This is essentially a make at the last moment, lest it go soggy, dish. Don’t worry about left overs going soggy… there won’t be any left. Prep all the ingredients, and mix into a large bowl just before taking to the table. Essentially, this dish is made of Sev, which is a chickpea flour and spice based fried noodle and puffed rice. Tamarind chutney is added for a sweet, sour and spiciness and salad items are added to add a cooling effect. You can try a variety of salad items, experiment! Think of salsa and go along those lines… semi ripe mangoes would be nice, as would raw sweet corn, pomegranate seeds. You get the picture…
What you’ll need to get….
1 large packet of Sev approx 500g
500g puffed rice… rice bubbles will do. NOT Coco-pops.
Pappadums fried/microwaved/bought ready to eat (whatever)
2-3 tomatoes (ripe) seeded and finely chopped
1 large telegraph cucumber seeded and finely chopped
1-2 large red onion finely chopped
2-3 tablespoons Greek Yoghurt (see note below)
1-2 bunches of coriander and mint chopped finely
1 packet of roasted nuts of whatever sort you like. Peanuts and cashews will work best
Some sort of non flavoured cracker to serve… Sakata, small ready to eat pappadams, or none. Just serve in small bowls, or one big one with lots of spoons in it.
Tamarind chutney:
1 quantity of Tamarind available from any Indian/asian supermarket
sugar
garam masala
cumin
HOW TO SECTION:
Firstly, it is VERY important to seed any salad items. The reason is that the seed/pulp area contains lots of water and it will make your dish go soggy. Also, chop everything in small pieces… about 5mm pieces. This allows all the ingredients to mix evenly, and makes scooping onto a cracker easier.
Then, make the chutney. Now, most of you haven’t probably ever tasted this thing. What you’re looking for is a sweet and sour flavour, with a spiciness to it. If my mom was making this chutney, there are certain key things to do… but to make it easy, what you need to do is..
Make a thick tamarind paste. If using tamarind pulp, add a chunk to some warm water and mix with your fingers. Squeeze and squish it about. If you have too much water, add more tamarind and likewise if you have too thick a paste. You need to be able to drizzle the chutney. Next, add sugar. Add as much as you think is needed to balance the sourness of the tamarind for you. To do this, taste the tamarind only paste, and a word of warning, it will make your mouth pucker up with the sourness. So, keep tasting to see if you have enough sugar. Then, add a teaspoon of garam masala to the thing and stir. What you are looking for is just a little more than a hint of spiciness. In the end, you end up with a very tasty chutney, which is about as thick as honey. With my recipes, close enough is good enough as long as you are happy eating it yourself, and serving it to others. Just as an aside, you could bring this to a boil with come curry leaves and it will amalgamate a lot better. But only required if you want to keep for a long time. My mom’s tamarind chutney will usually keep for 1-2 years, so you could make up a large batch and store it. Maybe I’ll put a proper recipe up later for this.
Ok, so now that you have your salad stuff prepared, and the chutney nice and cool and ready to go, all you got to do is throw the Sev and puffed rice into a bowl with the pappadums in small crushed pieces (not pulverised to a powder please!!!). Add the salad stuff and add the chutney and yoghurt. You should end up with a crumbly mixture, not runny by any means. When tasting it, you should be able to taste a sweet/sour spiciness along with a cool refreshing taste. Throw in your herbs and nuts in as well.
To eat, either go medieval and just put it all in a big bowl and give everyone a teaspoon each, or serve in small bowls or serve as a dip with some plain crackers. Anyway you do it, this will move fast!
HOT TIP! Anytime there is a need to use yoghurt in any Indian recipe, use Greek yoghurt. It works the best.
Serves: 4
Source: Rudesh Prasad
