If chaat masala was your friend, she’d be that one who is always the life soul of the party, the one with the most outrageous stories and the one who can pull off all of the patterns and colours in one single outfit. Chaat masala is a blend of spices that is often sprinkled over dishes to perk them up – it’s the fun one! Featuring a lot in Indian street food such as chaat and is a quintessential Indian masala to add to your mixes.
The flavours of chaat masala are funky, spicy, tangy and lively; no other spice blend livens Indian food up as much as chaat masala does. It’s super versatile and really worth making big batches off as it can practically be used with any dish that needs some extra pizzazz. Sprinkle it over curries, salads, soups, chaats, roast potatoes, yoghurt, toasted nuts, popcorn, grilled meat and fish, or over fruit such as mango which is how it’s also typically used. Unlike other spice blends such as Garam masala that is added at the very beginning of cooking, Chaat masala it’s added to food to at the end to enhance it – just as you would season dishes at the end with salt, pepper and maybe a squeeze of lemon.
Of course you can buy some pretty great spice blends nowadays but as always, homemade is always better. Making the masala is super simple but some of the spices might be a little hard to come by in your chain supermarket but you’ll be sure to find them in any Indian grocery store or you could always order them online.
As I said, it’s worth making a big batch of this as it really can be sprinkled onto almost anything. Try tossing it into popcorn the next time you make some, it’s incredibly moreish!
Chaat Masala
Course: Herbs & Spices, IndianCuisine: IndianDifficulty: Easy10
minutesThe flavours of chaat masala are funky, spicy, tangy and lively; no other spice blend livens Indian food up as much as chaat masala does.
Ingredients
3 tbsp cumin seeds
3 tbsp coriander seeds
3 tbsp powdered black salt
3 tbsp amchur powder
1 tbsp ajwain/ carom seeds
1 tsp peppercorns
1 tsp fennel seeds
1 tbsp dried mint
1 tbsp garlic powder
1 tsp red chilli powder
a pinch asafoetida powder
Directions
- Roast the whole spices in a dry frying pan over medium heat until they become fragrant.
- Allow to cool slightly and then grind to a fine powder in a spice grinder.
- Add the rest of the ingredients and grind some more until you have a very find powder.
- Store in a cool, dark location for up to two months.
