Spicy Chickpea Chana Chaat

Cover the Chickpeas with three times their volume of cold water and leave them overnight, at least 12 h. They will roughly double and turn pale gold; a soaked chickpea squashes flat under a thumbnail.

⚠ Tip: No time to soak? A can of chickpeas, drained and rinsed, genuinely works here and saves a day. Salted or plain, both fine.

Drain the soaked chickpeas into a pot, cover with fresh water by 4 cm, bring to a boil and simmer until a chickpea crushes easily between finger and thumb but still holds its skin, about 45 min. Drain and spread on a plate to cool fast.

⚠ Tip: Drain them the moment they are done: chickpeas left sitting in their cooking water go mealy and drink up the chutneys you want on the surface. Undercooked chana is the single most common chaat failure, so taste two or three, not just one.

Roughly chop Green chillies, Coriander (use the tender stems too, they carry the flavour), Mint and Ginger. The chilli heat stays in the green chutney, so leave the seeds in if you want it to bite.

Blitz the chopped greens and ginger with the juice of 1 Limes, ½ tsp Salt and just enough 3 tbsp Water to keep the blades turning. Stop at a thick, spoonable purée, not a soup. Taste: it should be sour, grassy and hot enough to make you blink.

⚠ Tip: Ice-cold water keeps the chutney bright green; a room-warm blitz turns it army drab.

Dry-toast the Cumin seeds in a small pan over medium heat for about 1 min, shaking, until it darkens a shade and smells nutty and warm. Tip onto a cold plate to stop it cooking.

⚠ Tip: Cumin goes from nutty to acrid in seconds: keep the pan moving, and err on the pale side.

Pull the Tamarind apart into a small pan with 50 g Jaggery and 200 ml Water. Simmer for 7 min, mashing the pulp with the back of a spoon until it collapses into a dark, glossy syrup. Push it through a sieve into a bowl and let it cool.

⚠ Tip: Sweeten the tamarind to a sour-sweet, tongue-curling balance, not a dessert: you should still wince at the end of the spoon.

Crush the toasted cumin to a coarse powder in a mortar. Half of it goes into the first toss, the rest goes over the finished plates.

Boil the Potatoes whole in salted water until a knife slides in cleanly, about 25 min, then drain, peel and let them cool completely before dicing into 1.5 cm cubes.

⚠ Tip: Warm potato cubes crumble into the chutneys and turn the plate to mush. Cold, firm dice hold their edge.

Finely dice Red onions, Cucumber and deseeded Tomatoes into 0.5 cm pieces, roughly the size of the chickpeas. If the onion is aggressive raw, soak it for 5 min in cold water and drain it well.

⚠ Tip: Wait to chop the cucumber and tomato until the last moment: a wet chaat is a sad chaat.

Stir half the crushed cumin with the Red chilli powder, Chaat masala and Black salt in a little bowl. This is the toss-in dusting and it is why chaat tastes like chaat.

Heat 300 ml Neutral oil in a small pan to 170 °C. Slip in the Papdi in batches and fry until they float, puff slightly and turn pale gold, about 45 sec a batch. Lift out onto kitchen paper.

⚠ Tip: Pale gold is done; brown papdi tastes burnt, and frying too hot leaves the middles raw. Keep them dry until you serve: soggy papdi is the one thing that ruins a chaat plate.

In a big bowl, toss cooked chickpeas, cooked potato, chopped salad vegetables, chaat dust, four heaped tablespoons of green chutney and four of tamarind chutney, and the juice of the second Limes. Use two spoons and go at it for a full 45 sec: everything should be stained and glossy, nothing pooled at the bottom. Taste, then push the heat and sour where you want it.

⚠ Tip: Everything must be cold before it hits the bowl: cold chickpeas and cold potato are what keep the chutneys thick and the vegetables crisp.

Pile the chaat into bowls and crown it with some of fried papdi, a fistful of Fine sev, the last of the crushed cumin and the Roasted peanuts, if using. Spoon over a little more of both chutneys, dust with extra chaat masala and eat immediately, while the papdi still snaps.

⚠ Tip: Assemble at the table, not in the kitchen: chaat waits for nobody and the crunch is the whole point. Keep back some of the papdi so the bottom of the bowl stays crisp.