Chana chaat

Chana chaat is boiled black chickpeas tossed with chopped onion, tomato, green chilli and lemon, seasoned with roasted cumin and amchur and eaten from paper cups at chaat stalls. At home it is the same, made from kala chana boiled until tender but never mushy, because the bite of the chana is the point of the dish.

The chana need the full 6 to 8 hours of soaking, or the hot quick soak from our guide to soaking kala chana, and then 6 to 7 whistles in the cooker with salt. Boil them until a chana crushes easily between two fingers but the skin still holds. Kabuli chana makes a creamier, softer chaat with the same soak and boil; 100 g of raw kabuli chana has 378 kcal against 287 kcal in the same weight of kala chana.

The dressing balances sour and salt: two tablespoons of lemon juice and a teaspoon of amchur over the whole batch, so the chaat is sharp but the chana still taste of themselves. Serve it with green chutney, blended two parts coriander to one part mint with a green chilli, lemon and a pinch of salt, or with tamarind chutney from a jar. Boiled chana keep up to two days in the fridge, so boil extra for quick bowls on later days.