Bhungra chaat

I love chaat, an Indian street food, and had the idea to make the pastry part of the chaat like a cannoli. As a cannoli is tube shape, I have named this dish Bhungra chaat as the word tube in Gujarati is Bhungra. After having this idea in my head I finally created it and this is how I made it.

Ingredients: Pastry:

1 cup chapati flour - 130g

1 tbsp melted ghee - 12g

Salt to taste (1/2 tsp)

1/2 tsp crushed cumin seeds

Enough water to form a dough

Pastry glue:

1 tbsp chapati flour

Enough cold water to form a sticky paste

Filling: Boiled diced potatoes

Canned ready cooked chickpeas

Diced onions

Chilli powder to taste

Roasted cumin powder to taste

Chaat masala to taste

Salt to taste

Lemon juice to taste

Chopped coriander leaves

Shop bought tamarind chutney

Yogurt dressing:

Greek style yogurt

Milk

Sugar

Additional toppings:

Tamarind chutney

Jini/Small sev

Pomegranate seeds

Coriander leaves

Method

First we are going to make the bhungra/cannoli pastry. In a bowl mix together the chapati flour, melted ghee, crushed cumin seeds and salt. Mix well and the flour should come together when you squeeze it together with your fist and then easily break apart. Then add water in stages to form a dough. You want the dough to be a little tight and not too soft for a crispy pastry.

Allow the dough to rest for 10 mintues then portion these into balls. I made 8 with my dough. Roll these out around 5-6 inches in diamater and 1mm in thickness. Then make a glue from a little chapati flour and cold water. Add the cold water bit by bit until you get a thick paste.

Using a cannoli tube, wrap the pastry rounds around the tube. Apply some of the glue on one edge of the pastry and wrap the other edge of the pastry over and seal shut.

Once you have all the pastry rounds wrapped around their cannoli tubes allow these to rest for 10 mintues to dry out. Then fry on a medium to low heat.

Fry these until golden brown and allow them to drain on some kitchen paper. Be careful when handling the cannoli tubes as they will get super hot. Once the pastry and cannoli tubes have cooled. Slowly wiggly and pull on the pastry and the cannoli tube should slide out.

Now that we have our bhungras. It's time for the filling. To a bowl add boiled diced potatoes, canned ready cooked chickpeas, chopped onions, chopped coriander leaves, red chilli powder, roasted cumin powder, salt, lemon juice and tamarind chutney.

I did not make any actual measurements on this. Add as much or as little as you like according to your preference. Chaat usually has chaat masala which you can add. I'm not a fan therefore have not added any. Mix everything together until fully incorporated.

For the yogurt dressing, mix yogurt, sugar and milk together. Again add as much milk as you like depending on how runny you want your dressing. I only add a pinch of sugar for a hint of sweetness. Now that everything is ready we can fill our bhungras with the filling. Once you've filled your bhungras place this on a plate or in a bowl and drench in the yogurt dressing and garnish with some tamarind chutney, jini sev, pomegranates and coriander leaves.

If you're not serving this straight away keep everything ready and once you are ready to eat, assemble. Making it in advance will make the bhungra pastry soft and we want to keep them crunchy. Which is one of the best bits about chaat - the crunchy pastry.

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