BR Special Cruncy Chaat Salad
A crunchy, tangy chaat-style salad where the pickle does the real work — briny slivers threaded through crushed kettle chips and chickpeas, tied together with a tangy tamarind-yogurt dressing. Toss it right before serving; the crunch is the whole hook, and everything else is there to support it.
Ingredients
½ tbsp ripe tamarind pulp
¼ cup water (for tamarind)
½ medium red onion, finely chopped
2–3 green chilies, finely chopped
2 tbsp coriander leaves, chopped
¼ cup dill or cucumber pickle, very thinly sliced
3 cups kettle-cooked potato chips (Miss Vickie's works great), lightly crushed
2½ cups cooked chickpeas
½ cup roasted walnuts, roughly chopped
¾ cup plain yogurt
½ tsp garlic paste
½ tsp black salt (bit lobon)
½ tsp sugar, plus a pinch more to taste
½ tsp coriander powder, plus a pinch more to taste
¼ tsp roasted cumin powder, plus a pinch more to taste
Pinch of fine salt
1 tbsp lime zest, finely chopped
Steps
1. Steep the tamarindIn a small bowl, mash the tamarind pulp with the water until it loosens into a pulpy liquid. Set aside to steep while you prep everything else — you'll strain out the fibers and seeds later.
2. Prep the mix-insChop the red onion and green chilies, and roughly chop the coriander leaves. Slice the pickle as thin as you can manage — you want texture here, not big bites.
3. Build the baseIn a large bowl, crush the potato chips lightly with your hands — you're after big, craggy shards, not dust. Add the chickpeas, sliced pickle, chopped onion, green chili, and roasted walnuts. Toss gently to combine.
4. Strain the tamarindPush the steeped tamarind through a fine strainer into a small bowl, pressing to extract as much liquid as possible. Discard the solids.
5. Whisk the dressingTo the strained tamarind water, whisk in the yogurt, garlic paste, black salt, sugar, coriander powder, roasted cumin, and a pinch of salt. Taste and adjust with the extra pinches until it's balanced — tangy, a little sweet, a little funky from the black salt.
6. Dress and finishPour the dressing over the chip mixture and toss quickly but thoroughly, so every shard gets coated. Scatter over the chopped lime zest and give one last gentle toss.
7. ServeKettle-cooked chips are sturdy enough to hold their crunch for a bit even once dressed, but this still eats best fresh — don't let it sit around.
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