Vegan Leftover Roast Vegetable Chaat

A crunchy, chilli-spiked noodle dish using leftover roast vegetables

Meera Sodha’s leftover roast vegetable chaat. Photograph: Louise Hagger/The Guardian. Food styling: Emily Kydd. Prop styling: Jennifer Kay.

Chaat, for the uninitiated, translates as ‘to lick’, but means that sort of lip-smacking street food for which you would travel across a city, over a masjid and under an elephant . In today’s recipe, the base is made up of leftover roast vegetables, which is practically incidental, because every Indian knows that the best chaat is all about the chutneys. I’ve topped mine with a quick tamarind chutney, a sprightly herb number and some crunchy chickpea noodles. All very lickable.

Leftover roast vegetable chaat

This needs a special ingredient – chaat masala – which can be found in any Indian food shop and online, or make your own with my recipe. Those stores are also where you’ll find tiny chickpea noodles called sev, or nylon sev. Roast potatoes work especially well in this chaat, but it’s also great with leftover parsnips, carrots and sprouts. If you don’t have 800g leftover veg, roast around 1.2kg raw vegetables in a little oil first.

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Prep 15 min Cook 20 min Serves 4

40g mint leaves (from 100g sprigs) 40g coriander leaves, plus 1 small handful extra, to garnish, roughly chopped 200ml plain non-dairy yoghurt 1 ½ green finger chillies, finely chopped 1¼ tbsp lemon juice Rapeseed oil Salt 2 tbsp tamarind paste – I use Waitrose’s own-label 2 tbsp date syrup ¼ tsp red chilli powder 800g leftover roast vegetables 1 red onion, peeled and very finely chopped – set aside 1 tbsp for garnish 2cm piece fresh ginger, peeled and very finely chopped 2 tsp chaat masala – I like MDH’s Chunky Chat Masala Sev (chickpea noodles), to serve

First make the chutneys. For the mint chutney, put the mint, coriander, 100ml yoghurt, one chilli (save the remaining half for later) and lemon juice in a blender with a tablespoon of rapeseed oil and a third of a teaspoon of salt, then blend smooth.

For the tamarind chutney, put the date syrup, tamarind paste and chilli powder in a pretty serving bowl, and mix to combine.

Put the remaining 100ml yoghurt in another small bowl, add just enough water to make it drizzle-able, then stir in two pinches of salt.

Put the roast veg in a bowl, lightly mash with a masher or fork, then stir in the onion, ginger, and remaining chilli. Heat two tablespoons of oil in a large, nonstick frying pan and, when hot, add the vegetable mash and cook, undisturbed, for five minutes, save for pressing it into the pan to get some char on the base. Stir after five minutes, then cook for five minutes more, pressing down again, before stirring in the chaat masala and tipping out on to a serving plate.

Drizzle over the green chutney, followed by the yoghurt and then the tamarind chutney – you won’t use all of it, so leave some for guests to add extra to taste. Sprinkle a very generous handful of sev on top, scatter over the remaining chopped coriander and onion, and serve.