Chaat Party

Earlier this month my baby girl turned 1.  I can hardly believe a whole year has gone by since she arrived.  We certainly can’t imagine life without her.  In honor of the occasion we decided to have a party.  At home.  This is the first time we have had a large gathering at our abode since we moved to California over a year ago.  So of course it had to be fabulous and for me, that meant the food had to rock.   Since my daughter’s taste runs mostly to grapes and cheese we figured we might as well order food that we, the tired but happy parents, would be thrilled to eat.  Last year we attended a really fun Holi party (Indian festival of color in the Spring) that was catered by a company called Chaat Party.  The concept is simple.  They stay away from the traditional Indian catered fare and serve Indian street food or chaat.  I think this is so brilliant for a couple of reasons.  Number one, it is really hard to find yummy chaat and Chaat Party has not just good but great chaat.  And the second reason is it comes to you!  You get Indian street food in the comfort of your home.  Arjun and I have been plotting on when we can have these guys cater for us since last spring and our daughter’s first birthday seemed perfect.  I decided on pani puri (hollow balls filled with spicy water, and other goodies), papri chaat (crispy wafers topped with chutneys, boiled potato, chick peas, yogurt sauce, and chutneys), and kathi rolls (basically an Indian burrito stuffed with chicken or paneer and wrapped in a whole wheat flatbread.)

And we had a couple of lentil salads on the side.  I couldn’t have been happier with our decision.  The day of the party came and Vinita, the owner of Chaat Party, was right on time despite relentless rain.  And the food!  Our guests couldn’t stop raving about the food.  Many of them had not had chaat before and were thrilled for the introduction.  And of course, we had several kids at the party in the 3-6 year range and I was curious as to how they would take to the grub.  I had more kiddie fare out (watermelon, crackers, etc.) just in case we had some wee finicky palates.  But I saw many of them asking for the roti or eating the chat crispies on their own or with yogurt.  So I think it safe to say the food was enjoyed by all.  If you are lucky enough to call the Bay area home and love chaat (or want to love chaat) you must try Chaat Party.  And they do corporate lunches too (for those that are not of the party throwing persuasion.)  My mouth is watering just thinking about it…..