Chaats are Indian snacks and appetizers, a sort of street food that is widely welcomed indoors as well. In India, there are restaurants that specialize entirely in chaat. When I told our driver in Jaipur that I wanted to eat chaat from a street stall, he raised his brows in horror and whisked G and me to an air-conditioned restaurant where we sat amongst Indian families and had delicious sweet-tart-spicy-crunchy treats accompanied by cooling lassi. Chaat is Hindi for “to taste,” and mostly consists of small dishes, often easy to eat by hand or off banana leaves on the street. As with Indian cuisine in general, chaats are quite diverse, with many regional specialties, but quite a few are fried, like pakoras and samosas, and some are stuffed breads. Dipping sauces and raita are key to the whole experience.Many of these dishes are flavored with chaat masala, a combination of spices that varies from person to person and place to place. I buy mine pre-made (Kalustyan’s yet again) and it contains salt, amchur (mango powder), musk melon, cumin, black pepper, pomegranate seed, coriander, mint, ginger, cinnamon, nutmeg, mace, chile, caraway, ajowain (a relative of coriander), cloves, hing and bay leaf. Hing? you ask.

Hing is asafoetida, alternately known as devil’s dung and food of the gods. It's made from the resin of an herbaceous plant (Ferula assafoetida) and has a strong, unpleasant smell when raw. In cooked dishes, however, it delivers a smooth flavor, reminiscent of leeks. A digestive aid, it also helps fight asthma and the flu. Elsewhere, it is used as a scent bait for catfish and pike, and rubbed on a baby’s fontanel to ward off evil spirits. This stuff is potent and compelling, highly umami.Black salt, known in Hindi as kala namak, is another highly pungent condiment widely used in India. It’s not really black, more of a pale purple color from its high iron sulphide content. It has the sulfurous smell associated with hard-boiled eggs (some say rotten eggs) and the particular taste that is essential to chaat masala.

Bhel puri is a popular chaat, often sold in little paper cups on the street in India. It is an addictive mix of sweet-&-sour, spicy and salty, featuring puffed rice and little crunchy noodles called sev, made from lentil flour. You can find these both at any Indian market. This needs to be eaten immediately upon mixing it together, much like you eat cereal right after pouring on the milk. Below the recipe for bhel puri is one for a simpler chickpea chaat that can be made ahead. And I've also included a recipe for another lassi, this one with saffron and cardamom. Try one with some chaat on a hot day, and plan your next vacation in India.