Chaat

Chaat, also known as chāt, refers to a category of fried dough snacks that first appeared in India. These dishes are commonly eaten as appetizers or bought from roadside stalls and food carts throughout South Asia. While chaat traces its roots to Uttar Pradesh, it has since spread across the region.

The term "chaat" comes from the Indian word *cāṭ*, meaning a tasting or delicacy, which itself derives from *cāṭnā*—the act of licking one's fingers while eating. This word can be traced further back to the Prakrit *caṭṭei*, which describes eating noisily or with relish.

All versions of chaat start with fried dough as a base. The original chaat combines potato pieces, crisp fried bread, dahi vada or dahi bhalla, gram or chickpeas, and tangy-salty spices. It is finished with sour Indian chili, saunth (a sauce made from dried ginger and tamarind), fresh coriander leaves, and yogurt. Common variations include alu tikkis or samosa topped with onion, potatoes, coriander, peas, hot spices, and yogurt; bhel puri; dahi puri; panipuri; dahi vada; papri chaat; and sev puri. Many of these share ingredients such as yogurt, chopped onions and coriander, sev (thin dried yellow salty noodles), and chaat masala—a spice blend typically made from amchoor (dried mango powder), cumin, kala namak (Himalayan black rock salt), coriander, dried ginger, salt, black pepper, and red pepper. The mixture is served on a small metal plate or a banana leaf that has been dried and shaped into a bowl.

Some dishes now considered chaat, like dahi vada, have ancient origins. A recipe for a dahi vada analogue called *kshiravata* appears in the *Manasollasa*, a 12th-century Sanskrit encyclopedia by Someshvara III, who ruled from present-day Karnataka. Food historian K.T. Achaya notes that descriptions of dahi vada also exist in literature from as early as 500 BC. According to culinary anthropologist Kurush Dalal, chaat as a distinct group of dishes emerged in northern India (now Uttar Pradesh) in the late 17th century, during the reign of Mughal emperor Shah Jahan. At that time, royal doctors advised the people of Delhi to eat spicy and fried snacks, along with yogurt, to counteract the alkaline water of the Yamuna River. Most chaat varieties originated in parts of Uttar Pradesh later in the 20th century, but they are now eaten across South Asia and neighboring countries. Some of these dishes are the result of cultural syncretism.

Variations include alu chaat (crisp fried potato pieces with chutney), alu tikki, bedmi (fried dal-stuffed puri with alu sabji), bhalla, bhelpuri, cheela (chickpea flour pancakes with chutney), chotpoti (boiled potatoes, chickpeas, onions, chillies, and grated eggs), dahi puri, dahi vada, kachori (including khasta kachauri), mangode (yellow moong paste instead of besan), masalapuri, pakora (paneer, vegetables, or meat in besan paste), panipuri, papri chaat (with fried patties called papri), ragda patties (alu tikki chaat), samosa chaat (broken samosa with chutneys), sevpuri, vada pav, dahi bhallay ki chaat (bhallay, potatoes, chickpeas, imli chutney, chaat masala, onions, tomatoes, yogurt), beetroot and potato chaat, Dhaka chaat, thattu vadai set, dal ki chaat (moong dal with spices and wheat biscuits, popular in Meerut), raj kachori (a hollow wheat ball filled with sprouts, chickpeas, potatoes, bhalla, and chutneys), basket chaat (an edible potato bowl filled with sprouts, chickpeas, potato, and chutneys, popular in Lucknow), ram ladoo (round moong dal fritters with radish and grey chutney), dabeli (a sweet-sour potato burger with sev, groundnut, and pomegranate), and barule (whole potato coated in besan, deep-fried with green chutney).