Aloo chaat is fried crispy potato cubes tossed in spicy and sweet chutneys, ground spice powders usually topped with curd (yogurt), pomegranate arils and sev. This crispy, savory aloo chat is a mouth-watering Indian street food snack packed with flavors and taste. Aloo chat is a crowd-pleaser as it has a variety of flavors. It is tangy, sweet, spicy, salty and can be easily customized to your taste. Make these finger-licking vegan potato snack in just 15 minutes.
About Aloo Chaat
Aloo chaat is a popular and super tasty street food snack made with crispy fried potato cubes. They are mixed and tossed with spicy and sweet chutneys, ground spice powders and lemon juice. Later finished with a topping of curd, mint leaves, coriander leaves, pomegranate arils and sev.
There are many ways of making this easy potato snack. My aloo chat recipe is a tasty addictive vegan and gluten-free snack bound to have you coming back for more. This one of the easiest chaat recipes that you will ever make.
The great thing about aloo chat is that it can be made to your taste! Delhi-style aloo chaat is very popular, but I am sharing a simpler recipe. This easy recipe makes a tangy, sweet, chatpata chaat and the recipe can also be halved, doubled or tripled.
This recipe spares you the effort of making green chutney. I have added sweet tamarind chutney in the chaat. I usually have tamarind chutney in fridge, so I add them to chaats.
However tamarind chutney can be skipped and you can still enjoy this potato chaat with a mix of the various ground spices and lemon juice. It can be served as an evening snack or as a starter snack before meals.
I have shallow fried the potatoes but you can deep fry or air fry according to your preference. If air frying then coat the potato cubes with some oil and then air fry them.
While we are at this aloo chat recipe, let me tell you that there is one more chaat snack made with Aloo Tikki or crispy potato patties. I have earlier posted this differently made Aloo Tikki Chaat recipe.
How to make Aloo Chaat
Frying Potatoes
1. Rinse 3 medium sized potatoes (250 grams) in fresh water and then peel them. Chop the potatoes in small bite sized cubes.
2. Heat 4 tablespoons of oil in a frying pan or kadai on a medium heat. Add the potato cubes for frying. Use any neutral flavored with a high smoke point for frying.
TIP 1: If you have a large pan then fry the potatoes all together, but if the pan is small then half the batch, and fry them twice.
TIP 2: Use a well seasoned wok or pan so that the potatoes do not stick to the pan and you can fry them easily.
3. Mix with the oil and begin to fry them. Remember to fry at medium heat.
Warm or a cooler temperature of the oil will make the potatoes soggy with oil. A very hot oil will brown the outer crust of the potato cubes quickly but they will be undercooked from the center.
4. When one side becomes golden, turn the potatoes over and fry them on the other side. Keep on turning the potatoes at intervals using a slotted spoon until they are fried evenly.
5. Fry until the potatoes are crispy and golden. Make sure the potato cubes are not raw or half-cooked on the inside.
TIP: Remove 1 to 2 potato cubes from the oil. Place them on a plate. Push a fork into the potato cubes to check if it is done. If the fork goes in easily then it is done, if not then leave the potatoes to cook for a bit longer.
6. Once the potatoes are tender, crisp and golden then remove them with a slotted spoon draining as much oil in the pan as possible.
7. Place fried potato cubes on kitchen paper towels to absorb extra oil. Then, fry the second batch of potatoes if you have used a small or medium-sized wok or pan.
Making Aloo Chaat
8. When the potatoes are still hot take all of them in a mixing bowl.
9. Then add the following ground spice powders:
- ¼ teaspoon of black pepper powder
- ½ teaspoon of Kashmiri red chili powder or sweet paprika
- ½ teaspoon of roasted cumin powder
- ½ teaspoon of dry mango powder (amchur powder)
- ½ teaspoon of chaat masala powder
- black salt or pink salt or regular white salt to taste
TIP: Feel free to adjust the spice powders to your taste.
