‘Chaat’ Is the Cookbook to Warm Your Winter Bones

Welcome to “Cookbook of the Week.” This is a series where I highlight cookbooks that are unique, easy to use, or just special to me. While finding a particular recipe online serves a quick purpose, flipping through a truly excellent cookbook has a magic all its own. 

I imagined that two weeks before Christmas I’d be rummaging through cookbooks focused on cookies and cakes, but sweets aren’t the only mascot of late December—so are runny noses and itchy throats. I have a stubborn head cold this week and, for once, I don’t want cookies. I want a warm blanket—in food form. That’s why I chose Chaat as my cookbook of the week. It’s a dazzling cookbook that highlights the bold, flavorful, casual yet enchanting street foods of India—and it’s exactly what the doctor ordered.

A bit about the book

Chaat was written by Maneet Chauhan and Jody Eddy and published in 2020. Instead of featuring recipes that get a lot of screentime from Western audiences already—like chicken tikka masala or butter chicken—the authors spotlight chaat, the snacks and casual dishes served from street stalls and vendors in India. These dishes pop with flavor, color, and texture, but might not be on the menu at your local Indian restaurant. 

Instead of organizing the book by meal or prominent ingredients, Chauhan and Eddy take you on a meandering path of snacks and meals by Indian region. You start by flipping through recipes from the North, with dishes from the likes of New Delhi and Srinagar, then move to the West with Jaipur, Goa, and others, moving on down through the South and finishing with the East. Each chapter and recipe kicks off with a story from Maneet’s life or her personal connection to the mouthwatering recipe at-hand. She also includes cultural notes about the vendors, where the particular dish is usually found, and how it’s traditionally made.

A great cookbook if you like a big payoff

Few of the recipes in this book are what I’d classify as “easy.” Most of the ingredient lists are more than seven ingredients, many of them have multiple parts—like a filling and a dough—and there are likely ingredients you have to grab at the Asian market. The right candidate won’t be put off by this. After all, Indian food is like an orchestra—it’s complex and there are several players. (Chaat especially, which are firework displays of colorful components.) That’s the beauty of these recipes; don’t seek to simplify the music.

There are plenty of “five-ingredient recipe” cookbooks with dishes that are good enough, but don’t be afraid to punch it up this winter. Yes, Chaat has recipes that require more preparation, but you get what you give. It’s the perfect cookbook for the person who is happy to embrace the long ingredient lists and multi-part cooking processes because the payoff is incredible.

The recipes you can expect 

The cookbook highlights drinks, snack foods, and small meals you’d find on the roadside for single servings, but many of these dishes can be a full meal for multiple people. The authors have written the recipes to make about four servings.

If you’re a bit familiar with Indian cuisine, you’re aware of the warming spices, bright, fresh flavors, and creamy textures. Recipes that look like an explosion of confetti, like bhel puri, or snacks that have no comparison (in my mind), like idli, bring me a special kind of joy. You’ll find fried snacks, sweet puddings, tart and refreshing drinks, chutneys, and at least seven different types of bread in this cookbook.

Each recipe has the ingredient list along the side margins, but be sure to check the facing page’s side margin too. If the ingredient list is especially long, the rest will be found over there. The method is usually two to five paragraphs with notes on how to store it if possible. You might make a recipe with a section called “garnish.” I feel that garnishes are often used as an optional flourish in Western cooking, but that’s not what’s going on here. Don’t be tempted to skip those bits in an effort to make the recipe “easy.” Think of it more as the final step of the dish. 

The dish I made this week

Like I mentioned, I’ve had a cold this week. Typically when I’m sick, I’ll make Thai jok (a soothing Thai breakfast porridge), but I decided some eggs might be fortifying. The Ros Omelette in the book looked warming and hearty with its brick-red tomato gravy—so it was decided. Unexpectedly, this omelette comes from the Goa region, which happens to be where a good friend of mine lives. A friend who I just went on a holiday with to Scandinavia, the place where I caught this cold. Life is funny sometimes. 

This dish is a two-part wonder. I actually looked at my cutting board of chopped onion, chili, and tomato and thought, “How will this become that?” But it did, and I have extra ros (tomato sauce) to use tomorrow, too.

Credit: Allie Chanthorn Reinmann

The sauce is made by sautéing onion, tomato, ginger-garlic paste, and spices with coconut oil until it all breaks down into a thick, savory sauce. Then you make the omelette; a simple sautéd chili and onion omelette with no complicated preparation. I simply dressed the egg with the sauce, and topped it with chopped raw onion, tomato, and leftover pepper pieces, and a squeeze of lime. 

I can only describe the sauce as succulent. It was richly savory from using coconut oil (thanks to tropical Goan beach life) and delivered warm heat. It has the kind of spice that is neither aggressive nor shy. The color of the sauce made me assume the flavors would be overwhelming, but it was a surprisingly soft backdrop for the eggs. The omelette, though simple, had a lot more to say. The lightly sautéed chili in the omelette was peppery and sharp, which was actually kind of nice for my sinuses. Then the velvety sauce would swoop in and take away the crackle of the chili. For a sniffly, moody food writer, this was the most comforting way to start my day.

Even though this was a two-part recipe, it wasn’t trouble to make once I had the veggies chopped. I look forward to making the same breakfast tomorrow (with my leftover sauce), and more chaat in the coming weeks. 

How to buy it

Chaat is available to order online of course, but if you’re browsing your local bookstore in real life, then check for it there. It has a stunning cover, so it’s a top candidate for gifting. Actually, after you gift it, it’s a good idea to put a dinner date on the books with the lucky person. Just to give them an excuse to use it because you’re generous like that.