Brighten up your fruits with this flavor-packed Indian fruit salad. This recipe is a modern Indian version of Indian train fruit chaat. Slightly spicy, tangy, and sweet.
What is Fruit Chaat?
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Chaat is a famous street snack in South Asia. Wide varieties of South Asian savory goodies garnished with sweet, tangy, and spicy spices or chutney. Fruit chaat is just a one version of those wide varieties of street chaat.
Indian Train Fruit Chaat
Growing up in India, we used to travel by train to go to our family and relatives' homes. Train vendors sold chopped-up apples or pears with a sprinkle of dried mango powder, red chili powder, and salt.
Chaat for Ramadan Iftar
Ramadan iftars are never complete without fruit and chaat. My Ammi always had fruits on a Dastarkhan(tablecloth) for Iftar. Some days we sprinkled chaat masala and salt to mimic the train fruit chaat.
I love using apples, bananas, and grapes in fruit chaat. These three are a staple of South Asian fruit chaat.
Ingredient
- Fruits: fruit chaat can be made with any fruit you have on hand. Make it with just one or varieties of your favorite fruits. I am using gala apple, banana, green and black grapes, mandarin, and blueberries for this recipe.
- Red Chili Powder: optional but if you like a slight kick of spicy then use ⅛ teaspoon Kashmiri red chili powder.
- Chaat Masala: you can make your chaat masala or purchase it from the local South Asian store. My favorite store brands are below.
- Lemon: a generous squeeze of lemon juice gives a great tangy kick to this recipe.
- Mint: a couple of finely sliced fresh mint leaves is quite refreshing with the fruits and chat masala. If you like the mint with fruit, give it a go.
- Black Salt: Kala namak(black salt) is known to help with digestion. Fruit chaat with black salt is eaten in India as a wrap-up snack after a big meal and a dessert for digestion lol. Use Himalayan pink salt or sea salt If you can't find black salt.
How To Make Fruit Chaat
It's one of those quick and easy recipes. Chop, sprinkle, toss, and all done.
- Thoroughly wash all the fruits. Chop them into your desired bite-size pieces.
- Transfer the chopped fruits into a large prep bowl.
- Squeeze half of the lemon juice, sprinkle the spices, and add mint.
- Toss everything until well combined. Cover and refrigerate until chilled or eat it immediately.
How To Serve Fruit Chaat
Chaat can be served as a snack, or salad at the dinner table. Ramadan Iftars are a great time to serve fruit chaat along with the meal. It's a great source of nutrients during Ramadan.
Tips
- Adding a squeeze of lemon juice keeps the fruits crisp and prevents them from getting black.
Storing
This recipe is a great make-ahead recipe. Adding lemon juice keeps the fruit crisp and fresh in taste.
I have made this recipe and stored the leftovers in a glass container for 2 days in the refrigerator and the fruits stayed fresh. After 2 days they start to get mushy and lose their freshness.
More Iftar Recipes:
Fruit Chaat | Indian Fruit Chaat Recipe
Ingredients
Fruits
- 2 small apples (Gala or Honeycrisp) , cored and chopped
- 1 banana , cut lengthwise and chopped
- ½ cup green grapes , cut lengthwise into two pieces
- ⅓ cup black grapes , cut lengthwise into two pieces
- 1 cup blueberries , or your choice of berries
- 1 mandarin , peeled and cut into small pieces
Condiments for Fruit Chaat
- 1 ½ teaspoons chaat masala , add ½ or 1 teaspoon for less intense flavors
- ⅛ teaspoon Kashmiri red chili powder
- ¼ teaspoon black salt(kala namak)
- ½ small lemon juiced
- 2 mint leaves , finely sliced
Instructions
- Thoroughly wash all the fruits. Chop them into your desired bite-size pieces.
- Transfer the chopped fruits into a large prep bowl. Squeeze half of a lemon juice, sprinkle the spices, and add mint.
- Toss everything until well combined. Cover and refrigerate until chilled or eat it immediately.
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