Thanks to this quarantine period, we have been making fresh home cooked food 99% of the time. And chutney is a regular fare at our place now. For idli, dosa, rava dosa, rice, the perfect side dish for everything. I prefer chutneys to pickles these days. Nothing can beat a good fresh homemade chutney for me. It reminds me of my folks making it in a bigger sized mortar and pestle. The fresh tempering so intense and the veggies just about ground to release their beautiful tastes and blend with the tempering, while some bigger chunks of veggies still remain. Pair it with hot rice and ghee and yum!

Here is a simple chutney recipe I tried recently. It is a very basic recipe with onion diced, tomato, chillis, tamarind (tomatoes I used were not as sour as I wanted) and coriander. The onions give it a sweetness that I think would go really well with rava dosa. Tomato and tamarind render sourness while chillis give contribute heat. This is a versatile side dish, you can have it with breakfast and rice too. Do give it a try and let me know how you like it.

Ingredients:

Onion diced – 1/2 cup

Tomates chopped – 1.5 medium sized

Chillis – 3

Tamarind – scant teaspoon

Coriander – 1/4 cup

Oil – 1.5 tbsp

Turmeric – 1/4 tsp

Salt – to taste

Tempering

Oil – 1 tsp

Split urad dal – 1/2 tsp

Cumin seeds – 1/2 tsp

Mustard seeds – 1/2 tsp

Hing – 2 pinches

Time taken – 12 minutes to cook, cool and grind time not added

Recipe

• Add the 1.5 tbsp of oil to a pan. I use peanut or sesame seed oil typically for chutneys. Let it heat up
• Add the diced onions, chillis and let them cook partially. Add a little salt to speed up the process
• Once partially cooked, add in the tomatoes
• Cover and let cook completely
• Now add turmeric and salt and mix.
• Switch off the flame
• If the mixture tastes not as sour as to your taste, add in the tamarind
• Add in coriander as well. Cover the pan and let the coriander and tamarind soften.
• Now let the mixture come to room temperature
• Grind this to a smooth chutney. Add salt if required.
• If the chutney is too sour or hot, add a bit of jaggery. It balances out the flavors. Optional though
• Now make a tempering by heating up a tsp of oil. Add in split urad dal
• Let urad dal fry partially, turning golden in color
• Add in cumin and mustard seeds
• Add in hing and temper the chutney with this mixture
• And done! Enjoy!

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