Shakarkandi Chaat (Navratri Special)

Shakarkandi Chaat is a famous Delhi street food that it very common during the winters. While I have never seen it in any of the cities that I have lived in, I came to know about it from a neighbor of mine. We happened to be discussing pregnancy cravings and she mentioned that she had lost all her appetite during those nine months. "Lucky you", all the ladies chipped in. A very natural reaction (and laced with some envy too) for all those who had experienced such cravings and were still in the process of losing all those pounds gained as a result of gorging on sweets and other high calorie stuff. Coming back to my neighbour, as she continued to share her stories about how people around her would try and get her to eat, one particular recipe caught my attention. The description of a yummy sweet potato and fruit chaat prepared by her grandmother-in-law almost reduced my mouth into a pool of saliva. This was something I had to try at least once.

I made a small change in her recipe by omitting the fruit. And it turned out to be just yummylicious. Read on for this simple 'phalahari' chaat which is very apt for the Navratri -

Preparation Time - 10 mins

Ingredients -

2 cups boiled/baked, peeled & cubed sweet potato
1/4 tsp roasted cumin powder
1/4 tsp chili powder
1 tsp lemon juice
rock salt as desired

Preparation - Take all the ingredients in a mixing bowl. Toss well.

Serve immediately.


Note - One can also add sliced bananas, pomegranate, nylon sev, amchur/chaat masala, coriander leaves, green chilis, etc to spice it up further.