Recipes by Rupa Sethu

Rice Cake Papdi Chaat

Indian street food is so much fun to eat! First of all it’s a sweet, tangy and savory party in your mouth. But the best part is the experience of standing around on street corners and eating straight from the vendors! Remember the Peanut Chaat recipe that I posted earlier? Here’s another recipe for an alternate version of Papdi Chaat. Rice Cake Papdi Chaat is gluten free, low sodium, and still delivers the awesome flavors!

The original Papdi Chaat is basically a spiced up mashed potato mixture on top of a substantial cracker (papdi) and finished off with green cilantro chutney, tamarind chutney, some sev (chickpea flour sprinkles) and maybe some yogurt. It’s a total flavor bomb! Unfortunately, it is typically a high sodium snack and off limits to some of us. So I set out to create a better alternative so we don’t have to miss out! Remember store bought sauces and packaged foods are usually high in sodium so we make ours at home. A lot of this can be made ahead of time and just assemble when you are ready to eat.

Ingredients

  • Stew Leonard’s Freshly Popped Rice Cakes (any popped rice cakes will work)
  • Tamarind Date Chutney (available at Indian stores or online)
  • Fine Sev (available at Indian stores or online)

For the potato mixture

  • 1 medium potato, boiled
  • No salt added chickpeas
  • 1 small red onion, finely chopped
  • 2 cloves garlic, minced
  • 1/2 inch ginger, minced
  • 1/2 small tomato, chopped
  • 1/4 cup cilantro, finely chopped
  • 1/2 a lemon
  • 2 serrano peppers (keep the seeds!)
  • 1 tsp cumin powder
  • 1/2 tsp chili powder
  • 1/2 tsp garam masala

For the green chutney

  • 2 cups cilantro, chopped
  • 1/2 cup of mint, chopped
  • 1/2 inch ginger
  • 2 serrano peppers
  • Juice of 1 lemon
  • 1/2 tsp cumin
  • 1/2 tsp sugar

Method

  • Mash the potato with the onion, ginger, garlic, tomato, cilantro, serrano peppers, the spices and the juice from half a lemon. Adjust spices to taste – no need to add any salt.
  • Blend together all the ingredients for the green chutney. Again, adjust spices to taste, no salt added.
  • Now we assemble the chaat. Start with a rice cake. Whatever brand you find, just make sure it is sturdy enough to handle a fully loaded papdi chaat!!
  • Put some of the potato mixture on top. Embed a few chickpeas into the potato mixture.
  • Then drizzle the green chutney as well as tamarind chutney on top.
  • Finish off with extra chopped serrano peppers, cilantro, a sprinkling of sev, maybe some plain yogurt. Get creative!
  • If you must, salt the plate.

Rice Cake Papdi Chaat is so much fun to make and eat. Ditch the utensils and just pick it up with your hands! It’s healthy too! You’re welcome.