Matra Chaat - Spicy dried yellow peas

Matra Chaat is a famous delhi street food. Served with Kulchas, this makes for a great meal. Today, i am making my mother’s recipe of this chaat which is not only totally delicious but also low carb and oil free which makes it a great snack for weight watchers ! Read on 🙂

My last visit to the Indian grocery store ended up me hoarding on all sorts of lentils. Amongst them all, i also bought Matra or the dried yellow peas. Now, this is one exciting lentil to work with. Once rehydrated, there are just so many ways of making your meal absolutely delicious!

This next recipe is my mother’s take on Matra chaat. I have grown up enjoying Matra with Kulcha in this very way and today, bringing this dish here, reminds me of my childhood days. I am recommending this Matra Chaat with my home made Onion Stuffed Kulchas as i find that the perfect pairing.

Matra Chaat – Spicy dried yellow peas

Matra Chaat / Spicy dried yellow peas

Servings: 4
Time: 30 minutes+ resting time
Difficulty: easy
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Ingredients

dried yellow peas- 1 cup uncooked , soaked overnight
2 cups water
Salt to taste
1 tomato, finely chopped
ginger- 1 inch , grated + some ginger shreds for garnishing
chilies-2 medium, finely chopped
roasted cumin powder- 1 tsp
dry mango powder- 1 tsp
garam masala- 1 tsp
handful of fresh coriander, finely chopped
Juice of 1 lemon
2 tablespoons of mint-coriander chutney (recipe here)
2 tablespoons of tamarind chutney (recipe here)

Method

Take a pressure cooker. In this, pour in the water and add in the soaked yellow peas. Add in the required salt and grated ginger. Pressure cook this for 3 whistles and then simmer for about 20 minutes. The peas should be well cooked and a bit mashed up when done. It is ok if it cools too watery at this time, just mash up some of the peas and it will thicken up as it cools down.

* You can also use the crock pot for this. For that, add all the above in a crock pot and let it cook for about 4-4.5 hours or till done.

Add in the roasted cumin powder, garam masala, dry mango powder and tamarind chutney and chopped chilies. Mix well and adjust spices as required.
For serving, add chopped tomatoes, coriander, lemon juice and ginger shreds and serve hot with a dollop of mint-coriander chutney.

Doesn’t that look like a dish you want on your plate right now?

The best thing is that it is super simple to make and it is a very satisfying dish. To some this may draw some familiarities with the Chole/ chickpea gravy, but the oil-less factor earns this recipe far more health points ! So, what are u waiting for?? Make this awesome dish today !

To convert this dish into a full meal, combine with one or more of these :