By: Rehma Adnan, SFU Student

Looking for the perfect meal-prep salad? Here’s my family recipe of a fresh and flavourful fibre-loaded Pakistani salad called chana (chickpea) chaat.

This salad is the most low-effort and high-reward you can get in the kitchen. Made with staple kitchen ingredients like canned chickpeas and potatoes, while opening you up to an entire new palette with a specialty South Asian spice called chaat masala. This masala mix is made of spices like cumin and coriander, adding a tart and tangy flavour to your dish of choice. Another South Asian ingredient, imli (tamarind) sauce is also an important element of this dish. The sweet sauce cuts through the flavour of the chaat masala, creating a unique sweet-salty-sour flavour profile. These distinct ingredients can be found in South Asian specialty stores or the international section of big supermarkets. The best part of this dish; it marinates itself overtime in the fridge, tasting even better as the week goes on!

Ingredients:

• 1–2 large russet potatoes
• 1 can of chickpeas
• 1 red onion
• 2 tomatoes
• 2 green chillies
• Green coriander
• Imli sauce
• Chaat masala seasoning blend 
• Salt 
• Red chilli powder 

Instructions:

1. Peel and cut the potatoes into bite-sized cubes.
2. Boil potatoes in a pot of hot water until tender (around 10–15 minutes).
3. Rinse and drain the can of chickpeas.
4. Chop the onion and tomatoes into bite-sized pieces.
5. Mix together the boiled potatoes and chickpeas along with the chopped onion and tomato.
6. Add 1 tsp red chilli powder. 
7. Add 1 tsp salt.
8. Add chaat masala to taste (starting with 1 tbsp, and building up to your spice tolerance).
9. Add 2 tbsp of imli (tamarind) sauce.
10. Give a big mix to salad.
11. Finely chop green chillies and coriander and add them as garnish.
12. Drizzle on some extra tamarind sauce to decorate.
13. Enjoy! Or store in an airtight container in the fridge as your new favourite meal-prepped salad.