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Indian-ish Nachos With Cheddar, Black Beans and Chutney
![Indian-ish Nachos With Cheddar, Black Beans and Chutney](https://static01.nyt.com/images/2020/10/11/dining/pk-indian-nachos/pk-indian-nachos-articleLarge.jpg?width=1280&quality=75&auto=webp)
- Total Time
- 30 minutes
- Rating
- Notes
- Read community notes
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Ingredients
- 1large bunch fresh cilantro, leaves and tender stems roughly chopped (about 4 cups)
- 1small Indian green chile or serrano chile, stem removed and roughly chopped
- 2tablespoons fresh lime juice (from about 1 lime), plus more as needed
- ¼teaspoon granulated sugar
- ¾teaspoon kosher salt, plus more as needed
- 1(15-ounce) can black beans, rinsed and drained
- Kosher salt
- 1(8-ounce) bag white corn tortilla chips, preferably unsalted
- 1medium red onion, finely chopped
- 2medium Roma tomatoes, cored and finely chopped
- 4cups shredded sharp Cheddar cheese (about 1 pound)
- ¼cup store-bought tamarind sauce (or ¼ cup date syrup or maple syrup whisked with 1 tablespoon lime juice)
- ¼cup ghee or olive oil
- 2tablespoons cumin seeds
- Pinch of red chile powder, such as ground cayenne
- Greek yogurt, for serving (optional)
For the Cilantro Chutney
For the Nachos
For the Chhonk
Preparation
- Step 1
Heat the oven to 425 degrees. Make the chutney: In a blender, combine the cilantro, green chile, lime juice, sugar and salt and blend until smooth. If the mixture is too thick to blend, add up to 3 tablespoons water, a tablespoon at a time, to get it going. Taste and adjust the salt and lime juice, if needed. Set aside.
- Step 2
In a medium bowl, lightly mash the beans with a fork (this is so they won’t roll off the chips), and season them with salt. On a foil-lined 13-by-18-inch sheet pan, arrange half the chips, followed by half the beans, onions, tomatoes and cheese (in that order). Repeat to make a second layer. Bake for 7 to 10 minutes on the highest rack of the oven, until the cheese is melted and bubbling.
- Step 3
While the nachos are in the oven, make the chhonk: In a small pan or a butter warmer over medium-high, heat the ghee. Once the ghee melts (or the oil begins to shimmer), add the cumin seeds and cook until they start to sputter and brown, about 15 seconds. Immediately remove the pan from the heat and stir in the red chile powder. Set aside.
- Step 4
Evenly drizzle the cilantro chutney and the tamarind sauce on top of the nachos, followed by the chhonk. Add a few dollops of the Greek yogurt, if using.
Private Notes
Cooking Notes
For tamarind sauce: Heat ½ - 1 tsp ground cumin in the bottom of a dry pan until fragrant, about 30 seconds, Add ¼ cup each tamarind paste, date syrup/maple syrup, juice of ½ lime and a pinch of salt. Simmer over low heat until heated though.
How do you make tamarind sauce from tamarind paste? Is it as simple as soaking some of the paste in hot water and blending?
I LOVED this! The cilantro chutney would be great for all kinds of other recipes. My changes: beans are not my friend, so I cooked skinless, boneless chicken thighs in a crock pot with a masala simmer sauce from Trader Joe’s until it easy easily shredded. I had no time to go get tamarind sauce, so made a combo of the maple syrup & some sweet chutney. No cumin seeds, so I used ground cumin in ghee. I look forward to making it with tamarind sauce, but this is definitely a keeper. So much flavor!
Amazing! A flavor sensation! I added pickled jalapenos because I can't make nachos without them. I had never used date syrup for tamarind sauce, but found some at the Indian market. This was by far the best tamarind sauce I've ever made: Heat 1/2 - 1 tsp ground cumin in the bottom of a dry pan until fragrant, 30 sec., add 1/4 C ea. tamarind paste and date syrup, juice of 1/2 lime and a pinch of black salt. Simmer over a low heat until heated though. These are the best nachos EVER!
It was good, but maybe too good. We ate too much and felt sick afterward. If you make it, have more than two people or control yourself.
If the tamarind sauce is a reference to "mithi chutney" used in Indian chaat dishes (likely given the green chutney), then its made of dates and tamarind + spices. That is work and those ingredients may not be everyday ingredients that some may want to purchase for a single dish. An easy substitute would be apple sauce + lemon juice + cumin powder + red chili powder + salt + water to thin to desired consistency. Most Indians who eat mithi chutney regularly cannot tell the difference in taste.
