The one flavor that most Indian snacks, street foods, roasted and fried food and salads rely on for their instant zing and the perk is the Chaat Masala. This particular mix of spice is an unique blend of spicy, salty and tart flavors and is usually added to the food after cooking and right before serving.
Usually a good sprinkle over the prepared dish and a good toss to combine is all that is needed. Be it on the cucumber slices on a hot summer day, or on your fruit salad, or over the so popular Tandoori Chicken/Chicken Tikka, your Chaat Masala will add that unbelievable edge to the flavor.
I often get asked by my not so foodie friends, why I bother to make all these at home when I have the options to just pick out one from so many packets on the shelf. Well, it is a question difficult to answer and an answer difficult for them to understand. A foodie gets a kick out of making things from scratch. That inexplicable satisfaction that follows the success of a recipe is indeed difficult to word out. The innumerable experiments, the combination and permutations and that final “nailed it” are moments to treasure.
There are a few variations to this spice mix and there are quite a different brands that sell if you want to get the store bought ones, each tasting almost similar but with some differences. I have been experimenting with the ingredients and the proportions in which they are used for sometime now and this is what we have settled on for our everyday use.
You can play around with the amounts and the ingredients and make your own. The roasted cumin, dried mango powder, coriander powder, chili pepper and the black salt among all the other ingredients, play the most important role in the balance of flavors.
Homemade: Chaat Masala
Ingredients (makes approx loosely packed 3/4 cup)
- 4 tablespoon coriander seeds
- 4 teaspoon roasted cumin powder
- 1.5 teaspoon ajwain/carom seeds
- 2.5-3 tablespoon black salt/kala namak/rock salt
- 5 red dried chiles, stems removed
- 3 teaspoon dried mango powder/amchur
- a very generous pinch of hing/asafoetida (about 1/4 teaspoon)
- 1/2 teaspoon dried ginger powder
- 1.5 teaspoon ground black pepper
- 1 teaspoon dried mint (optional)
- 2-3 teaspoons Kashmiri red chili powder/paprika (optional, for a nice bright color)
Note: ** for the description and images of most of the spices above, read The Commonly Used Indian Spices
Method:Roast the coriander seeds, cumin seeds and the carom seeds separately at a low flame for a few minutes only, until they are a shade darker and starts to get aromatic (the aroma is hard to miss). Remove from heat and let cool.
Combine all ingredients and grind into a fine powder.
Store in air tight containers.
Preparation Time: 10 minutes
Cooking Time: 10 minutes
Serves: makes about 3/4 cup
Serving suggestion: as a garnish to perk flavor
Shelf Life: many months (but best used within one month for strong flavor and freshness)
Related Posts:
Roasted Cumin Powder
Garam Masala
Spiced Powder – with Curry Leaves
I am also a fan of homemade spice mixtures. I make most of my essentials like sambar masala at home.
Never knew what chat masala has! Thanks for the recipe! Beautiful photos too
I always make my own spice mix for everything
…all a fan of your recipes and pictures Soma..
HAPPY HOLI!!!! Would love a post from you on this occasion
Is the next one the Pav Bhajji Masala?
I luv that spoon…wish ya happy festival,..
A delightful spice blend! I love the fact that it contains mango powder. I’ll have to visit my Indian market if I want to make chaat massala.
Geat clicks!
Cheers,
Rosa
Lovely spice blend, I am going to try making it, all I need is the mango powder. Sounds wonderful and I love your photos.
That is such a keeper post. I always wanted to know how to make it at home. Thanks
I love chaat masala! I still have some in my pantry, but when I run out I’ll make it from scratch
mmm…I’m craving papadi chaat and I want to sprinkle your homemade chaat masala on top! Thank you for this recipe..I sprinkle it on everything even french fries!
I do too! on french fries ;D
I love making my own masala — it stays fresh longer than store-bought. Thanks for this chaat masala recipe. Another must try
never tried making chat masala at home this looks perfect. happy holi Soma.
An awesome post!!! Will be trying this soon. Happy holi soma
So many new delicious dishes to drool here Soma!
masala! I don’t ever think to make it at home. But I may do so, in small quantities. Ya know, you won’t go through it as fast as you guys lol
How beautiful are these photos? Lovely! I love Indian spice blends but am guilty of buying them ready made. Making them seems so complicated but you make it sound so easy. And the results look so much better and more flavorful than store bought.
I used to wonder why people bothered making their own spices… until a friend gave me some homemade garam masala…. that made the store-bought blends taste like flavoured dust. Gorgeous pics ande (I am sure!) a delicious blend!
[...] cucchiaino di garam masal (si trova nei negozi bio, oppure potete farvelo da soli, qui la [...]
Having pop-corn with chaat as we speak
. It is so much better than plain. My chaat is a bit simpler with amchur, kala namak, jeera, hing and black pepper, but it is good nevertheless. I was thinking of you today when making it 
[...] in Indian stores or if you have access to a good spice store, make it yourself using this recipe: Homemade: Chaat Masala | eCurry – The Recipe Blog This is awesome sprinkled copiously on chicken, shrimp or vegetables. My food blog, with many [...]
[...] by buying curry powder, I was adamant to make my own version. While there are many versions of chaat masala, my newest cookbook, 1000 Indian Recipes, had an intriguing recipe using amchur (mango [...]
Oh this looks so fun. I put my spice mixes in those jars–I need to take another trip to ikea as I’m running out!
hi the recipe is good and i was looking for it. i seem to have a renewed interest in cooking various dishes and this recipe is so handy. luv doing this at home though as u said its available at stores.
photos and spoon WOW
Just found your site. I’ve enjoyed reading it. I’m trying to get better at using fresh spices and I’m lucky to have lots of Indian stores nearby to get true Indian spices and ingredients.
What do you use to grind your spices? I’m in the US. Most references I find talk about using a blade coffee grinder.
Yes a coffee grinder. Sometimes you would find an attachement of a tiny coffee grinder which attaches to the blade and base of regular blender. I have used the small Oster coffee grinder which matches most Oster bases. But really any kind of Coffee grinder would work, or if you would a small spice grinder. My present blender has the capacity to dry blend (Oster again) so I use that when I am making in bigger quantities where it can be stored. If I need to grind something immediately I use the traditional mortar and pestle. Hope this helps.
I LOVE my Cuisinart SG-10 Spice and Nut Grinder. It doesn’t take up much room, and grinds toasted spices in the blinking of an eye!
Great recipe! I love that you added Kashmiri chili for color, it looks beautiful. Many recipes and pre-made chaat masala has too much amchur and salt for my liking but this one looks great. Thanks!