Palak/Kale Patta Chaat
Palak Patta Chaat is an utterly stunning and delicious appetizer.
It is a gluten free street food dish. Palak (Spinach) Patta (Leaf) is one of the most delicious chaat that you won’t stop eating once you dig into it. It gets super addictive bite after bite that you cannot resist. India is known for its chaats. There papdi chaat, alu chaat, fruit chaat, dahi puri, bhel etc. My mouth is watering right now even while writing this post. Chaat has all these fun tasting components to it. It’s slightly spicy from green chutney, tamarind chutney gives that sweetness, and sev or boondi gives crispy factor and chaat masala gives that ‘umami’ flavor.
What is Palak Patta Chaat (Spinach Chaat)?
It’s made with spinach leaves coated in chickpea flour/besan batter which has some spices in it and then each leaf is dipped in the batter and deep fried. Then you add lightly spiced and sweet yogurt, green chutney and tamarind chutney to it and cover it with onion, tomatoes, chilies and pomegranate arils. Also, another important element of chaat is Sev (fried chickpea noodles) and ofcourse the layering of chaat ends with a garnish of generous amounts of cilantro and a sprinkle of chaat masala.
Along with Palak (Spinach) I have also used Kale. Both give exact same taste and texture to the dish. Basically, the spinach and kale leave deep fried in oil with besan mixture is pakoras. You can eat them as it. But these palak and kale pakoras layered with all the toppings is just mind blowing delicious. Palak Patta chaat is something like nachos, you eat them with your hands with ultimate experience. You want to be able to scoop up all the toppings that only hands will be good at.
I can shamelessly eat chaat every day. Palak Patta is chaat is not only visually a showstopper, but taste wise also, it’s a showstopper.
Tips
- You can prepare everything and keep it ready. Only add chutneys and yogurt just before serving and keep some extra on the side for people to individually add more.
- That way it will stay crunchy and not get soggy.
- Chutneys can be prepared a day or a week in advance, they keep well in the fridge. Store-bought chutneys are big time saver. Do not hesitate.
- You can skip yogurt or use vegan yogurt.
- I also like to flavor yogurt a little bit, so you get flavors in every layer.
Kale and Palak Patta Chaat (Spinach Chaat)
Ingredients
Spinach and Kale Pakoras
- 1 cup chickpeas flour /Besan
- 2 tbsp rice flour
- ¼ tsp baking powder
- 1/2 tsp turmeric powder
- 1/2 tsp red chili powder
- 1 green chili chopped
- 1 inch ginger grated
- salt to taste
- 3/4 – 1 cup Water
- Oil For Deep Frying
- 25- 30 Spinach and Kale Leaves washed and dried
- 1/2 cup yogurt
- 1 tbsp sugar
- 1 tsp salt
- 1/2 tsp roasted cumin powder
- 1/4 cup Tamarind chutney homemade or store-bought
- 1/4 cup Cilantro green chutney homemade or store-bought
- 1/4 cup Red garlic chutney, optional homemade or store-bought
Other ingredients for chaat
- 1 small onion chopped
- 1 medium tomato chopped
- 1 green chili, optional chopped
- ½ tsp red chili powder, optional
- 1 tsp chaat masala
- 1 cup Sev or Boondi
- ¼ cup Pomegranate arils
- ¼ cup Cilantro chopped
Yogurt
Instructions
Spinach and Kale Pakoras
- Take all the dry ingredients for the batter in a medium bowl – chickpea and rice flour, baking powder, salt, turmeric, red chili powder, finely grated ginger and finely chopped chilies. Stir the dry ingredients and add water little but little. Don’t add all the water all together. Sometimes, it really depends on the besan. I used just a little more than ¾ cup. Whisk and mix everything and make batter.
- Batter should not be too thin. You should be able to coat the leaves and batter should stay on it. If your batter is too thin, you can add more chickpea flour and make it thick. But remember to season it little bit extra too. Leave the batter aside.
- Heat up oil on medium flame in a deep pot or pan. Once the oil is hot enough about 300 F, dip each spinach leaf and kale leaf individually on both sides and deep fry it on both sides until it is lightly golden and crispy. Make sure the oil is hot but not too hot.
- Finish frying rest of the leaves and remove them on absorbent paper.
Yogurt
- In a small bowl – mix yogurt with salt, roasted cumin powder and sugar and whisk it until sugar is mixed.
Layer the Chaat
- Place all the spinach and kale pakoras in a huge platter or bake tray. Spread it out a little bit. Sprinkle chopped tomatoes, onions and green chili if you are using it. Drizzle all the chutneys one by one followed by yogurt. Reserve some for extra. (Red garlic chutney is optional but I do use it if I have some on hand, sometimes I use sriracha instead of red garlic chutney. It works well). Sprinkle some sev and boondi.
- Sprinkle some red chili powder (totally optional) and chaat masala. Garnish with pomegranate arils and cilantro.
- Serve extra chutneys and yogurt on the side.
Notes
- You can prepare everything and keep it ready. Only add chutneys and yogurt just before serving and keep some extra on the side for people to individually add more.
- That way it will stay crunchy and not get soggy.
- Chutneys can be prepared a day or a week in advance, they keep well in the fridge. Store-bought chutneys are big time saver. Do not hesitate to take short cut.
- You can skip yogurt or use vegan yogurt.
- I also like to flavor yogurt a little bit, so you get flavors in every layer.
- Leftovers cannot be stored.