Chai Chaat & Chutney – Chetna Makan
August 28, 2017 by JennyMany of us fell in love with Chetna Makan in 2014 when she made it to the semi-finals of the The Great British Bake Off (I, personally, was rooting for her to take home the coveted cake stand). Her highly praised debut cookbook, The Cardamom Trail, is very special to me it was the subject of one of my very first reviews here at Eat Your Books.
Now, Chetna is back with a
gorgeous new cookbook, Chai,
Chaat & Chutney, and this time she is celebrating the
street food of India. The author explored the four corners of her
home country – Chennai, Kolkata, Mumbai, and Delhi – to savor the
street food offered in each location. Each city’s cuisine is unique
due to the subtle differences in ingredients and techniques.
Gathering inspiration on her travels, Chetna returned home to
create recipes that are simple to cook and can be sourced locally
and on-line. What you will find in this book, is a fresh take on
Indian cuisine that highlights the four cities distinctive
offerings.
Chai, Chaat & Chutney is organized by city – each section sharing photographs of the food, vendors and the people. Chetna’s interpretation of the dishes she discovered while visiting these areas are innovative and special. Examples of recipes include Egg Chops (think Indian Scotish Eggs) Cornflake Chaat, and a Sticky Bombay Chicken that is incredibly delicious (check out my photo here). I love the Chinese dishes in this book – as Chinese cuisine is big in India – Chetna’s versions of Chicken Fried Rice, Sichuan Chicken and Vegetable Manchurian all look incredible.
Chetna is a treasure and so are her books – they are beautiful, interesting and the recipes are tempting and approachable. Special thanks to the Mitchell Beazley for sharing the Lemon Rice dish and providing three copies of this book to our US members. Eat Your Books is also offering one extra copy worldwide. See our giveaway below for information on how to enter.
Lemon rice
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Lemon rice is very light and fresh. Enjoy it as part of a thali (a large Indian platter, made up of a selection of various dishes), on its own, or (my preference) with Sambhar or chutney – in Chennai I ate it with coconut chutney. The dish is so quick and simple to make, it’s ideal for a speedy supper.
1 tablespoon sunflower oil
1 1/2 teaspoons black mustard seeds
1 1/2 teaspoons split black lentils (urad dal)
1 1/2 teaspoons split chickpeas (chana dal)
4 dried red chillies
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon ground turmeric
400g (14oz) white basmati rice
1 litre (13/4 pints) boiling water
3 tablespoons lemon juice
Heat the oil in a wide saucepan. Add the mustard seeds, lentils, split chickpeas and dried chillies and cook over medium heat for about 1 minute, until they begin to sizzle. Stir in the salt and turmeric, then add the rice and mix well.
Slowly stir in the measured boiling water. Cover the pan with a lid and cook over low heat for 12 minutes, until the rice is cooked. Stir in the lemon juice. Serve hot with Sambhar and Coconut Chutney or Coriander and Spinach Chutney, if liked.
Excerpted from Chai, Chaat & Chutney by Chetna Makan with permission from Mitchell Beazley. Photograph by Nassima Rothacker.
The publisher, Mitchell Beazley, is offering three copies of this book to EYB Members in the US and Eat Your Books is offering one copy to our members worldwide. One of the entry options is to answer the following question in the comments section of this blog post.
Which recipe in the index would you like to try first?
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notifications. Prizes can take up to 6 weeks to arrive from the
publishers. If you are not already a Member, you can join at no cost. The contest ends at
midnight on October 6th, 2017.
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