Matar Kulche is a famous North Indian Street food. I have absolutely loved it since my college days. It is vegetarian dish, easy to cook and very nutritious. The good thing is this chaat is cooked without any oil , can be eaten as salad too. My husband eats it like a salad and the Kulcha are his bread to supplement the Salad , Being an Indian I can never get the idea of Chaat being a Salad , it is a Chaat !!
It is called Matara or Matar ki chaat interchangeably.
I have put here both the recipes for Chaat as well the Kulchas. For kulchas I have mixed Whole Wheat flour and Normal flour to keep them healthy. To simplify for my non Indian friends, Kulcha is the bread that you see here in the picture and Matar Chaat is the name of thing in the bowl below. Matar means Peas in Hindi , and it is made from boiled dried white peas which you can find in Indian Store and most of the spices that are mentioned below can be find there.
Recipe Matara:
Preparation Time: 30 mins
Cooking time: 15 minutes
Serves – 2-3 people
Ingredients:
2 cups Dried White Peas ( Popularly called Matra in North India) soaked for 3-4 hour in water.
Salt- 1tsp
Pepper powder-1tsp
Chili Powder- 1tsp
Chaat Masala- 1tsp
Hing – a pinch (Asafoetida powder) Optional
Rock Salt- 1
Amchoor Powder – 1tbsp (Dry mango Powder)
Tamarind pulp – 1 -2 tbsp ( or more as per your taste) if you like too tangy.
For Garnishing you need :
Boiled Potatoes-1
Onion – 1 small chopped
tomatoes -1 small chopped
Coriander leaves- chopped, few leaves
Green chilies -1-2
Lemon slices- 3-4
Fresh ginger grated – 5-6 pieces julienne cut
Method :
Add in all the spices except chaat masala , Amchoor powder and Tamarind pulp with the soaked Matara. Add two cups of water to it.
Boil the matara in a pressure cooker on low for 15-20 minutes. Check it if they are cooked.
Add in Chaat masala ,Amchoor Powder and Tamarind pulp . Cook it without lid for 5 mins.
Garnish your Matar chaat with chillies,boiled potatoes , onion,tomatoes ,ginger and lemon .
Enjoy with hot Kulchas.
Recipe Kulche:
Preparation Time: 10 mins Keeping aside Time: 2 hours
Cooking time: 15 minutes
Serves – 2-3 people
Ingredients:
Salt -1 teaspoon
Sugar-1 tablespoon
Whole Wheat flour-(Atta)-1 cup
Cake Flour -1 cup ( Maida)
Yogurt-2 tablespoon
Baking Powder-1 tsp
Baking Soda- a pinch
1 tablespoon Olive oil
and half cup warm water to knead the dough.
Directions :
Mix the two flours, Add the dry ingredients first , then add yogurt and mix well, knead the dough with warm water carefully .
Put 1 tbsp of oil and knead for another minute so that oil gets absorbed in the dough.
Keep the dough aside for 2 hours.
Meanwhile put some ghee or butter on flat pan on medium hot flame. Take some dough into your hand , apply some oil and make a small ball .
Press it with help of hands and try to flatten it . Once you flatten it with your hands, put some oil on the rolling surface and lightly press it with a rolling pin to even out .
Put it on the hot pan greased with some butter , let it cook and flip to cook other side .
Similarly roll out the remaining kulchas and cook them on the pan.
Serve them with matar ki chaat( dry white peas).
From World's Kitchen 