Watermelon Chaat Salad combines ripe juicy and fruity melon with crispy chickpeas, spicy sev, radishes and chaat masala spices.
Watermelon Chaat Salad
By Sue Lau | Palatable Pastime
Watermelon Chaat Salad is my recipe of the day for the Improv Cooking Challenge of July, which has us combine both watermelon and olive oil in a recipe.
What is Chaat?
Chaat is a type of masala spice that includes the salty, savory and sour flavors of cumin and amchur (dried mango powder). It is the perfect combination to bring out the flavors of the crunchy chickpeas and complement the fruitiness of the melon.
So if chaat masala is a new flavor for you, you may be familiar with salting watermelon.
Often you might see chaat at Indian restaurants where it is served with a chickpea curry. That will also have a little yogurt although I did not use yogurt here.
It is also used with pani puris, a little puffed cup filled with chickpeas and topped with a coriander chutney. Those are quite popular as snacks, and chaat is used with a lot of snacky things in general.
Savory Melon
While melon is generally sweet when perfectly ripe, it does match well with savory and salty flavors as well as spicy hot ones. I posted a recipe for a Thai watermelon last year and included a link below. I’d first tried something like that at a local BBQ hut- although theirs was slightly different. I was enormously in love with it, especially with the added crunch of peanuts.
Crunchy Sev and Chickpeas
So in this the crunch of chickpeas and sev is great. You can use just a plain crunchy sev, but shops were out of that so I opted for one of the sev mixes I love (Hyderabad or kerala are my favs). When you shop you will see lots of different ones and they are all pretty good- like the differences among different kinds of potato chips. Sev is sort of like chow mein noodles but made with a different flour.
You could use chow mein noodles in this if you like. Sev mix will usually also have some peanuts and other things.
Perfect Light Lunch
We actually ate this as a light lunch- it was very hot out so neither of us wanted anything heavy. Later we had tacos for dinner so the crunch thing carried on all day. What is it about hot weather and crunchy foods? Yum.
Improv Cooking Challenge
Watermelon & Olive Oil
- Watermelon Salad with Feta and Cucumber by Making Miracles
- Andalusian Watermelon Gazpacho by Pandemonium Noshery
- Summery Grilled Halloumi Salad by Culinary Adventures with Camilla
- Kalingana Saali Polo / Watermelon Rind Dosa by Sneha’s Recipe
- Sweet Heat Watermelon Gazpacho by Cookaholic Wife
- Watermelon, Blueberry, and Mint Salad by A Day in the Life on the Farm
- Watermelon Chaat Salad By Palatable Pastime (You are Here!)
Watermelon Chaat Salad
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Watermelon Chaat Salad

Watermelon Chaat Salad
Ingredients
- 15 ounce can chickpeas rinsed and drained
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 1/2 teaspoon chaat masala
- 24 ounces diced seedless watermelon
- 2 tablespoons minced red onion
- 2 thinly sliced radishes
- 1 tablespoon sliced hot green chillies
- 2 tablespoons chopped cilantro
- 2 tablespoons fresh lime juice
- pinch salt
- 1/3 cup sev or sev mix
- 3 teaspoons tamarind chutney
Instructions
- Rinse and drain chickpeas and pat dry.
- Saute in olive oil until browned and crisp.
- Season with chat masala.
- Combine with remaining ingredients and serve immediately.
That looks like a really fun flavor combo, I even have some amchur I have been wondering what to do with
This looks so refreshing! I ate the watermelon salad I made for this challenge as a light lunch as well – cool and refreshing, perfect for warmer weather!
What a great lunch to serve poolside during this enormous heat wave we are having. Thanks Sue.