Chatpati Fries
Who doesn’t love French Fries? French fries = YUM. Street food, fried food, Chaats are my favorite kind of food. I can eat chaat for every meal and anytime. While sev puri, papdi chaat, bhel are most enjoyed chaat. We should not forget about the alu chaat. Few months ago, I bought a bag of frozen tater tots and had this awesome idea of making chaat from it. First B and I tried it and then I served it to our friends and family for a get together. Everyone loved it. Who doesn’t love potatoes layered with chutneys, onion, tomatoes, topped with sev.
That’s when my easiest party food of Tater tot chaat was created. Recently, I picked up a bag of crinkle cut fries from frozen section of whole foods and decided to make it again to see how it differs in taste and texture from Tater Tot chaat. I think I liked this better. Because you can eat fries with your fingers and the texture is much better.
These finger-licking fries are baked, and topped with tamarind chutney, cilantro chutney, cheese, some onions and tomatoes, green chilies, and quite essential chaat toppings like sev, boondi and chaat masala.
You can very much make your own fries at home, but I want it to be fuss free, easy and quick so I am using frozen. Nothing wrong with that. I am so ready to serve this to my friends for our next get together. Can’t wait to be normal again with having people over. You can serve this for appetizers or make a light quick dinner for yourself. Yes, you can have fries for dinner.
You just empty the package of fries into a baking tray and bake it until crispy for about 30 minutes tossing in between. You can prepare the chutneys in advance or you can easily use store bought chutney. I always have them made and in the refrigerator ready to be used anytime.
All you have to do is chop up the toppings. You can use so many other toppings, like green mango, avocado, pomegranate, corn, etc. I kept it simple with tomatoes, onions, green chilies. I wanted to use jalapenos as I like the heat they can provide, but B used the only jalapeno we had, and I didn’t realize that was the last one. I would not skip on cilantro for chaats, they give that bright fresh taste to everything. But, if you dislike cilantro, you can leave it out. Chaat masala can also be optional but hey have you tried it. I mean how can we make chaat without chaat masala. It just brings out all those flavors together sweetness from tamarind chutney, slight bright herbal flavor from cilantro chutney. You get the point, its not optional.
You can use any type of fries, waffle fries, crinkle cut, regular, tater tots, but I love crinkle cut so I used that. The fries get crispy on the outside, and soft inside when you bite into them.
You would say why bake fries; you can always fry them too. I preferred baked for a little healthy take and anyways they are going to lose that texture once you drizzle all the chutneys and layer it.
If there was a version of chaat served at bowling alleys in India, it would be these fries. These would make such a game night or big game food with friends and family. Who cares about the game anyways, it’s the food that brings everyone together?
Worth noting that the only thing you need to keep in mind is to layer them right before you are ready to serve them, and everyone is ready to eat it or else they will lose that texture.
Another great fun way to serving it is to let everyone make their own. Leave the baked fries along with all the toppings and let everyone make their own. That way, they retain their texture, and everyone can get involved. By now, you know I like to serve interactive food where guests get involved.
Don’t forget a chilled beer or chilled can of limca to go with it. 😊
Omit the cheese or use vegan cheese to veganize it.
Chatpati Fries
Ingredients
- 1 bag frozen store-bought fries
- 1 tbsp oil
- Salt and pepper to taste
- 1 finely chopped onion
- 1 finely chopped tomato
- 1 small finely chopped green chili
- 2 cups finely grated cheese blend
- 1/3 cup cilantro chutney
- 1/3 cup Tamarind chutney
- 1 cup Sev or Boondi
- Handful of Cilantro garnish
- Green spring onions garnish
- 1 tsp Chaat masala
- Lemon wedges
Instructions
- Pre heat the oven at 400 F. Spread the fries in single layer on baking sheet.
- Coat them in oil, sprinkle some salt and pepper. Remember, if your fries already have salt on them, then be mindful. You can always add salt later too.
- Bake them for about 25-30 minutes, take them out turn them on the other side and bake another 15 minutes until you get your desired crispiness. Don’t crisp them up too much either.
- Meanwhile, prep the toppings. Chop everything and keep aside. Make your chutneys or take them out if they are already ready.
- Remove them, sprinkle some cheese immediately so that it melts in its own residual heat.
- Start adding the chutneys one by one, followed by onion, tomatoes, chili, and top it with sev, cilantro, green part of spring onions, chaat masala.
- Serve it immediately with side of lemon, if anyone wants to add extra citrus in theirs.
Notes
XO, Devangi