Aloo chaat is fried crisp potatoes tossed in spicy and sweet chutneys, a few ground spice powders and then topped with curd, pomegranate arils and sev. It is a popular street food snack.
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.