Every other chaat in India is cold. This one is hot, and that single fact is why it exists only in Banaras. Tomatoes are cooked down in ghee for hours with boiled potato until the whole thing collapses into a dark pulp somewhere between a chaat and a stew, then spiced, mashed against the side of the pan, and ladled steaming into a bowl folded from a palash leaf. Sev goes over the top and softens almost at once, which is the intended effect rather than a flaw. It is an evening thing, eaten standing in the lanes around Godowlia and Dashashwamedh with the ghats behind you, and the shops that made it famous — Kashi Chaat Bhandar chief among them — have been ladling it out for the better part of seventy years. Nobody has successfully exported it. Order tamatar chaat anywhere outside the city and you will get a cold salad of chopped tomato, which is a different thing entirely.
INGREDIENTS
- 4 tbsp ghee
- 1 tsp cumin seeds
- ½ tsp asafoetida
- 2 bay leaves
- 3 cm ginger (grated)
- 3 green chillies (finely chopped)
- 800 g ripe tomatoes (chopped)
- 400 g tinned plum tomatoes
- 3 medium potatoes (boiled and roughly mashed)
- 1 tsp turmeric
- 2 tsp coriander powder
- 1 tsp red chilli powder
- 1 tsp roasted cumin powder
- 1 tsp dried mango powder (amchur)
- 1 tsp black salt (kala namak)
- 1 tsp salt
- 1 tbsp jaggery (grated)
- 200 ml water
- 2 tbsp tamarind chutney
- a handful of fine nylon sev
- a handful of coriander leaves (chopped)
- 1 lemon (cut into wedges)
METHOD
- Heat the ghee in a heavy pan and add the cumin, asafoetida and bay leaves.
- Add the ginger and green chillies and fry for a minute.
- Tip in both the fresh and tinned tomatoes with the turmeric, coriander powder, chilli powder and salt.
- Cook on medium-low for 40 minutes, stirring and mashing against the side of the pan every few minutes, until the tomatoes go dark and jammy and the ghee separates and pools.
- Add the mashed potato and the jaggery and stir it through so it breaks up into the tomato rather than sitting in lumps.
- Pour in the water and simmer 10 minutes more. The texture should be thick and spoonable, not a sauce and not a salad.
- Stir in the roasted cumin, amchur and black salt. Taste — it should read sour, sweet and hot in that order.
- Ladle hot into small bowls.
- Spoon over the tamarind chutney, scatter with sev and coriander, and serve at once with a lemon wedge.
