Coconut chutney is an absolute must when eating dosa or idli. One can get always get away with dry chutneys called "podis" or even ketchup. But if you want to have an authentic experience, fresh coconut chutney is the only way to go. It is a very easy recipe. The only time consuming portion of the recipe would be processing the coconut. However, I have a couple of short cuts listed in the tips below that will make this task easy and fast.
Ingredients
Half a coconut, fresh, grated or sliced into pieces (you can use frozen, grated coconut as well)
1-2 green chillies
1/4 cup of roasted gram (dall)
salt to taste
water to grind the above ingredients into chutney
1 tbsp oil
1 tsp urad dal
1 green chilli, cut into small pieces
1/8 tsp mustard seeds/rai
3-4 curry leaves
a pinch of asafoetida/hing
Method
Grind together the coconut, green chillies, roasted gram and salt. Add enough water so that the ingredients are easily ground together to form the chutney. It takes about 1/4th cup of water in my blender. In a small pan, heat the oil. Add the mustard seeds. Once they begin to crackle and pop, add the urad dal, curry leaves, asafoetida and chilli. Once the urad dal turns light brown, pour this seasoning over the chutney. Mix well. Serve with dosa and idli.
Tips
I have used frozen, grated coconut to make chutneys before. However I have noted that the frozen coconut tends to spoil very fast if not used in a couple of weeks after buying it. Also, the chutney texture is not very nice. It does not blend well and the oil tends to separate and rise to the surface as the ingredients are ground together. So, these days I make chutney with fresh coconut. Often times, I will buy a couple of coconuts when I have time to process it. I remove the coconut from the shell, and slice it into small pieces. I then heat these pieces in the microwave or on the stove for a minute. Once they cool, I pack these into ziploc bags
and freeze them. This method ensures that the frozen coconut lasts for at least 4-6 weeks in the freezer. Whenever I need to make chutney, I remove these slices and either thaw them before processing or use the "ice crush" setting on my blender to make the chutney. I use the cusinart 600 W blender
, which does a great job of processing the coconut. To thaw the coconut, use the thaw option on your microwave or thaw it for a few hours in the refrigerator.
Half a coconut, fresh, grated or sliced into pieces (you can use frozen, grated coconut as well)
1-2 green chillies
1/4 cup of roasted gram (dall)
salt to taste
water to grind the above ingredients into chutney
1 tbsp oil
1 tsp urad dal
1 green chilli, cut into small pieces
1/8 tsp mustard seeds/rai
3-4 curry leaves
a pinch of asafoetida/hing
Method
Grind together the coconut, green chillies, roasted gram and salt. Add enough water so that the ingredients are easily ground together to form the chutney. It takes about 1/4th cup of water in my blender. In a small pan, heat the oil. Add the mustard seeds. Once they begin to crackle and pop, add the urad dal, curry leaves, asafoetida and chilli. Once the urad dal turns light brown, pour this seasoning over the chutney. Mix well. Serve with dosa and idli.
Tips
I have used frozen, grated coconut to make chutneys before. However I have noted that the frozen coconut tends to spoil very fast if not used in a couple of weeks after buying it. Also, the chutney texture is not very nice. It does not blend well and the oil tends to separate and rise to the surface as the ingredients are ground together. So, these days I make chutney with fresh coconut. Often times, I will buy a couple of coconuts when I have time to process it. I remove the coconut from the shell, and slice it into small pieces. I then heat these pieces in the microwave or on the stove for a minute. Once they cool, I pack these into ziploc bags
and freeze them. This method ensures that the frozen coconut lasts for at least 4-6 weeks in the freezer. Whenever I need to make chutney, I remove these slices and either thaw them before processing or use the "ice crush" setting on my blender to make the chutney. I use the cusinart 600 W blender, which does a great job of processing the coconut. To thaw the coconut, use the thaw option on your microwave or thaw it for a few hours in the refrigerator.
Hot and delicious. Thanks for sharing.
ReplyDeletecan we send coconut chutney in our kids lunch box .will it get spoilt as its summers time
ReplyDelete