Sweets are all well and good, but salty and spicy snacks are where it's at for me. Variously called namkeen or chiwda (sometimes spelled chivda), the crunchy snack mixes found all over South Asiaātypically full of fried nibbly things of different shapes, sizes, and texturesāexist in hundreds of permutations. Different combinations have varying ratios of nuts to crunchy bits, such as chickpea flour-based sev and boondi, and spice levels that range from mild and slightly sweet to downright fiery. Think Chex mix, but so much better.
Because of the many ingredients that go into them, namkeen recipes are often time-consuming. With this recipe, however, Iāve developed a quicker version that only calls for nuts and plain old store-bought cornflakes, which add so much crunch. My chaat masala spiced nuts are small on prep and big on flavor, thanks to the chaat masala seasoning doing much of the heavy lifting, and theyāre the perfect little thing for your holiday snack table.
A word of warning: Chaat masala is not to be confused with garam masala or any other spice mix! Chaat masala is a finishing blend used in street food and sprinkled over fruit salad. It has a sour, mouth-watering quality because of the addition of mango powder (a.k.a. amchoor) and black salt (a.k.a. kala namak). It does not require additional cooking, whereas garam masala is a blend with deeply robust spicesāincluding black cardamom, mace, and cinnamonāwhich is used to flavor meat and vegetable dishes during the cooking process. The results will vary vastly if you substitute one for the other in this recipe, so donāt!
The method for making these nuts is easy: Simply combine the nuts and cornflakes in a bowl, then cook them in a pot with a little oil until they turn fragrant and golden brown. You might be tempted to dump the nuts and cornflakes into the pot together and stir as you cook, but mixing the nuts in a separate bowl first guarantees that they will be coated in oil equally; this is crucial because it will help to ensure that the chaat masala (balanced with a little sugar and chile powder) is distributed evenly when you sprinkle it over the cooked nut-cornflake mixture.
After Epi senior editor Matthew Zuras tested this recipe for me, he reported back that he later made it twice more and described the nuts as ādangerously snackable.ā [Editorās note: I made them yet again for Thanksgiving and my in-laws hoovered them right up.] Maybe I am being biased here, but I would take his lead on this one.
Even better, these chaat masala nuts store very well, which means you can make them a week in advance for a holiday celebration or just to have around when you crave a salty treat. Because when the snack urge strikes, you donāt want to wait.
