Vegan Dahi Batata Puri

Two weeks back, one of my friends SD asked if I could make a vegan version of Dahi Batata Puri which she used to love before adapting a vegan lifestyle. I thought of giving it a try with the cashew yoghurt / curd. She also wanted the step by step instructions and I made the wonderful chat recipe from scratch. Though the Puris are available in many Indian stores these days, I made it at home and I am very happy to share the recipe here.

The making of this chat involves many steps – Making of sweet tamarind chutney (Imli Chutney), green chutney, sev, boiled potatoes mixed with black salt and other seasonings and of course the puris and curd.

For preparation of cashew yoghurt, refer my post Vegan and Dairy Free Cashew Yoghurt.

For this chat recipe, you have to season the yoghurt with some black salt, 1 tsp sugar and Chat Masala (available in Indian stores) and it is ready to go!!

Sweet Tamarind Chutney / Imli Chutney (Adapted from Show me the Curry)

Ingredients:

Method:

Take two cups of luke warm water and dissolve the 2tbsp tamarind paste in it. Pour it into a sauce pan and bring it to a boil. Add the masala powders and salt. Let it reduce to about half a cup. It would really thicken when it reduces with beautiful colour and nice flavour. Keep this aside.

Green chutney

Ingredients:

Method:

Grind the above ingredients to a paste. Add water as necessary to bring it to your desired consistency.

Sev

Ingredients:

Method:

Sieve the chickpea flour. Add asafoetida, turmeric powder and salt. Make it into a soft dough with water (add water little at a time).

Heat oil in a big pan or Kadai.

Use the Idiyappam maker (shown in the picture) and the mould with smallest holes for making the sev.

Once the oil is medium hot, rotate the handle of the Idiyappam maker in circular motion holding it on top of the pan thus making thin strands of sev on the hot oil.

Fry on both sides of the circular sev mixture and wait till it turns golden brown. Drain it on to a plate already set with a paper tissue to absorb excess oil.

Repeat the process for the entire amount of dough and wait till it cools down. Crush into small pieces.

Puris / Pooris for chat:

This recipe is a keeper. I found this on Show me the Curry site.

Ingredients:

Method:

Take the semolina, baking powder and salt in a mixing bowl. Add the luke warm water to it. Knead for about 3 – 4 minutes until the sooji absorbs all the water. Kneading is very important and please do not compromise on that. Add the all purpose flour and knead again until it forms a nice dough. Add the oil now and knead again for about 4 minutes. Wrap it in a cling foil and leave it on the counter top for about 20 – 30 minutes. A very important tip here – Do not add the oil in the beginning itself.

After 20 – 30 minutes, take the dough and knead it one more time. Roll them out into thin tiny pooris and fry them in hot oil. You can roll them as invidual pooris (sorry for the irregular shapes) or roll the whole dough into a bigger sized, thin poori and cut out small portions using a round cookie cutter.

After frying the pooris till golden brown, drain them on to a paper towel to get rid of the excess oil. Now is the most important part of making crisp pooris. Preheat your oven to 200F / 93C. Spread the pooris on a baking pan and keep it in the oven for about 20 minutes. It will lose all the remaining moisture content and become crisp.

Now is the time to assemble everything along with some boiled, peeled and chopped potatoes. The potatoes should be mixed with a pinch of chat masala and black salt.

Take about 4 – 5 puris in a serving plate. Create small holes on top with your fingers. Place boiled potatoes inside. Pour some chilled, seasoned, whisked curd on top. Add some sev and top it with sweet chutney and green chutney. Add finely chopped onions and tomatoes (raw). Add yoghurt on top again. Top with some chopped coriander leaves and sev. You can actually play around with the toppings as per your preference.

Serve with love..Here it is for my family and my special friend SD..

Hope you enjoyed my recipe today..See you soon with another interesting one..