The drier and spicier side of India's jumbled culinary map has always been the landscape I prefer, but traveling makes us all better people, right?
Tonight we took a long drive to visit a friend & ended up noshing at a new chaat house. While critiquing the dosa, it occurred to me that chaat, rich in sauces, resonating with savory and sweet notes, and resplendent in complex aromas and textures, is the perfect food for the change in the clock and the seasons. Chaat relies on many of the stored veggies, pulses and grains that we pack away to keep us fed while seasonal crops come and go. Lentils, beans, rice, dried coconut, spices, and oil-packed anything are all you need for yummies that inspire plate-licking. Add carrot, potato, onion, garlic, and whatever has just sprung from the ground, and you'll have snacks that conspire to whisk you away to a place of bliss.
Chaat is also sort of like tapas: everyone gets to try a little of what they like best, there's enough to share but not too much, and the time it takes to eat it is defined by the eater, not by the food. Chaat can be eaten hot, cold, lukewarm, or, as in the case of samosa chaat, all three at once.
Imagine a plate of hot, crisp, samosa pastry broken open to reveal steaming golden potato, dark shining mustard seeds, tender lime-green peas, sprinkles of cumin, and tiny fronds of cilantro. Then artfully decorate the plate with lukewarm, burnt-caramel-colored tamarind sauce and emerald mint-chile chutney. Follow that with creamy, cold, white (soy) yogurt and finish it off with dustings of brick-red ground chile powder. It is delightful to share the varied textures, temperatures, scents and colors with tablemates, though you may be tempted to hoard it for yourself.
Chaat has the familiar components of sleepy comfort food, but the awakening heat of fiery spices. In times of change, there is something so right about enjoying foods that encourage both individuality and companionship, both bravery and familiarity, and swiftness as well as lingering. Do yourself a favor and relish a meal of chaat and chat with an old friend soon, before you get stuck in a seasonal rut again!
