Basket Chaat – Memories of Lucknow!

Lucknow – A city known for its heritage and tehzeeb.. A city known for its crowded markets and chikankari suits…A city popular for the narrow lanes yet modern infrastructure.. A city famous for it’s Tunday Kebabs and Basket Chaat! 🙂

I have a very old connection with Lucknow rather if I should say that Lucknow used to be my second home… Lucknow is the home to my aunt, my maternal family and moreover I spent glorious 4 years of my graduation in this beautiful city of Nawabs. My favorite spots in Lucknow were Gomti Nagar, Indranagar, Chinhat, Marine Drive and ofcourse HazratGanj. Roaming in Hazratganj, popularly known as Ganjing, was and is the favorite time pass of most of the people. You not only get a relaxed peaceful evening but also you get a chance to indulge yourself in the famous street foods of Lucknow like Chaat, Golgappe, Dahi Bhalle, Kebabs etc. Though Lucknow is famous for it’s Mughlai food like variety of Kebabs at Aminabad area, it is also famous for it’s Chaat. Lucknowi Chaat is one of the most delicious street food one will ever come across…

Image courtesy: TripAdvisor

Lucknow was one of the very first city, in my knowledge, which introduced 5 paani k Golgappe…Back in 90s there used to be just 1 shop in Ganj who use to sell GolGappe with 5 different varieties of Paani and people were so much addicted to it that I have no words to tell.. When I use to visit Lucknow, back in 90s with my parents, our trip to Ganj was must with Golgappas, Basket Chaat and Bante waali bottle. Ummm as far as I remember, in 1997, Royal Cafe – One of the most famous restro of those days, used to sell Basket Chaat at Rs.35 which was certainly a big amount in that era. Regular Chaats we use to get at Rs.10 or Rs.20 but shelling out Rs.35 in those times, that too for a chaat, was itself a unique memory. 😀 And Dad strictly use to tell us – Khatam karna hai poori plate chahe kuch b ho. [ You have to finish the complete plate no matter what – Don’t waste]. Though most of the time that basket chaat was so so heavy that me, my mom and bro use to finish off in one plate only. And 2nd one was for Dad. 🙂 Golden times those were!

We Indians swear by Chaat and each and every state or city has a different version of Chaat. Basket Chaat is a unique way of serving the traditional Chaat. Instead of regular plates or pattas, a potato nest or basket is prepared and then Tikkis, Chutneys, Potatoes, Matar etc etc are sprinkled all over. That 1 plate of basket chaat is super loaded with all the variety of stuff but the taste which it leaves on your palette – stays forever! 🙂 It is known as basket because it incorporates a lot many stuff together and let you enjoy till the last spoon.

To celebrate the same old days and to revisit those beautiful childhood memories, this time I decided to come up with the BASKET CHAAT recipe. 🙂 I am sure now the prices must be increased to may be Rs.100 or Rs.135 but for me, those mesmerizing family moments are more than enough.

Let’s have a look at the recipe!

Preparation time: 30 mins

Cooking time: 30 mins

Serves: 4

Ingredients

      1.   For Potato Basket

• 3 medium sized potatoes
• 1 bowl chilled water
• 2 tbsp cornflour
• Salt to taste
• Oil to fry
• Equipment – 2 tea strainers ( steel ) – 1 should be big and other a size less

     2.    For Tikkis

• 1 big sized Beetroot – Grated
• 1 cup spinach – Finely  Chopped
• 1 potato – Boiled and mashed
• 1 cup peas – Boiled
• 1 inch ginger – Finely chopped
• 1/2 cup Fresh Coriander leaves – Finely Chopped
• 1 tsp Garam Masala
• 1 tsp Dhaniya Powder
• Salt as per taste
• Pepper powder as per taste
• 2 tbsp cornflour powder
• Oil to fry

    3.    For White Peas

•  2 cups dry white peas – Soaked and Boiled
• 1 tsp salt
• 1 tsp Garam Masala powder
• 1 tsp Amchur powder
• A pinch of astoefida4.  For Meethi Chutney – Sonth

• 2 cup Imli water – Soak imli overnight in water and drain in the morning. Save water.
• 2 medium sized Jaggery
• Red chilli powder
• 4-5 dates – finely chopped
• 1 tsp ginger – finely chopped
• A pinch of astoefida
• 1 tsp Cumin
• Salt as per taste
• 1 tsp Ghee