SH in SC + all: It's easy to make friends with beans with the help of kombu, a seaweed that mediates the hard-to-digest sugars in beans responsible for the toot factor. Eden brand canned beans are cooked with kombu before canning, or you can get packaged squares of kombu (I like Pacific brand) from Amazon or Whole Foods. You rinse off a square and pop it into your slow cooker or bean pot for the duration of cooking; it first gets a bit slimy and then cooks down and disappears into the recipe.
Made using papadums instead of tortilla chips!!
These were the BEST nachos I’ve ever had. You think you’re nachoed out and then this comes along. We had no black beans, so we cut up boneless chicken thighs and pan fried them first in chilli powder and cumin. Accidentally put chutney and tamarind sauce on each layer before baking, so they were a bit soggy (which I kinda dig anyways), next time one giant layer and sauce on after. It’s true about the chhonk! Don’t miss it! These will definitely happen at our next gathering, thank you NYT.
I’ve made these nachos three times and they are always a hit, especially with the teenagers. 4 cups of cheese made it too greasy. I’ve used half the cheese and prefer it that way.
Replace the black beans with channa masala and enjoy an even more amazing nacho. Love it. It was an experiment after having leftovers from take-out, but now I just order an extra side to make this with. Also, the scoop-shape chips work exceptionally well-- a sort of pani puri.
Pomegranate molasses is an excellent substitute for the tamarind sauce!
Do it just like that. Forget yogurt; go straight to sour cream. Forget it being an appetizer; eat it for dinner. Really.
Just made these at the cottage! SO good. Someone even said “best nachos ever.” We did the maple syrup variation on the tamarind sauce and it was the perfect hit of sweet with the tart chutney and spiced chhonk. Recipe is perfect as-is and easy to follow. Thank you!
My sister's tamarind chutney recipe: Lemon sized ball of tamarind soaked in hot water (or 3 tsp of concentrate) ½ cup dates chopped and soaked in hot water (rehydrated in hot water) Blend the two ingredients above and then strain. Should yield about 3-4 cups of liquid Add ½ tsp ginger powder ½ tsp cumin ½ tsp red chili powder 1 tsp salt 3 Tbsp Jaggery or brown sugar In a sauce pan on medium-low heat, reduce to 2 cups or so. Taste and adjust. Should be thick syrup.
I think it would be helpful to have A- proper measurements and B- some direction how to make tamarind sauce. I have tamarind concentrate and was struggling to find a recipe last minute to make a sauce. All in all, very tasty. I made sure not to eat too much based on other people’s suggestions.
Recipe looks delicious aside from aversion to Cilantro. Suggestions for substitutions.
Wow! What a taste sensation! Looked a bit weird but decided to make it based on the reviews. It’s hard to capture how unique and exciting the flavours are in this one. Like someone else suggested, I was planning to add pickled jalapeños but forgot until I was eating. But there was already such a massive party going on in my mouth that I thought my head might explode if I added jalapeños.
For our hungry family
Added some chaat mix on top v good and sweetened the yogurt a bit
Unsalted butter if no Gee, extra tomato and extra beans
Yum! We didn't use cheese because we forgot to grab it at the store, so we made a raita to add at the end. For the chutney, I had already made some from a Maneet Chauhan recipe, so this was a good way to use it. We also added eggplant and mango, then subbed lentils for the beans. Clearly, lots of changes based on our pantry, but this was a great starting point and an awesome idea!
Tasty but next time I would sprinkle potato filling (samosa filling) on as well. Put more cheese that I think. We didn't have ghee and did not like the oil..
A sheet of parchment paper on the sheet pan before putting everything down would be helpful.
The nachos were tasty, but that amount of ghee was overkill and we all felt a bit queasy after because it was so rich. Next time I would reduce it and also the sweet sauce, to keep it a bit more savory.
Unbelievably good. I used pickled red onions instead of raw and cut the cheese by half (and they were still super cheesy!). Devoured by all at the table, including a toddler.
Please DO NOT use maple syrup and lime juice for tamarind chutney substitute! It would be like pouring maple syrup over your nachos. Too strong maple taste and not right consistency The lengths I went to salvage mine was way more involved. My tamarind paste wasn't delivered in time so I had to improvise. I've found best flavors to come from pureed prunes(thanks to having toddlers) & dates. Play around with additional spices, salt, ingredients to get the right flavor.
So delicious. But make sure to oil the foil. My nachos were completely stuck to the foil.
Sauteed red onion, then added shredded, grilled chicken breast, garam masala and water to moisten. Two layers of: low-sodium tortilla chips, sharp cheddar, chicken mixture, chopped tomatoes, red onion, black beans, corn kernels. Baked @ 375 for 20 min. Served with the cilantro chutney (take it very easy on the lime), homemade tamarind chutney and Greek yogurt. Absolutely amazing.
Make the tamarind sauce according to the suggestions in the comments (don’t use the concentrate straight from the store). Use 2 cans of black beans and only half the red onion.
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