5 healthy chaat recipes
Making your kids eat healthy and nutritious food is usually a challenging task. The best way is to give them tasty food, which is a mix of different exciting flavours and yet healthy. And what better way to do that than with some healthy chaats? Most chaats are spicy, tangy and subtly-sweet and are a mix of various ingredients like legumes, sprouts, veggies and fruits. Here are some Indian chaat recipes that are easy to whip up and will satiate hunger pangs of your kids in minutes. You can also serve these when guests come over.
Oats chaat recipe:
Dry roast about 3/4th cup of oats until it is light brown. Cool it completely. Meanwhile, mix yoghurt and black salt in a separate bowl. You can also make green chutney with pudina or mint leaves and tamarind chutney. Now, mix the oats in a bowl with chickpeas, chopped potatoes, cucumbers, tomatoes, cilantro, and green chillies. Add a little black pepper powder, salt and lemon juice and mix well. Now add the yoghurt and combine uniformly. Put the entire mix on a serving plate and drizzle some coriander chutney and tamarind date chutney on it. Sprinkle cornflakes and some pomegranate seeds finally, to give it a hint of sweetness and crunch.
Sprouts chaat recipe:
Mix one cup of cooked sprouts with black salt, chilli powder, and lemon juice for a spicy and tangy taste. Then add some fresh pomegranate seeds, chopped tomatoes, and sprinkle tamarind and date chutney, for a sweet and sour flavour. You can also mix in some green mint chutney for freshness and add salt as per your taste. Garnish the chaat with sev, chopped raw mangoes and coriander leaves just before serving.
Fruit chaat recipe:
This is one of the summer chaat recipes you can try for freshening up your kids’ taste buds. Mix chilled cubes of papaya, pineapple, apple, banana, amla and cucumber in a bowl. Add some grapes too. This will make for a good blend of sweet and sour flavours. For a spicy and tangy taste, add black salt, chaat masala, chilli powder and salt to it. You can even add any seasonal fruits that your kid loves. Fruit chaats are best eaten fresh as they tend to get watery over time.
Kala chana chaat recipe:
Kala chana chaat is one of the easy chaat recipes for parties. Soak the channa overnight and pressure cook it the next day with salt. Cook it till you hear 6 whistles. Discard the water and mix the cooked channa with pomegranates, chopped boiled potatoes, tomatoes, onions, and green chilli. Add red chilli powder, cumin powder, chaat masala, black salt, amchur, green chutney, tamarind chutney, and lemon juice for a sweet, tangy and spicy taste. Add a little salt as per your discretion and garnish the chaat with sev before serving.
Tomato slices chaat:
Slice medium ripe tomatoes into thin slices first. Sprinkle salt on them. Then mix grated carrots, chopped onions, cilantro, salt, paprika, sev and puffed rice in a bowl. Take a spoon of that mixture and place it on each tomato slice. Pour a little of mint chutney and tamarind chutney on it and serve immediately.
Inculcating healthy eating habits in kids from an early age is very important as it has lasting effects on their food choices. So, as parents, it is very important to find ways to include healthy foods in your child’s diet. This contributes to their proper growth and development. It sharpens their brain and improves their mood too. The innovative chaat ideas mentioned above are easy to make and nutritious as well. So, go ahead and give them a try, keeping in mind any allergies that your child might have.