Palak/Spinach chaat

I vividly remember my first time going back to my mom's place or my "mayeka" from my in-laws place a few days after we were married (funny I started thinking of it as my mom's place as only a few days back I always referred to it as 'my place'). Being the first and the only son-in-law, hubby was being pampered big time with all the best dishes that mom knew that hubby liked. There was festivity, food, people coming to meet us and family sitting together and chatting away till the wee hours of the morning. It was an overload of good food and tons of fun. Among all that, hubby and I always found time to sneak out of the house to go walk around the city streets with the 'newly-married' tag painted all over our faces, shopping, talking about our favorite places and mostly stocking up on street food we knew we were gonna miss so much in a few days. 
The speed with which the local 'chaat walas' prepared their delicious goodies is just amazing. Apart from the regular favorites, there was always something new they had to offer. Spinach chaat was one of them. We both loved it.
Coming to the US, I was excited to see that the Indian restaurants also offered the basic chaat on their menu. Tried it at a few places but was rather disappointed as it did not come even close to the real deal. That is when I decided to do my own. I have posted the more common form of chaat before, the Aloo Tikki Chaat. This past weekend I got reminded of the spinach chaat and hence this post. This is kind of like papdi chat only palak pakoda is used in place of papdi, also it is very easy to make and a lot more healthier. Hope you guys like it as much as I liked making it and we did eating :)

Here goes-

Ingredients: Serves 4

Chickpea Flour or Besan ........................ 1/2 cup

Rice flour ......................................... 4 tbsp

Baking Soda ....................................... 1/4 tsp

Salt ................................................. to taste
Hing  ............................................... 2 pinches

Red Chili Powder ................................. 1 tsp or  to taste

Roasted Cumin Powder .........................  1/4 tsp

Turmeric Powder ................................. 1/4 tsp

Ajwain or carom seeds .........................  1/4 tsp

Water ............................................... a little more than 1/2cup

Oil ..................................................  for shallow frying as needed

Spinach leaves .................................... 15-20 washed


For the topping-
Tamarind chutney, sev, mint chutney, boiled and cubed potato, cilantro, yogurt,roasted cumin powder, black salt, red chilli powder, chat masala, copped onion.


Method:

1. Mix all the dry ingredients in a bowl – chickpea flour, rice flour, baking soda, salt, hing, ajwain, red chili powder, roasted cumin powder, turmeric.

2. Mix well and make sure there are no lumps.

3. Slowly add in the Water and keep mixing.

4. Heat oil for  frying on medium heat in a wide non-stick skillet.

5. Dip the spinach leaves in the batter to coat well on both sides and place them carefully  in the pan.

6. Fry on both sides till golden.

7. Once done, strain the oil and put the pakodas on a kitchen towel to drain out any excess oil.
8. To serve, place 2 - 3 pakoras on a serving plate. Place some potatoes and onions over the pakoras and cover with two tablespoons of whisked yogurt. Drizzle some sweet tamarind chutney and green chutney. Sprinkle red chilli powder, cumin powder, black salt and salt. Cover with sev. Cut one pakora into two to three pieces and place right on top and serve immediately. ENJOY!


Notes: 


1. The pakoras can also  can be deep fried but I like this way to keep them healthier. .
2. The pakoras can be had by themselves as a awesome appetizer with some chutney or ketchup.

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