What can I use instead of papri?

Name: Dahi Papri Chaat
Prep time: 25 min
Total time: 25 min
Cuisine: Pakistani
Ingredients: 2 cups Yogurt (dahi), chilled; 2 tbsp Sugar; ¼ tsp Salt, adjust to taste; 3 tbsp Milk, to loosen; 3 cups Papri or plain crackers, about 32 papri; ½ cup White chickpeas (kabuli chana, dried), dried, soaked and boiled soft (about 1 cup cooked); 2 medium potatoes Potatoes, boiled and diced small; 1 medium onion Onions, finely chopped; ¼ cup Tamarind (imli), as sweet imli chutney; ½ cup Fresh mint (podina), as hari chutney, about 3 tbsp; 1½ tsp Chaat masala; 1 tsp Ground cumin, dry-roasted; ½ tsp Red chilli powder; ¼ cup Pomegranate seeds (anar); 2 tbsp Fresh coriander (hara dhania), chopped

Broken samosa patti fried crisp, plain salted crackers or crushed nimko all work in a pinch.

Snacks, chaat & street food

Dahi Papri Chaat Recipe

دہی پاپڑی چاٹ بنانے کا طریقہ

Crisp papri layered with boiled chickpeas and potato, cold sweet yogurt, imli and hari chutney, finished with roasted cumin and chaat masala.

Prep

25 min

Cook

0 min

Total

25 min

Serves

Difficulty

Easy

Spice

Mild

Dahi papri chaat is the street-cart chaat of Lahore and Karachi: crisp fried wafers loaded with chickpeas, potatoes and cold yogurt, then streaked with sweet and green chutneys. It is all about contrast, so the papri must stay crunchy under the wet toppings, which means assembling it on the plate just before eating.

Tips for the best result

Keep every component ready and cold, then assemble plate by plate as people sit down.
Dry-roast cumin seeds on a tawa and grind them fresh; the smoky flavour is what makes street chaat taste right.
For homemade papri, roll a stiff maida and ajwain dough thin, cut small rounds, prick them and fry on low heat until crisp.

Common mistakes

Assembling in a big bowl ahead of time. The papri goes soggy in 10 minutes.
Using runny yogurt. It floods the plate; it should be thick but pourable.

How to serve

Serve immediately on individual plates, at iftar or as an evening snack with chai.

Storing and reheating

Do not store assembled chaat. Keep the sweet yogurt and boiled chickpeas 2 days in the fridge and papri in an airtight jar for 2 weeks.

Nutrition and cost

Worked out from the ingredients, not measured in a lab. Treat both as a rough guide.

Per serving Estimate

Calories: 430kcal
Protein: 14g
Fat: 12g
Carbs: 70g
Fibre: 6.9g
Sodium: 390mg

Estimated from USDA FoodData Central, SR Legacy (April 2018), public domain values for the raw ingredients (100% of the recipe by weight had data). Deep-frying oil is counted at 20%; bones and water lost in cooking are not subtracted, so bone-in and fried dishes can read high. Not medical advice. Method

Cost per servingEstimate

≈ Rs 46

Whole dish ≈ Rs 180 · 79% of ingredients by weight priced

Prices in

From the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics weekly SPI, week ended 29 Oct 2026. Spices, herbs and some vegetables are not in the SPI and are left out unless you add your price, so the real cost is a little higher. How this works

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