Enjoy the tongue-tantalizing flavours of the popular street food chaat through this layered palak pakora chaat. Bringing the young and the old together, this onion-free spinach chaat recipe will surely wow you.
Though both my kids love chaat it is slightly tricky to get a good chaat done when one goes onion-free. This certainly leaves enough room for me to try my skills as a food blogger, yet harder to fulfil with the taste factor. However, there are a couple of chaat that we manage to make that appeal to all.
The popular fruit chaat
Tomato slice chaat
Banana chaat
Strawberry bhelpuri
And the pomelo chaat.
Somehow the want for that classic chaat feel is still high. Then we tried the palak pakora chaat which was an instant hit.
What is special about palak pakora chaat?
Most chaats have a mix of crunchy items with veggies and fruits further enhanced with spices and chutneys often just tossed together. palak or spinach chaat is slightly different in the fact that the chaat bases itself on freshly made palak pakoras and then the layering of flavours. The final sprinkle of nylon sev completed the dish with the crunch.
Should the spinach be shredded or leaves separate for the pakora?
This a matter of aesthetics and not much of a taste factor. I prefer the single leaves dipped in batter to make this mix, just because it looks incredibly beautiful when it comes together as a chaat. However, if I were doing this for more people, I would shred the spinach and mix it into the batter to make pakoras as it will save a lot of time. Also, when using shredded palak, add less water to the batter making a thick dough as the palak will further release a bit of water.
Can we bake or air fry the pakoras?
Yes yes yes. There is no compulsion to deep fry the palak pakora. You can make it in far less oil if you bake or air fry the pakoras. If you are using this method make the batter thicker to enable the ease of making the pakoras.
What if we like onions?
You can add the onions in two stages to this chaat. You can mix in finely chopped onion with the pakora batter. This flavours the pakora. You can add extra chopped onions when making the chaat before adding the chutneys.
Palak pakora chaat
Equipment
- deep fryer
Ingredients
For the pakora
- 15-20 medium sized Spinach palak
- 1/2 cup instant bajji mix (check video link)
- drinking water as needed to mix the batter.
- 2 cups cooking oil to deep fry the pakora.
Chutneys for the chaat
- 6 tbsp green chutney
- 6 tbsp tamarind chutney or dates chuteny
For the yogurt mix
- 1/2 cup yogurt natural set
- salt to taste
- 1/8 tsp Lemon juice
- 1/2 tsp sugar
to assemble the chaat
- 4 tbsp nylon sev
- 1/2 tsp chaat masala
- 1/2 tsp roasted cumin powder
- 1/2 tsp red chilli powder
- 1 tbsp coriander leaves
Instructions
- Clean and separate the spinach leaves.
- Wash and spin dry them.
- Pat dry and set aside.
- Mix a little bit of water to the instant bajji mix and make into a smooth batter.
- The batter is of dropping consistency.
- Set the oil to heat up.
- When the oil is hot, fry the palak leaves one at a time after dipping in the batter.
- Flip and fry till the pakora is golden.
- Drain and set aside.
- Whisk the ingredients for the yogurt mix and set it aside.
- Place the pakoras on a plate.
- Drizzle the chutneys and the yogurt mix on the chaat.
- Sprinkle the spice powders.
- Sprinkle the nylon sev and the coriander leaves on top of it.
- The chaat is now ready to be served.
Collaboration
We are celebrating new year with palak pakora chaat. There is no better way than chaats to symbolise the new year. I hope is as good as the chaat flavours that evoked mixed emotions in all of us. This chaat recipe is in collaboration with the Shhh Cooking Secretly group of bloggers for the New Year cookoff. The theme was chosen by Radha from Magical Ingredients. My partner is Aruna who made addictive sweet potato cutlets. I am so thankful that she chose two ingredients so comfortable for me that it gave me the flexibility to make my dish.
Stay connected
Have you made this palak pakora chaat?
Share with us what you think of this spinach chaat recipe in the comments and if it hits the right notes, don’t miss to click the 5 stars. Enjoy the new year and the love and warmth it brings. Wishing you all wholesome happiness and tummy satisfaction.
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I am so in love with palak pakora, especially when you say it can be air fried.. the family (ergo, myself) must be fed with this lipsmacking soon :p .. chaat without onions too.. now that calls for ingenuity !
It is for sure tongue tantalizing. Love it. Reminds me that I haven’t made palak pakora chaat in a long time. This chaat brings back sweet memories. It was a part of the starter menu for my daughter’s wedding and I learned how to make it from the caterer.
I love Palak Pakora Chaat, but have somehow never tried making it at home. Yours looks absolutely delightful, packed with flavour. Especially love that you have air-fried the pakoras. ❤️
Palak pakora chaat looks very tempting, my favourite part is toppings – chutney and Sev. My mom use to prepare this palak pakora chaat a lot, loved your version.
Palak Pakora Chaat looks lip smackingly delicious. Like the fact, it can be baked or aiir-fried.
This is a delicious and addictive snack! I have never made palak pakora and layering it with chaat flavors is genius idea. We would love this for sure and I am planning to make this soon.
chaat looks very tempting !!! Super delicious and addictive snack!