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Chickpea and Cucumber Salad (Chana Chaat)

Chickpea and Cucumber Salad (Chana Chaat)

“Perfect summer dish,” one reader calls this chickpea and cucumber salad: our go-to, garden-fresh antidote to summer heat, based on the popular Indian street snack.

By Julia RackowApril 2, 2018

  • Makes
    6 servings
  • Cook Time
    15 minutes
  • Rating

Chaat is a style of savory South Asian street snack, of which there are dozens of varieties. They all combine a mix of contrasting flavors and textures—sweet, tart and spicy, as well as creamy and crunchy. This is our version of chickpea (chana) chaat; it’s a good appetizer or side to grilled meats or seafood. To mimic the crunch of fried samosa wrappers that are sometimes used in chaat, we used the fried wonton strips sold near the croutons in the supermarket. For convenience, we used store-bought tamarind chutney (look in the international aisle) and spiked it with brown sugar, lime juice and hot sauce. We preferred the acidic heat of Tabasco or Frank's Red Hot sauce. Feel free to substitute chopped tomato and/or mango for all or some of the cucumber. And if you like, drizzle with whole-milk plain yogurt.

Tip

Don’t use the curry powder without toasting it in a dry a skillet over medium for 1 minute, stirring constantly. This deepens its flavors and cooks out any raw notes.

Ingredients
  • 2

    15½-ounce cans chickpeas, drained, rinsed and patted dry

  • 1

    small red onion, finely chopped

  • 2

    teaspoons curry powder, toasted (see note)

  • Kosher salt and ground black pepper

  • ⅓

    cup tamarind chutney

  • 1 ½

    tablespoons hot sauce, plus more as needed

  • 3

    tablespoons lime juice, plus lime wedges, to serve

  • 2

    tablespoons packed light brown sugar

  • 3

    cups (4 ounces) fried wonton strips

  • 1

    English cucumber, quartered lengthwise and cut crosswise into ¼-inch pieces

  • 1

    cup lightly packed cilantro leaves, finely chopped

Step 1

In a large bowl, toss the chickpeas, onion, curry powder, 2 teaspoons salt and 1 teaspoon pepper. Set aside.

Step 2

In a small bowl, whisk together the chutney, hot sauce, lime juice and sugar. Taste and season with more hot sauce, if desired. Pour ¼ cup of this mixture over the chickpeas and toss. Cover and let stand for 15 minutes.

Step 3

To the chickpea mixture, mix in the wonton strips, cucumber and half the cilantro. Taste and season with salt and pepper. Drizzle with half the remaining chutney mixture and sprinkle with the remaining cilantro. Serve with the extra chutney mixture and lime wedges.

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