      5. For Green Chutney

• 1 cup clean and fresh coriander leaves
• 1/2 cup mint leaves
• 1 medium size tomato
• Amchur powder
• Jeera powder
• Salt
• Green chillies
• 1 tsp Ginger
• 1/2 tsp sugar
• Juice of 1 lemon

     6. For Curd

• 1 cup thick curd
• 2 tsp sugar

  For Garnishing

• Grated Raddish or Pomegranate seeds
• Red chilli powder
• Cumin powder

Note: Use salt in all the ingredients accordingly. You have to balance it out else either the whole chaat will be too salty or unsalty. 🙂

Method

Grate the potatoes well and dip them in chilled water for 20 mins. Till then let’s prepare the chutneys and matar. 🙂

1. Green chutney – Mix all the ingredients together and grind well in the grinder. Adjust taste accordingly.
2. Meethi Chutney or Sonth – Heat ghee in a pan. Add astoefida, cumid seeds and ginger. Let them warm up. Add imli water and let it simmer on high. Add jaggery and spices. Add dates and let them simmer well for 20 mins.
3. Curd – Mix curd well with sugar. Keep in the fridge.
4. White peas – Take boiled peas. Add the spices. Mix well. Add lemon juice and mix well.

Now all the accompaniments of our Basket Chaat are ready. 🙂

      5. For Baskets

• Take the grated potatoes and drain the water. Squeeze all the water out of them and spread them in a bowl.
• Add cornflour, salt and a tsp of oil. Mix really well.
• Heat oil in the kadhai. Take more oil so that there is no problem in dipping the baskets.
• Take the big strainer and arrange a portion of potatoes over it. Make sure the layer is not very thick and nor very thin. Arrange it well and put the 2nd strainer upon it. Now the potato layer is between the 2 strainers. ( Visualize it)
• Once the oil is hot, put the arrangement carefully in the oil. Don’t disturb any of the strainer else potato might come out and spread in the oil. Fry well for 3-4 mins. Be alert as it can burn very quickly.
• Use a cloth while holding the strainers as they will  be super hot and you may get burns.
• Now, take it out and separate the 2 strainers.
• Pat the strainer with the basket lightly on the kitchen slab and your basket will be out. Don’t use force. Use knife to free the edges.
  

  

  

  
• Fry all the baskets with the same process.
• You can store these baskets for almost a week in a air-tight container.

  6. For Tikkis

I wanted to have a healthy tikki.. Well when it’s fried obviously it’s no more healthy still I tried my best in keeping it nutritious in terms of size, ingredients and oil. I kept the size small so that at-least we can have a control over the portions. 🙂

• Mix all the ingredients of the tikkis very well. Adjust salt accordingly.
• Mix half of the cornflour in 1/3 cup of water and keep it aside.
• Make small balls out of the mixture. I got almost 16 tikkis. Alaas!
• Shape them well. Keep them in freezer for 10 mins.
• Take them out. Heat oil in a pan.
• We will shallow fry these tikkis instead of deep frying.
• Dip the tikkis in cornflour mixture and shallow fry them in the pan.
• Fry till crisp.
• Your tikkis are ready.
  

  

Arrange the Baskets

Now all the stuff is ready and it’s time to ponder upon these delightful Indian delicacy. 🙂 It’s sweet and tangy taste will definitely keep you dreaming about it throughout.

• Take a potato basket.
• Put 1 or 2 tikkis over it.
• Spread 1 tbsp of White peas.
• Spread curd, green chutney and sonth.
• Sprinkle red chilli powder and cumin powder.
• Sprinkle grated radish / coriander leaves / pomegranate seeds etc.
• Your Basket Chaat is ready!

Guys, this basket chaat is a heart throb. You can prepare it for your kitty parties, family get togethers, office parties, children parties etc. Do try it and let me know your feedback.

Join my Facebook Food Group right here –

https://www.facebook.com/groups/FromTheDiariesOfGreatCooks/

This post I am dedicating to our 60th Foodie BlogHop wherein our theme for this week is Chats.

This post I am sharing for Angies Fiesta Friday wherein my co-hosts for this week are –  Antonia @ Zoale and Sandhya @ Indfused. 

Savor the taste of India right here! 🙂

Bon appetit! 🙂