This High-Fiber Salad Is Inspired By Indian Street Food and Helps Me Manage My Blood Sugar

Ask me, “What’s chaat?”—and I may well launch into a dissertation. Chaat is a generic name for South Asian street food that comes in many forms. Think of it as a fresh and tangy dish, sometimes spicy, but interwoven with sweet notes. Layers of texture and flavor compete playfully and dance on your palate. The crunch of sev (deep-fried chickpea flour noodles), the heat from chutneys cooled down with yogurt, the blast of color that is a feast for the eyes. Chaat is best enjoyed with friends at a roadside stall, but also may be an elaborate meal at home with the whole family clamoring for seconds.

Papdi Chaat is punctuated by deep-fried dough crisps (I have a version in my cookbook that uses cucumber). Crush a samosa and dollop some chana masala, yogurt and chutneys over it, and you have Samosa Chaat. The southern state of Karnataka, where I’m from, has a fabulous Masala Puri with a white pea, cilantro and mint base that you can never really find outside of the state. 

I have consumed many times my body weight in chaat, along with other typical South Asian vegetarian fare, which, while absolutely delicious, tends to revolve around carbs. Rice, which is the staple food of South India, was usually in my tiffin box (sometimes in multiple forms). When I moved to the U.S., I added staples such as sandwiches, pasta and cereal into my meal rotation. It was a delicious journey until a routine physical a few years ago. My doctor’s note—which I almost missed, skimming past the results as I usually did—said “A1C in prediabetic range. Minimize rice, pasta, bread and sweets.” Umm. What was I supposed to eat instead? 

That was when I started to get mindful of the starch on my plate, the general absence of protein and the pitiful lack of fiber. I grew weary of eating eggs, cheese, avocado and quinoa salads. I craved the bold Indian flavors that I had grown up with. I experimented with cauliflower rice with great results, like this Cauliflower Ven Pongal with Tomato Chutney, and built up a repertoire of dishes that kept me satisfied. Until, one day, I wanted chaat. 

First, I created Cucumber Papdi Chaat (which ended up in my cookbook). In a simple but effective twist on Papdi Chaat, I used cucumber slices in place of the deep-fried dough, and added strained (Greek-style) yogurt and nuts for more protein. It was so good, I made seasonal variations for fall and winter, using Brussels sprouts and sweet potatoes respectively. 

This dish became something of a formula. Always packed with veggies, often with an interplay of cooked or roasted ones along with raw cucumber, tomato and onion. I replaced the carb-heavy sev with crunchy air-fryer masala nuts, which delivered a similar flavor but with additional protein. Somewhere along the way, I reversed my prediabetes, but realized that I could eat like this forever. 

This recipe is an addition to my chaat roster. Bhel Puri is typically made of puffed crispy rice, peanuts, veggies and tangy chutneys. In this recipe, I use puffed quinoa and lentils for more protein and fiber, while peanuts provide the mandatory crunch. And this version screams summer, loaded with bell pepper, cucumber, tomatoes and corn. While you may not typically buy coriander chutney, tamarind chutney and puffed quinoa, these are well worth snagging, and I can confidently say that they will not go to a corner of your pantry to die. The chutneys work beautifully on anything from sandwiches to scrambled eggs, and the puffed quinoa adds texture to granola and salads.  

Recipes like this veggie-centric chaat have become my new norm. While I tend to follow the 80/20 rule and do enjoy traditional chaat and, yes, rice on occasion, my daily meals look very different. They usually focus on veggies and protein, with a smaller amount of starch on the side. But most importantly, they are full of flavor. Ask me, “What’s chaat?” Chaat is life.