Quick Peanut Chaat (Spicy Indian Peanuts)

This quick peanut chaat is one of those recipes (ready in just five minutes with only seven ingredients!), that is SO quick and easy that I wondered whether I should bother posting it or not.

I took another spoonful of the tangy spicy fresh peanut salad full of Indian flavors and decided to post it anyway. All I can say is YUMMY.

Why you’ll love this dish:

• It’s vegan!
• It’s spicy (but you can dial the spice up or down).
• It’s deliciously crunchy and tangy.
• It literally takes minutes to make.
• It’s the perfect snack any time and is also great for entertaining.

I absolutely adore just about every type of chaat ( an Indian savory snack or street-side-style vendor food), but I particularly love the ones that lean more towards salad-like and less towards fried, and this peanut chaat is one of my favorites.

It’s my (reasonably successful) attempt at recreating one of my favorite snack-style starters from a restaurant on New Bel road in Bangalore, India, where I used to live.

Ingredients and substitutions

With just seven easy-to-find ingredients, the ingredients that are used are kind of essential. Any substitutions which can be made are noted beside the ingredient below:

• Onion (preferably red onion)
• Tomatoes
• Red chili pepper (green can be substituted)
• Cilantro (fresh coriander)
• Ready salted peanuts (you can substitute with dry roasted peanuts or boiled peanuts)
• Lemon juice
• Chaat masala (ESSENTIAL! You can buy in any Indian or specialty grocers or order online)

I used packaged-salted peanuts in this recipe (the fried kind), which is not exactly authentic but is the way I first tried them (albeit with skins on).

Feel free to push for authenticity – and a lighter dish – by swapping the salted peanuts for boiled peanuts (but do then add salt to taste – I recommend black salt if possible) or dry-roasted peanuts.

If like me, you are ALL ABOUT the amazing cuisine that is Indian food, these other easy recipes might be right up your alley:

• Chickpea Spinach Curry (Chana Palak Masala)
• One-pot Vegan Tikka Masala
• Easy Vegan Dal Makhani (Butter Lentils)
• Easy One-pot Vegetable Biryani
• Spicy Indian Tomato Soup (Tamatar Ka Shorba)

How to make it

Again, embarrassingly easy to make (I feel like I should just give you the list of the ingredients and let you guess how to make it).

Chop half a small red onion finely (white will also do, I just use red out of habit as when living in India red onions were more commonly used). Chop up the chili pepper, and coriander finely.

Seed and chop the tomatoes into pieces as small as you can. It’s important to not add the juicy seed part as it will make the nuts watery. I just slice off the sides and the bottoms of the tomatoes and use them.

Make sure your tomatoes are ripe but firm as you’ll really notice their flavor in this dish. If you can’t get a hold of decent tomatoes or they are out of season, you can try 12 cherry tomatoes.

Do be careful with the amount of chili pepper you use – chili peppers vary greatly in heat even among a handful from the same plant, so add less at first, and then more later if needed.

Juice the lemon and add 1.5 tbsp to the chopped vegetables and peanuts. I usually just make this with ready salted peanuts but dry roasted and regular boiled peanuts will do as well.

Just make sure they don’t have the skins on or the skins will get unpleasantly damp from the lemon juice. You can easily rub the skins off roasted peanuts by rolling them between your hands.

Sprinkle the chaat masala on top, mix, and taste to check if you need more chili.

Chaat masala is absolutely essential to this dish, is cheap, can be found in any Indian food store, and lasts forever.

You can also use it to make these ridiculously easy 5-minute masala sandwiches and this super tasty masala corn recipe.

This chaat is best served immediately while all the flavors and vegetables taste fresh. However, I have happily eaten a bowl of this the day after making it (I stored it in the fridge).

Just be aware that the longer it sits, the more liquid will be drawn out of the vegetables, so you may have to drain it off and add a little more chaat masala.

Serve in small individual ramekins, or in a bowl in the middle to share. A perfect snack (with a cup of hot chai of course!) or light appetizer.

In India, we would chow down on a bowl of these delicious spicy peanuts and share between friends with a round of drinks, as they make the perfect light snack (kind of like an Indian tapa!) for munching on casually while entertaining.

You can also pair it with some quick masala corn, or a good naan bread and this delicious easy naan dipping sauce.

How will you serve your delicious easy peanut chaat?

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Or take a picture and tag me on Instagram (@the_fiery_vegetarian), I love seeing all your creations!