fry until it starts turning golden brown in color.
10- Transfer the fried julienne to the curry.
11- Add garam masala and mix.
12- Finally add in the crushed kasuri methi.
Once the chole is ready, gather all other ingredients and start plating the samosa chaat.
13- To make a plate of samosa chaat, place 1 cup of prepared chole into the serving bowl.
14- Top with dollops of yogurt.
15- Then roughly break 2 samosa and place them on top of yogurt.
16- Top the samosa with more chole, cilantro chutney, sweet tamarind chutney.
And finally garnish the Samosa Chaat with chopped onion, sev, cilantro, pomegranate arils (if using). Sprinkle chaat masala and serve immediately!
If you’ve tried this Samosa Chaat Recipe then don’t forget to rate the recipe! You can also follow me on Facebook and Instagram to see what’s latest in my kitchen!
Samosa Chaat
Ingredients
For the Chole
- 2 cups dried chickpeas soaked overnight
- 5-6 whole green cardamom
- 4-5 black peppercorn
- 2 bay leaves
- 2 1-inch cinnamon stick
- 2 black tea bags
- 4-5 cups water
- salt to taste
- 1 tablespoon oil
- 3/4 cup pureed onion or finely grated, from 2 small onions
- 2 teaspoons ginger garlic paste
- 2.5 cups pureed tomatoes from 4 medium tomatoes
- 3 teaspoons chole masala
- 1/2 teaspoon red chili powder or to taste
- 1/2 teaspoon paprika powder
- 3/4 teaspoon cumin powder
For tempering of Chole
- 1 tablespoon ghee
- 1 inch ginger cut into juliennes
- 1/4 teaspoon garam masala
- 1/2 tablespoon crushed kasuri methi
- 2 tablespoons chopped cilantro
For the Chaat
- 14 medium samosa homemade or store bought
- plain yogurt for serving, should be well beaten and thick
- cilantro chutney for serving
- sweet tamarind chutney for serving
- chopped onion for serving
- chopped cilantro for serving
- sev for serving
- pomegranate arils for garnishing (optional)
- chaat masala to sprinkle
Instructions
To Make Chole
- Soak dried chickpeas overnight in 4 cups water. In the morning drain the water, and then rinse the chickpeas.Transfer the chickpeas to a pressure cooker and then add the whole spices- green cardamom, black peppercorn, bay leaves and cinnamon stick.Also add black tea bags, water (around 4 to 5 cups) and salt. Please note: the tea bags are for giving the chole a dark color. They do not impart any taste to the final product.
- Pressure cook on high heat for 2 whistles. After that lower the flame to medium and let the chickpeas cook for another 10 to 12 minutes. Remove the cooker from heat and allow the pressure to release naturally.You should be able to press the chickpeas easily with your fingers once cooked. Set aside.If using Instant Pot cook for 30 minutes on high pressure with natural pressure release.
- Start making the masala. Heat oil in a pan on medium heat. Once the oil is hot, add the grated/pureed onions to it.
- Cook the onions until the raw smell goes away completely, around 5-6 minutes. Then add the ginger-garlic paste and cook for 1 minute.
- Add the pureed tomatoes and mix. Cover and cook the tomatoes for 15 minutes on medium heat, stir once or twice in between. This step is important, so do not rush cooking the tomatoes.
- Once the tomatoes are cooked, add the chole masala, red chili powder, paprika powder, cumin powder and more salt. Mix and cook the spices for 1 minute.
- Add the cooked chickpeas into the pan and stir. Cover and let the curry simmer for around 30 minutes on low-medium heat. Again, don't rush the step for best tasting chole. The curry will thicken considerably and that's what we want for the chaat.The curry is now done. Taste test and adjust salt etc. at this point. Let it simmer while you make the tempering.
- For the tempering, heat ghee in a pan on medium heat. Once the ghee is hot, add the ginger julienne to it and fry until it starts turning golden brown in color. Transfer the fried julienne to the curry.
- Add garam masala and mix. Finally add in the crushed kasuri methi.Once the chole is ready, gather all other ingredients and start plating the samosa chaat.
To Serve Samosa Chaat
- To make a plate of samosa chaat, place 1 cup of prepared chole into the serving bowl. Top with dollops of yogurt.
- Then roughly break 2 samosa and place them on top of yogurt. Top the samosa with more chole, cilantro chutney, sweet tamarind chutney.
- And finally garnish the Samosa Chaat with chopped onion, sev, cilantro, pomegranate arils (if using). Sprinkle chaat masala and serve immediately!
Notes
- This recipe of chole and 14 samosa can easily serve 10 people. More if you just add 1 samosa per plate of the chaat. Since I have used 2 samosa per plate, I served it more like a meal. To serve as an appetizer, you can definitely reduce the portion size.
- To make this recipe vegan, skip ghee from tempering in the chole and use oil in place. Also use your favorite vegan yogurt in place of regular yogurt.
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
All I have is canned chickpeas. Can I use that?
yes you can but you don’t need to pressure cook the chickpeas in that case since the canned chickpeas are already cooked
Hi Manali
For step 7- Add the cooked chickpeas into the pan and stir.
Do you also add all of the chickpea liquid?
yes everything
what is the garnish that looks like fine noodles called?
it’s called sev, an Indian snack. There are different varieties of sev, this is the thin one. It is eaten as such, with chai or topped on chaat, poha etc.
Thank you Manali, I live in a small town Jerez de la Frontera, South Spain and was thinking of opening a Samosa shop. First I must try your Samosa Chaat recipe.
Many thanks,
Lesley.
that will be so fun! I will love to visit it!
Hi which chole masala would you use
I have one from Delhi, India but you can use Everest brand
Love your website. Great to see people knowing this kind of vegetarian food.
I am a professional Chef with a huge interests in Indian Cuisine. I was wondering if you have any idea on how many different samosa dishes exists in India, i am trying to find that information, but not really be able to find it. Keep the great writing going!
The most common type of samosa in India that exists everywhere in Aloo Samosa (with potato). Whenever you mention the word “samosa” in India, most people will automatically assume you are talking about potato samosa (the vegan/vegetarian one). This is what is found in every corner of the country. Of course there are other samosas too like Keema samosa (filled with lamb), chicken samosa. Samosa Chaat is also very popular where samosa is served with chole https://www.cookwithmanali.com/samosa-chaat/. There are several other varieties too but these are most common.
How would you recommend making the chole masala on the stove (without a pressure cooker)? Would you still put all of the ingredients in at once, and let everything simmer together for a while, or are there extra steps? Thank you!
it will take a lot of time on stove-top. You can use canned chickpeas if you want to make on stove-top since those are already boiled. I will follow the same steps.
If you use canned chickpeas, do you add water when adding chickpeas to the tomatoes? Otherwise, it seems a too dry. How many cups would you say? Thanks!
yes you would, add around 2 cups and go from there