Verkadalai chutney - Peanut chutney

   Back at Chennai, my mother used to prepare fabulous chutney, depending on the available ingredients.  Everytime, it was different - ranging from onion chutney, mint chutney, peerkankai chutney, dal chutney, verkadalai chutney etc.  Yes, I am still drooling here thinking of her exotic chutneys :D

     For us, it would be always coconut chutney, but for an change, I tried my mother's recipe for verkadalai chutney.  I must say, it resembled an spicy desi version of ' Peanut butter'.  Chutney was soo smooth, soo buttery to have with every bite of dosa.

The next day, I called mom and thanked her for such an unique and tasty chutney.  Bored of regular chutney, please do give them an chance...  :D

Tomato chutney - Potluck party, cyber style

    When I first looked into my partner's(Sutapa Ghosh) dish, I was happier  thinking that making chutney would be easier. Alas, this tomato chutney cooked in bengali style is not  an easy one.  The important ingredient required was ammsattva or mango leather which I had hardly heard off.  At this time, Sutapa Ghosh of sutapasindian blog suggested other names of ammsattva.  In Andhra pradesh, these ammsattva or mango leather is called as Mamidi Tandra or mango jelly.

      According to wiki, they are fruit leather, mixed with concentrated sugar solution, sometimes also an chemical called potassium metabisulphite and is poured over bamboo mats.  The texture of prepared mamidi tandra is unique because it is  made by consequent layering (only after before added layer dries away) over a period of month.  Over ripe thotapuri mangoes are specially used for this purpose.

Onion chutney

Ingredients required

To be blended

• 2 cups finely chopped onions
• 2 tsp thick tamarind extract
• 7-8 garlic pods
• 3-4 broken red chillies
• 1 tsp salt

To  temper

• 3 tsp oil 
• 1 tsp rai/mustard seeds

Method

Add all ingredients to be blended in a blender and grind into fine paste.  Meanwhile, heat oil in kadaai, add mustard seeds/rai, let the seeds crackle.  Add the blended paste and cook the paste (as raw onion is blended, and there is a need to cook them) on simmer flame till raw smell fades away. Serve hot with any dosa..

Dal aur lehsun ki chutney

Ingredients required

• Handful of urad dal
• 4 tsp oil
• 2 tsp of chana dal
• 4-5 whole red chillies
• one cup of finely chopped onions
• one cup of finely chopped tomatos
• 8-10 garlic pieces
• half cup of chopped coriander leaves
• 1/4 cup of chopped mint leaves
• 1/2 tsp hing/perungayam
• 1 tsp thick tamarind extract
• 1/2 tsp salt

Method

In a kadaai, add oil and saute whole red chillies.  Add urad dal and chana dal, saute till golden brown, keep mixture aside to cool.  In same pan add onion, tomato, garlic, coriander and mint leaves and saute till tomatos are soft and mushy.  Blend both redchilli-dal combo and onion-garlic combo together with tamarind extract, hing, salt.  Serve with idly/dosa.

Bombay chutney (Besan chutney)

This chutney goes good for dosa and chapathi

Ingredients required

To temper

• 3 tsp oil
• 1/2 tsp rai or mustard seeds
• few curry leaves
• 3-4 slit green chillies

Other ingredients

• 1/2 cup of finely chopped onions
• 1/2 cup of finely chopped tomatos
• 1 tsp  ginger-garlic paste
• 1/2 tsp haldi
• 1/4 cup besan/kadalai maavu
• One cup water
• Salt, to taste

Method

In a kadaai, add ingredients for temper one by one.  Add onions and slit green chillies.

Cook till onions turn soft or transculent, add ginger-garlic paste.  This is followed by adding tomatos

Add haldi/turmeric.  Add besan and quickly add one cup water and stirr in to dissolve besan without forming any lumps

Stir in and cook in simmer flame for 5-10 minutes.  Add salt to taste.  Serve garnished with coriander leaves

This goes great with dosa.  You can also powder putane ki dal (pottukadalai) instead for using besan.

Garlic chutney

Garlic, as known by all is rich in antioxidant properties and heals many diseases.  This chutney of garlic is combined with dal and can be served with idly/dosa.

Ingredients required

• 1 cup of garlic
• 2 tsp of chana dal
• 2 tsp of urad dal
• 3-4 red chilly
• 1/2 tsp of hing
• 3-4 small tamarind pieces

Method

In a kadaai, dry roast garlic till raw smell goes away

In a separate pan, add oil followed by hing,chana dal, urad dal, red chillies.  Roast till dals turn golden brown

Blend both together with tamarind pieces and salt. 

I served it with kancheepuram idly

Instant tomato chutney

The recipe given below is tomato chutney made in quicky ways.

Ingredients required

• One cup of chopped tomatos
• 1/4 cup of chopped garlic
• 3-4 red chilly
• Salt, to taste
• 3 tsp oil
• 1/2 tsp rai, to temper (optional)

Method

In a kadaai, saute tomato, garlic, redchilly and required salt till it turns mushy

Now grind it and temper with rai. 

Chutney is ready to serve........

Tangy mint chutney

Ingredients for tangy mint chutney:

One big handful of mint leaves, half onion, one medium piece coconut, 2 green chillies, half cup of coriander leaves, 1/4 cup of curd, and amchoor powder(optional).  Grind it to a smooth paste for chutney, will be like this

Ridgegourd/peerkankai chutney

This vegetable has a natural source of fibre and is found to be a natural remedy for jaundice

    The ingredients required are a pinch of hing, 1 tsp imli, 1/2 tsp salt, one rigegourd sliced and roasted in oil(dont worry if there is some skin left, even skin is good to make for chutney), roasted mixture of 2 tsp chana dal, 2 tsp of urad dal and 2 red chillies

Grind all above to get chutey

This is a perfect and healthy accompaniment with morning dosas

Kovakkai chutney/ coccinia chutney

     Thinking this as an wierd recipe???  Dont worry even i thought to myself so in first place when i came across this recipe in Kumudham tamil magazine, lateron i just gave a try and beleive me i liked it very much!! Even my husband who used to be tooo choosy n his plate, liked it quite well.  So, guys, honestly give a try. Talking about medicinal properties, in traditional medicine, this   has been used to treat leprosy, fever, asthma, bronchitis and jaundice. This can be had along with morning dosa to powerstart the day as they have been also identified to purify the blood..

Ingredients  

 



so as you can see, there are a cup of chopped kovakkai, 1/4 cup of chopped onions, 1-2 small bits of tamarind, 4-5 curry leaves, 2 green chilli, 4-5 garlic cloves, and half a tsp of rai and urad dal(for tempering)

Method

Saute onions, kovakkai, green chilli and garlic cloves in kadai for some ten to fifteen minutes

Lateron when cooled, blend them in a mixie together with tamarind pieces, lastly temper with rai, urad dal and curry leaves.  Add salt to taste

This is what i call the healthy breakfast combo