10. Next, add 1 tablespoon of finely chopped mint leaves and 2 tablespoons of finely chopped coriander leaves (cilantro).
Option: Add 1 finely chopped green chili (about ½ teaspoon finely chopped). Green chilies add pungent hot notes to the potatoes. Only add green chilies if you like eating raw green chilies. Here I have not added green chillies, but I do add them on occasions.
11. Toss and mix well.
12. Then add 1 tablespoon of sweet tamarind chutney. Add less or more to suit your taste. At this step you can add coriander chutney or green chutney if you want.
13. Sprinkle 1 to 2 teaspoons of lemon juice for some tang.
14. Toss and mix everything very well. The chutney, spice powders and lemon juice should coat the fried potatoes evenly. Taste the potatoes and adjust the seasoning to your taste.
Some people like to add whisked curd to the aloo chaat. Since we have used sweet tamarind chutney you can easily add beaten or whisked curd at this point according to your taste.
The addition of curd will add some richness and creaminess. Make sure the curd or yogurt is fresh and not sour.
15. Add chaat to a serving bowl and serve aloo chaat garnish with pomegranate arils or sev (fried gram flour vermicelli) and serve as an evening snack or starter.
If garnishing or topping with sev then serve immediately or else they will soften and you won’t get that crunchy texture of the sev.
Expert Tips
How to air fry potato cubes
You can also air-fry the potatoes instead of frying and follow the rest of the recipe. I have tried this air-frying method and the potatoes tasted just as delicious and they were a bit lighter compared to fried aloo chat.
Simply coat the potato cubes with 1 to 2 tablespoons oil. Preheat your air-fryer for 5 minutes at 180 degrees Celsius. Then air-fry the potato cubes at a moderately hot temperature of 180 degrees Celsius/356 Fahrenheit until crispy and golden.
Do remove the air-fryer basket a couple of times while air-frying. Gently shake or toss the basket or turn over the potato cubes with a spoon, spatula or fork. Place the basket with the potatoes back into the air-fryer and continue to air-fry.
Recipe Notes
- Frying: Aloo chaat is served at street food joints and is usually prepared using a huge tawa (griddle). You can use a large tawa or skillet to fry the potatoes, but I prefer to fry the potatoes in a kadai or wok as I find it easier. You can deep fry or shallow fry them. For a healthier chaat you can air-fry or bake the potato cubes.
- Potatoes: Use potatoes with a high starch content like Russet potatoes, Idaho, Maris Piper as these will give a crispy crust from outside with a soft, tender texture from inside.
- Frying Potatoes: Make sure the potatoes are cooked and soft on the inside. Sometimes the potatoes become crispy on the outside before the inside cooks. To avoid this remove a few potatoes from the pan and place them on a plate. Then push a fork into the potato cubes to check if they are done. If the fork goes in easily then the potatoes are ready, but if the potatoes are still firm then continue to fry them for a bit longer.
- Alternatives: Aloo chat can be made in several different ways. Alter the amount of spice powders to suit your taste and if you like spicy aloo chaat add ½ to 1 teaspoon finely chopped green chilies. These chilies are quite hot so only add them if you are a fan of raw green chilies. You can also add some curd (yogurt) too. Green chutney can also be added.
- Proportions: This is a fantastic flavorful vegan and gluten-free potato dish that is always a great starter option for gatherings. Double or triple this recipe to feed a crowd.
FAQs
It is a popular fried potato snack that is served as street food in various parts of North India. The word aloo chaat is a Hindi term. Aloo translates to potatoes in English and chaat means a category of snacks that have a variety of taste and textures like sweet, tangy, spicy, savory, salty, crispy etc. So aloo chaat is a multi-flavored fried potato snack in English.
It depends on the type of chaat snack. Some chaat snacks like dahi vada, dahi bhalla, papdi chaat are served cold or at room temperature, while some like aloo tikki chole, ragda pattice, samosa chole are served hot. You have the option to serve this aloo chaat hot or at room temperature. But for best taste and texture serve hot or warm. It is a great evening snack option.
