Chana chaat (Indian chickpea salad)
Tangy, spiced chickpeas tossed with crunchy onion, tomato, cucumber and cilantro, the Indian street snack made into a no-cook lunch.
- 15 min total
- 15 min hands-on
- Anyone can make this
- Serves 4
- About $1.56 a serving
- 380 calories
- Good the next day
- Vegetarian
- Gluten-free
Dolly says: I’d make this on a weeknight. It’s on the table in 15 minutes.
Ingredients
For 4 servings.
- 3 cans chickpeas, drained and rinsed
- ½ red onion, finely chopped
- 2 Roma tomatoes, diced
- 1 cucumber, diced
- 1 jalapeño, seeded and finely chopped (optional)
- ½ cup cilantro, chopped
- 2 limes, juiced
- ½ tsp garam masala
- ½ cup plain Greek yogurt (optional)
From your pantry
- 1 tsp ground cumin
- ½ tsp chili powder
- 1 pinch sugar
- ¾ tsp salt
Each serving has about 380 calories, 21 g protein, 61 g carbs and 7 g fat, and costs about $1.56 at typical US grocery prices. Both are estimates from what the recipe uses.
Missing something?
- No red onions? White onions or yellow onions work.
- No cucumbers? English cucumbers or mini cucumbers work.
- No cilantro? Fresh parsley works.
- No limes? Lemons work.
- No plain Greek yogurt? Plain yogurt or sour cream works.
Steps
Tap an underlined word for a quick explanation.
and the chickpeas and shake them as dry as you can.
Drain. Draining means pouring off liquid, like tipping pasta into a colander or spooning extra fat out of the pan. Pour hot grease into a can or jar, not the sink, where it hardens and clogs the pipes.
How you’ll know: Only a few drips are left, and the food isn’t sitting in a puddle.
Rinse. Rinsing means running cold water over rice or canned beans in a strainer while you swish them around. It washes off loose starch and can liquid, so rice cooks up fluffy and beans taste clean.
How you’ll know: The water running out goes from cloudy to mostly clear; it doesn’t have to be perfect.
the onion, the tomatoes and cucumber, and and finely chop the jalapeño.
Finely chop. Finely chopping means cutting food into small pieces, a little bigger than minced, about the size of a lentil. Small pieces spread their flavor through the dish and cook quickly.
How you’ll know: Nothing is bigger than a lentil, and the pile looks like confetti rather than paste.
Dice. Dicing means cutting food into small, even cubes, usually a quarter to half an inch across. Pieces the same size cook at the same speed, so nothing burns while the rest catches up.
How you’ll know: Your pieces are little cubes about the size of a chickpea, and they all look close to the same.
Seed. Seeding means scraping out the seeds and white ribs, usually from peppers, tomatoes or squash. In hot peppers the ribs hold most of the heat, so wash your hands after and don’t touch your eyes.
How you’ll know: The inside is smooth and clean, with no seeds or white ribs left.
Dolly’s tip: The heat lives in the white ribs and seeds. Scrape them out with a spoon for a mild salad.the cilantro, stems and all.
Chop. Chopping means cutting food into bite-size pieces that don’t need to be neat. Keep them roughly the same size so everything cooks evenly.
How you’ll know: Your pieces are about half an inch and roughly alike, even if none of them are pretty.
In a big bowl, the lime juice, cumin, chili powder, garam masala, sugar and salt.
Stir. Stirring means moving food around with a spoon or spatula so it cooks evenly and doesn’t stick. Unless the recipe says constantly, every so often is plenty, and it gives food time to brown.
How you’ll know: When you drag the spoon across the bottom, nothing is sticking or scorching.
Add the chickpeas, vegetables and cilantro and . Taste and add more lime or salt until it is tangy and bright.
Toss. Tossing means gently lifting and turning food so everything gets coated, like pasta in sauce or vegetables in oil. It coats every piece evenly without mashing anything.
How you’ll know: Every piece looks glossy or evenly coated, with no dry spots hiding underneath.
Let it sit 10 minutes so the chickpeas soak up the spices, then serve with a spoonful of yogurt on top.
Timer: 10 min
Dolly’s tip: It keeps 3 days in the fridge and tastes better on day two. It is safe in a lunch bag for the morning with an ice pack.
Plan this in Dollop, and get the grocery list
Dollop puts this dinner on a night that suits your week, lists only what you still need to buy, and walks you through each step while you cook.
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