Just one more addition to the perks that you get upon doing this course, is cultural evenings. One cultural evening we had a chaat party. I suppose there is no perfect translation for chaat into English but I also suppose that eating some snack in the evening might be present in many cultures. In India, we take this evening snack very seriously and so we invented chaats. Chaats are full of spices and varieties are found all over India.

On the day of the chaat party we had two chaats : pani puri and dahi papdi chaat. Pani puris are fried flour balls which are thin and crispy. A mixture of mashed potatoes is made with spices and there are a mint water along with a sweet water is made. A hole is made in each ball into which the potato mixture is stuffed and the both kinds of water are poured into it. The final taste of the pani puri is a burst of spices. It is sour, sweet and hot.

Dahi papdi is made wth yoghurt, thin flour biscuits, potatoes, crispies and spices among other things. It also has two dips, one sweet and one made of coriander. The biscuits are topped with all other ingredients and then yoghurt which has been mixed with water is poured on top. Finally, a mixture of spices is added on top and it is garnished with some finely chopped coriander.

Neeti assembled all the ingredients and made the chaats for everyone at our rooftop. As an Indian, chaat is a very essential part of my life and we keep experimenting with our chaats. It is a remedy for our evening hunger pangs and is found abundantly on the streets of India. The Scandinavians too, must have enjoyed this experience of tasting new flavours of India right on our rooftop.

 

Enjoying the chaat party

 

 

Neeti making chaat for all of us

 

 

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