I’m a huge snacker – I think I get it from my mama. We have this incredible ability to eat containers of Indian snacks and forgo real meals. Incredible I tell ya. But as I get older, ehem 30 ehem, I can’t really afford to be eating bags and containers full of fried Indian goodness. However, I still want to SNACK. So when I discovered Biena Chickpea Snacks at work at Twitter, I was in love!! They’re super crispy chickpea snacks full of protein and not fried! And they come in a bunch of delicious flavors. Also! they’re based in Boston – which has a sweet place in my life – and were started by an Indian woman. All awesome things I can relate to. When I started eating them, I was like yoooo I can make some delicious dishes with these! And the first thing I though about was an Indian Bhel Puri – I super popular street food in Mumbai made of fried chickpea-based snacks, puffed rice, green chilies, chutneys, tomatoes – all tossed together and served in a newspaper cone. I KNEW I can to recreate this, and I could do it healthy with Biena! Check it out – you’re definitely gonna wanna serve this at your next summer party 🙂

Chickpea Avocado Bhel Puri

Bhel Puri Ingredients:

• 1 5oz Sea Salt Flavor Biena Chickpeas Snack
• 1 5oz Habanero Flavor Biena Chickpeas Snack
• 1 cup grape tomatoes – diced small
• 2-3 stalks scallions – thinly sliced
• 3 green chilies – finely minced
• 1/3 cup sliced or slivered unsalted almonds
• 1/4 cup fresh coriander – roughly chopped
• 1 ripe avocado – diced into small cubes

Green Chutney Ingredients:

• 1 full bunch coriander (one you would get from a grocery store) – thoroughly washed and pat dry, stems cut off
• 3 green chilies
• 1/2 inch piece fresh ginger – peeled using a spoon
• 1/2 tsp cumin powder
• 1 tbsp water
• 1 tsp fresh lime juice
• 1/4 tsp ground black pepper
• 1/4 tsp cane sugar
• salt

Tamarind-Date Chutney:

• 1 heaping tbsp Tamarind Chutney Concentrate – like this
• 1 tbsp date nectar – like this
• ~4 tbsp water

Bhel is generally made to serve, as you want the ingredients to maintain their consistency and integrity, so I do NOT recommend making a whole batch ahead of time and storing it. That won’t be good… What I do recommend however, is to make the chutneys ahead of time and store them in the fridge. Those will keep for 1 week.

1. Blend the green chutney ingredients together until super smooth. Adjust salt and water to achieve a smooth chutney consistency. It should be spicy!

2. Whisk together tamarind chutney ingredients until super smooth. Set aside.

3. To assemble the bhel when ready to serve, use a large bowl, add in all of the assembly ingredients, EXCEPT for the coriander and avocado. Toss until combined. Add in about 3-4 tbsp of green chutney, 2-3 tbsp tamarind chutney. Toss until everything is coated and what I like to call – chutney-i-fied. At this point, add in the avocado and coriander and toss lightly – you don’t want to mush the avocado.

4. Divide into individual serving dishes, and drizzle a bit more chutneys on top, add some more scallions and coriander on top. Boom!