rediff.com: Enjoy these traditional Holi recipes!

Holi is almost upon us and besides the colourful celebration, alomst everyone looks forward to the delicious lunch served up after! Here are a few lipsmacking traditional recipes for thandai, aloo chaat, puran pohli and more.

Aloo Chaat

Ingredients:

For the chaat

4 boiled potatoes

2 tsp butter or ghee

1 tsp chilli powder

Salt to taste

For the green chutney

1 cup coriander, chopped

2 cups mint leaves, chopped

5-6 green chillies

1/2 inch piece ginger

1 lemon

Salt to taste

For the sweet chutney

50 gm tamarind

100 gm dates

1/2 tsp cumin powder, from roasted cumin seeds

1/2 tsp chilli powder

1/4 tsp black salt

For garnishing

1/2 cup chopped coriander

1 cup sev

2 lemon slices

Method:

For the chaat

Cut the boiled potatoes into cubes.

Heat a cooking pan well and add the butter or ghee.

Add the cubed potatoes, chilli powder and salt. Fry well. Let it cool.

For the green chutney

Using very little water, grind all the ingredients to a smooth paste in a blender.
Note: The use of lemon prevents discolouring of the chutney.

For the sweet chutney

Remove seeds from the dates and tamarind and wash.

Soak the dates and tamarind for 2 hours in 1 cup of water.

Boil the resulting mixture for 5 minutes. Let it cool. Blend in a liquidiser and strain.

Add the chilli powder, cumin seed powder and salt. Mix well.
Your tamarind chutney is ready. You can store this in the freezer for one week.

In a serving bowl, add the potatoes first. Spread a teaspoon each of the green and sweet chutneys over the potatoes. Garnish with chopped coriander, sev and lemon slices. Your aloo chaat is ready.

Recipe: Sheetal Mahurkar | Photographs: Rediff Archives

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Also see: Video recipes for Samosas, Chicken Biryani and more