Happy Monday. Celebrate breakfast on Thanksgiving in style. Assuming you all will have a heavy meal during lunch. I think this is the best light breakfast you can opt for. Chaat for breakfast? Not exactly but an improvised ‘Surti Locho.’ It reflects the specialty of Surat, a city in Gujarat ❤️ Its the most famous street food after khandvi 🤣 So, so, soooo easy to make, and served with spicy cilantro-mint chutney, tamarind chutney, a teaspoonful of chaat masala and sev (fried chickpea flour.) The traditional recipe requires you to steam the batter, but I found a workaround. Hello! Microwave. This instant version of microwave gets ready in minutes.

Here goes the recipe –

Ingredients: Serves 4-5  

1 cup chana dal (split chickpeas lentil)
1/3 cup urad dal (black gram lentil)
1/3 cup poha (flattened rice )

For the batter: 
3 tbsp + 2 tbsp oil (for the batter and greasing the dish)
3 finely chopped green chilies
1 tsp ginger paste
1/2 tsp asafoetida
1/4 tsp turmeric powder
1 tsp red chili powder or cayenne pepper
1/2 tsp black pepper powder
1 tsp baking soda or Eno fruit salt
Salt – 1 tsp (as per taste)

For each serving:
2 tbsp coriander-mint chutney
1 tbsp tamarind pulp (I use the store bought)
1 tsp chopped coriander
2 tbsp lemon juice
2-3 tbsp fine sev (size zero preferred)

Method: 

* Before soaking the lentils overnight, clean and rinse them for 5-6 times.  Next morning, drain the excess water. At the same time, soak poha for 10-12 minutes.

* Coarsely grind the chana dal ( the yellow one) separately and transfer it to a bowl. Grind urad dal with poha and mix it with chana dal paste.

*Add oil, ginger, asafoetida, turmeric powder, green chilies, red chilly powder, black pepper, and salt to taste. Mix everything thoroughly.

*If the batter looks too dry, add 1/4 cup of water. Keep the consistency of batter little thick as of dhokla. At last, add Eno fruit salt and give it a stir only in one direction.

* Grease the glass/microwave-friendly bowl with oil. Now pour the batter into the bowl, tap 2-3 times to get rid of air bubbles. Sprinkle red chilly powder and black pepper powder over it.

*Microwave it for 20 minutes stirring it every 3 minutes for it to cook evenly. If the mix crumbles, don’t shy away from adding a lit bit of 1 tbsp of oil and water.

*Transfer this mouth-drooling and spicy surthi locho on a plate. To serve, crumble it coarsely from the center and top it with lemon juice, tamarind pulp, coriander-mint chutney, and sev. Serve it hot 😉

If you try this recipe, please do not forget to tag #thepalatetrails on Instagram and/or leave a comment below on this blog post 🙂

Thanks for stopping by lovelies!

XOXO
Rinky