Green Apple and Pomegranate Chaat

Ahead (the day before or the morning)

• 2 tsp cumin seeds, toasted and ground; 1 tsp goes into the dressing, 2 tsp on the substitution path
• 80 g raw peanuts, or good salted roasted peanuts, in which case skip the roasting
• 1½ pomegranates, seeded; heavy for its size, taut skin rather than leathery

Fruit and vegetables (on the day)

• 3 Granny Smith apples, unpeeled, 1cm dice, cut straight into the lime juice below; Pink Lady or Jazz if Granny Smith is not available, see notes
• 3 limes, juiced into a bowl before you start cutting; a fourth on standby
• a pinch of fine salt, into the lime with the apple
• 250 g cucumber, one cucumber, watery core scraped out with a teaspoon, 1cm dice
• ½ red onion, half a small one, very finely diced, rinsed 20 seconds under cold water and patted dry
• 1 green chilli, deseeded and minced

Dressing

• 1½ tsp chaat masala
• ½ tsp kala namak (black salt), powdered; pinkish-grey, not black, sometimes sold as sanchal
• a pinch of sugar

Substitution dressing (no chaat masala or kala namak)

• 1¼ tsp flaky salt, replaces the kala namak(optional)
• 1 tsp black pepper, freshly ground(optional)
• ½ tsp fresh ginger, finely grated(optional)
• ½ tsp Kashmiri chilli powder, or 3 parts sweet paprika to 1 part cayenne(optional)

To finish, at the table

• 6 tsp tamarind and date chutney, 1 tsp per portion; a little less if using Pink Lady
• 6 tsp mint chutney, 1 tsp per portion
• fine sev, a generous pinch per glass; the fine grade, sometimes labelled nylon sev, to finish
• 15 g mint, leaves, chopped at the last moment
• 15 g coriander, leaves, chopped at the last moment

Ahead

1. 1

   Toast 2 tsp cumin seeds in a dry pan over medium heat, shaking, for about 90 seconds until they darken a shade and smell nutty. Tip them out of the pan straight away, cool, grind and keep in a sealed jar.

   2mmedium

   Roasted cumin powder (bhuna jeera) is not the same thing as ground cumin from a jar. Jar cumin tastes raw and slightly muddy in a cold dish; toasted tastes warm and smoky, and it is the backbone of the dressing. Without chaat masala it carries even more of the load.

2. 2

   Roast 80 g raw peanuts at 170°C for 10-12 minutes until golden right through. Cool, then crush coarsely with the flat of a knife, keeping the pieces uneven. Into a sealed jar.

   12m170°C

   Tip: Good salted roasted peanuts skip this step entirely. Either way, crush rather than chop: uneven shards give a better crunch than neat pieces.

3. 3

   Seed the 1½ pomegranates and keep the seeds in a sealed container in the fridge. Mix the dressing spices (1½ tsp chaat masala, 1 tsp of the roasted cumin, ½ tsp kala namak, a pinch of sugar) into a small jar so service is one tip of the jar.

   10m

   Tip: Seeded pomegranate holds a full day sealed and chilled. Choose fruit that is heavy for its size with taut skin; outside its October-to-January season the quality swings, so buy two and expect one dud.

On the day

1. 4

   Seed and dice the 250 g cucumber to 1cm, scraping the watery core out with a teaspoon first. Finely dice the ½ red onion, rinse it under cold water for 20 seconds and pat dry. Deseed and mince the 1 green chilli. Keep all three separate, undressed, in the fridge.

   10m

   Unseeded cucumber leaks into the glass and is the main reason a chaat ends up sitting in liquid, more than the salt is. The cold rinse pulls the harsh sulphur edge off the onion without losing its bite.

2. 5

   No more than six hours before service, and four is better: juice the 3 limes into a bowl with a pinch of salt, then dice the 3 apples, unpeeled, into 1cm cubes, dropping each piece straight into the lime as it comes off the knife. Toss so every face is wet, cover and refrigerate.

   8m

   Cut apple browns within about fifteen minutes. The lime drops the surface pH far enough to slow polyphenol oxidase to a crawl, and it is the dressing anyway, so nothing is wasted. Dice into the acid, not first and then dress, or the first pieces have browned by the time you finish. Past six to eight hours the problem is no longer colour but texture: the acid starts softening the dice.

   Acidulating Cut Fruit

Assemble at the table

1. 6

   Drain the apple and keep every drop of the lime. Combine the apple, cucumber, red onion, chilli and pomegranate seeds. Pour the reserved lime back over with the jar of dressing spices and toss.

   1m

   This happens no more than three minutes before it is eaten. Salt draws water out of apple and cucumber fast, and a chaat dressed fifteen minutes early is sitting in a puddle. Everything can be prepped in advance; nothing is combined until people are seated.

2. 7

   If you have no chaat masala or kala namak, dress with the substitution instead: the reserved lime, all 2 tsp of the roasted cumin, 1¼ tsp flaky salt, 1 tsp freshly ground black pepper, ½ tsp grated ginger, ½ tsp Kashmiri chilli and a pinch of sugar. Mix it into a jar ahead of time so it is one pour at the table.

   Tip: That gives you sour, salty, warm and hot, four of the five things chaat masala does. The one you cannot rebuild is the sulphurous note of kala namak; the dish tastes cleaner and less distinctive without it, and most people will not notice it is missing.

3. 8

   Taste a spoonful. It should make you wince slightly. If it does not, juice the fourth lime into it, then a pinch more salt.

   Push the acid until it is almost uncomfortable on its own. Between a rich soup and a cream sauce that is exactly the right level; a chaat that tastes balanced alone reads as fruit salad in context. Past a point more lime only makes it sour, so if it still tastes flat rather than sharp, add half a teaspoon more chaat masala instead.

4. 9

   Divide into 6 small glasses or bowls. Drizzle the 6 tsp tamarind and date chutney and 6 tsp mint chutney over them, 1 tsp of each per glass. Then, last, the crushed peanuts, a generous pinch of sev and the 15 g mint and 15 g coriander, chopped.

   The sev goes on at the table. It softens within three or four minutes of touching wet fruit, and the crunch is not a garnish here, it is the point of the dish.