Many years ago, while in Delhi during winters, the husband and I decided to brave the cold weather and ventured from the hotel we were staying, towards Janpath and CP. I think it must have been around 6:30 pm and it was pretty dark already and what seemed like fun wasnt at all ! I was chilled to the bone, and all our efforts to find a quick supper along CP proved pointless - there was a mile-long queue of wannabe diners at Saravana Bhavan, and we really thought we should have some 'non-south' indian fare - we walked and walked and walked about a mile past shut doors and closed markets - almost like a curfew.. At the end of it, I couldnt take the tummy rumblings any longer, and decided that I need some food. S made a few calls to his friends @ Delhi, and we were told that owing to Sunday, most markets were shut.sigh.. Now even to get back to the hotel, we had left our car behind in some parking place @ CP (and hoped it would be there), but there was the hunger issue to handle 🙂 Till, till, we saw what was a flicker of candle, and moved towards that like fireflies 🙂 It turned out to be a vendor selling Rathaloo Chat (at that point, my culinary dictionary didnt know what that meant).
I believe it is also known as Shakarkandi. I asked what it was - veg / non veg ? .. although the distinct aroma of the sigdi (coal stove) was tempting with the wares he sold, but I just wanted to know if it was vegetarian. He didnt know what they called Rathaloo in english. Finally, after what seemed ages, I agreed to have it (read gulp it), and it seemed like heaven. The roasted sweet potato (and that's what Rathaloo meant! silly me :-)) along with the fiery chutney and chat masala was exactly not 'supper' but I came to love another Delhi street food (along with Golgappas) and have today tried to re-create that magic in my kitchen 🙂 Although you can make this quick snack throughout the year, the fresh pink-skinned veggies are extra tasty during the winters. Like theSweet potato croquetes, patties or even thebaked Samosa, my family seems to prefer this veggie a lot. This goes to the following events:
Radhika's Winter Carnival, Sangee’s BakeFest-event byVardhini & Priya's bookmarked recipes
Prep time : 10 mins. Cook time : 10 mins. Serves: 2
Adapted from here
Ingredients:
- Boiled Sweet potato - 2 large
- Onions - minced - ½ cup (opt.)
- Green chutney - 2 TBSP
- Meetha / sweet chutney - 1 tsp
- Salt - to taste
- Green chillies - minced - ¼ tsp.
- Chaat Masala - 1 tsp
- Red chilli powder - ½ tsp
- coriander leaves & lemon juice - for garnish
- Sev / ompudi - for garnish (opt.) : I didnt have any, so skipped it
Method:
1) Wash and slightly peel the sweet potatoes ( I like to keep it with the skin on). Bake at 170 C for 10 -15 mins till slightly crusty.
2) Cool and cube them (with the skin on)
3) In a large bowl, mix all the ingredients. Add the cubed veggies and toss once. Serve hot topped with lemon juice , coriander and sev ! Superb wintery bliss, and a no-oil snack at that 🙂 You couldnt beat that !
Lifewithspices says
awesome simply superr n so so yumm ..perfect click..
Aruna Manikandan says
WOW...
looks very tempting 🙂
Unknown says
watte click kalyani dear!! Simply gorgeous pic and an ingenious recipe
Priya Srinivasan - I Camp in My Kitchen says
Pass me that bowl!!! its soooo tempting!!!!
Pari Vasisht says
This is common delight in the markets of Delhi, looks yumm.
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Unknown says
wow awesome and healthy.....luv it!
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Archana says
Heavenly dear just heavenly.
Priya Suresh says
Wonderful looking baked sweet potato,absolutely stunning.
Nisha says
Oh that looks like it turned out good.
When I tried making this last month, I baked my sweet potato (pierced it with fork all over) & wrapped in alum foil & put in oven at 180C for 20 mins, it didn't bake from any angle, just became a litttlleee soft :-/
Kalyani says
@Nisha - we need to use pre-boiled baked potato for this dish- baking is to make it only crusty and crispy. If you are using a raw sweet potato, it would take almost 45-50 mins to bake them. So I used a pre-cooked sweet potato for this (the veggie must be cooked m firm, but not mushy)
Hari Chandana P says
Yummy and healthy recipe.. looks perfect !!
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Alpana says
Kalyani........U made me long to go back to India & eat all the street food in & around DElhi.....Lovely post .
chef and her kitchen says
very delicious chaat
anjana says
very tempting,delicious and perfect...lovely post...
Lavanya Selvaraj says
Feel like grabbing the bowl... Wonderful recipe!
-Lavanya
My Recent Post: Sweet Potato Paratha
Sangeetha M says
this is new to me...wonderful recipe, thanks for sharing this, stunning pic you have there...love it!!
thank you so much for linking it to my event..
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Unknown says
wow, that looks so tempting and wonderful !!!