Of course you can use boiled or steamed potatoes to make this recipe. Alternatively, parboil the potatoes or half-cook them and then pan fry them in some oil until crisp.
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Aloo Chaat
Ingredients
For frying potatoes
- 250 grams potatoes or 2 large or 3 medium potatoes
- 4 tablespoons oil for shallow frying
Other ingredients
- ¼ teaspoon black pepper powder
- ½ teaspoon kashmiri red chili powder
- ½ teaspoon roasted cumin powder
- ½ teaspoon dry mango powder (amchur powder)
- ½ teaspoon chaat masala powder
- black salt or pink salt or white salt as per taste
- 1 tablespoon finely chopped mint leaves
- 2 tablespoons finely chopped coriander leaves
- ½ teaspoon finely chopped green chilies or 1 green chili – optional
- 1 tablespoon Tamarind Chutney or add as required
- 1 to 2 teaspoons lemon juice or add as per taste
- 1 to 2 tablespoons pomegranate arils for garnish – optional
Instructions
Frying potatoes
- Rinse potatoes a couple of times in fresh water and then peel them. Chop the potatoes in small bite sized cubes.
- Heat oil in a frying pan or kadai (wok). Keep the heat to medium. Use any neutral oil with a high smoking point to fry the potato cubes.
- Add the potato cubes. You can fry potatoes in one or two batches depending on the size of the pan or kadai.
- When one side become light golden, turn over and fry the second side. Keep on turning the potatoes as required for even frying.
- Fry till the potatoes turn crisp and golden. Make sure to fry well so that the potato cubes are not raw or half cooked from the center.
- Remove with a slotted spoon. place the fried potatoes on kitchen paper towels.
Making aloo chaat
- When the potatoes are still hot, take them in a mixing bowl.
- Add all the spice powders mentioned above. You can adjust spice powders as per your requirements.
- Also add black salt or white salt as per taste.
- Add the finely chopped mint leaves and coriander leaves.
- At this step you can also add finely chopped green chillies. Note that green chilies give pungent and hot notes while eating. Add only if you can eat raw green chilies.
- Toss and mix well.
- Then add sweet tamarind chutney and lemon juice.
- Toss and mix everything very well, so that the chutney, spice powders and lemon juice is evenly coated on the fried potatoes.
- Place the aloo chaat in a serving bowl. While serving you can garnish with some pomegranate arils. You can also garnish with sev if you want.
- Serve aloo chaat as an evening snack or a starter snack.
Notes
Recipe Notes
- If you like then you can sprinkle some sev (gram flour vermicelli) while serving.
- Adjust the spice powders and salt according to taste.
- You can also add green chutney or coriander chutney in this recipe. Since sweet tamarind chutney is added in the recipe, you can top the chaat with 1 to 2 tablespoons or more of fresh curd (yogurt).
- You can even air-fry or bake the potatoes instead of frying them.
- Recipe can be doubled.
- For the best texture, use starchy potatoes like Russet, Idaho, Maris Piper.
How to air fry potato cubes?
- Lightly coat the potato cubes evenly with 1 to 2 tablespoons oil. Preheat air-fryer for 5 minutes at 180 degrees Celsius//356 Fahrenheit.
- Place potato cubes in the air-fryer basket and air-fry at 180 degrees Celsius/356 Fahrenheit until crispy and golden.
- Remove the air-fryer basket a couple of times while air-frying. Gently shake or toss the basket or turn over the potato cubes with a spoon, spatula or fork.
- Place the basket with the potatoes back into the air-fryer and continue to air-fry until crisp and golden.
- When perfectly cooked, take the air-fried potato cubes in a bowl and mix with the spices, tamarind chutney, herbs and seasonings.
Nutrition Info (Approximate values)
This Aloo Chaat post from the blog archives first published in July 2018 has been republished and updated on 23 July 2021.
