I am so excited. I found a new chaat that I love, channa masala chaat! I woke up wanting all the chaat topping but on something hot. But not on samosas because I wasn’t feeling potatoes and I wasn’t really feeling something wrapped; I wanted hot and saucy. Kind of like the misal pav I made a while back. Back then Tejas had said that the misal pav was similar to another dish, so I asked him what that dish was but he couldn’t remember. I finally just started making the channa masala that I made before for samosa chaat. I changed it up a little, adding chaat masala and a pinch of cinnamon, and was almost done when Tejas came into the kitchen and said, Oh! That is like masala puri! Not totally satisfied with my chole, I began looking up masala puri. Well, it uses peas, not chole and no yogurt which I was very much craving, but I found a couple of other ingredients that I decided to add. One of my favorite recipe blogs is Aayia’s Recipes and she posted a version of the recipe here. The coconut caught my eye and a few other recipes called for garam masala. So here is the finished channa massala chaat!

Channa Masala
1 tablespoon oil
1/2 teaspoon cumin seeds (jeera)
1 pinch hing (asofoetida) 
1 small onion chopped
1/2 teaspoon ginger paste (you could also use fresh minced)
1 cube Trader Joe’s frozen garlic (you could also use fresh minced)
1/2 teaspoon turmeric
1 teaspoon chili powder
1/2 teaspoon garam masala
1 1/2 teaspoon rajma or channa masala
1 teaspoon chaat masala
1/2 teaspoon amchur powder
1/4 cup desiccated coconut
1 cup crushed tomatoes
2 teaspoon sugar
1 can garbanzo beans drained
Salt
Water

1. Heat oil in a small saucepan and add jeera until toasty.
2. Add hing and onions and cook onions until soft and brown.
3. Add ginger and garlic, tumeric, chili powder, garam masala, rajma masala, chaat masala, amchur powder, and coconut, and cook for a minute or so.
4. Add tomatoes, sugar and salt and cook for a few more minutes.
5. Add channa and a little water and cook for 10-15 minutes.

Channa Masala Chaat
Puris
Channa masala
Yogurt thinned out with a little cold water
Sweet tamarind chutney (we use bottled from the Indian market)
Mint chutney (we use bottled from the Indian market)
Onions diced
Cilantro chopped
Black salt

1. Break up puris into a bowl.
2. Top with channa masala.
3. Cover with a good amount of the yogurt.
4. Add sweet chutney (quite a bit) and mint chutney (just a little).
5. Top with onions and cilantro.
6. Sprinkle with black salt.