Books by Richard Sayce

Chicken Chaat Recipe:

A fabulous, refreshing, tangy starter. Small pieces of chicken tikka are cooked in a very thick sauce with onion, cucumber and chaat masala spices and topped with fresh coriander and lemon juice.

Serve on top of a deep fried chapati to convert the dish to a chicken chaat puri. This recipe will make just enough for two starter-sized portions.

This is one of many great recipes in my books Curry Compendium and Indian Restaurant Curry at Home Volume 1.

INGREDIENTS

2 TBSP Oil (30ml)
75g Red Onion, chopped. Brown Onion may be used instead.
1¼ tsp Mix Powder
½-1 tsp Kashmiri Chilli Powder, or ¼ – ½ ‘Regular’ Chilli Powder (optional)
¾ tsp Chaat Masala (See Notes)
175-200g Chicken Tikka. Pre-Cooked Chicken may be used instead but has a different flavour
125ml Base Gravy
1 tsp fresh Green Chilli, finely chopped (optional)
50g Cucumber, chopped into small cubes
20g fresh Tomato, chopped
Handful of Spring Onion, chopped
1-2 tsp fresh Lemon Juice
Fresh Coriander Leaf, finely chopped (for garnishing)

Watch the Video

METHOD

Add the oil to a frying pan in medium high heat.
Next, add the onion. Fry for a minute or two until softened, bur now browned, stirring often.
Now, in with the ginger/garlic paste, stirring until sizzling subsides.
Add the mix powder, chaat masala, and the optional Kashmiri chilli powder.
Fry for 20-30 seconds, stirring constantly. Add a little base gravy if the spices start sticking to the pan.
Add the chicken tikka, turn up the heat to high, and mix the chicken in.

SPACEHOLDER

Now pour in the 100ml of base gravy, stirring initially, and leave to cook for 2 minutes. Stir and scrape if the mixture is sticking to the pan too much, but let as much caramelisation happen as possible without burning.

Add the fresh green chilli (if using), plus the cucumber and tomato.
Stir and let cook for a further 30 seconds.
Taste and season with a little extra chaat masala if desired.
Done. Serve sprinkled with fresh coriander leaf, spring onion and fresh lemon juice..

NOTES

All spoon measurements are level. i.e. 1 tsp = 5ml, 1 TBSP = 15ml.
Chaat masala is a blend of spices used in Indian street style food, and is either added during or after cooking. It contains a lot of salt (often including kala namak, more commonly known as black salt), which is why the recipe does not call for a regular salt as a separate ingredient. Chaat masala is usually sold in 100g packets, and is available from all South Asian food shops and some larger regular supermarkets.
Some further reading about Chaat Masala.