I belong to the Southern part of India and we make a lot of traditional dips otherwise popularly known as “Chutneys”
in the Indian food culture. One can play with this idea and make so many variations of chutneys once you have a basic understanding of making a chutney.
I have picked 3 of my best Chutneys for you—-
1) Coconut Chutney
Toast 1/2 cup of fresh or frozen but thawed coconut in a pan under medium flame with 1 teaspoon of coconut oil with chopped green chili, 2 teaspoon of roasted Bengal gram lentils and salt to taste. Blend in a food processor or blender to turn into a semi smooth paste.
Garnish with Cilantro, mustard seeds and curry leaves.
COCONUT CHUTNEY
2) Tomato Chutney
Take a pan under medium flame and add 1 teaspoon of coconut oil, 1 cup of chopped tomatoes, 1 teaspoon cumin seeds,
1 teaspoon of red cayenne/ chili powder, 1/2 inch of grated fresh ginger or paste, 3 garlic cloves finely chopped and sauté with 1/2 teaspoon of turmeric powder and salt to taste and blend to a fine paste. Garnish with mustard seeds and curry leaves.
TOMATO CHUTNEY
3) TRADITIONAL “THOGAYAL” OR LENTIL CHUTNEY WITH COCONUT
For this chutney, you need 2 teaspoons of Black gram lentils or Black Lentils – although its called black gram these lentils are white on the outside with black seed inside -its called ” Urad dal” in the Indian food culture. You also need 1 teaspoon of Split chickpeas which is yellow in color. Toast both these in a pan under low flame with a teaspoon of coconut oil. Add 1/2 cup of coconut- fresh or frozen grated thawed- and toast with salt and 2/3 fresh red chilis. If you don’t have fresh red chili substitute using cayenne powder. Throw all of this in a blender and grind with as little water as possible. I also add a small piece of fresh tamarind. If not available you can add a teaspoon of lemon juice for acidity. In my household growing up this was one chutney that was never garnished and was gobbled up before it got to the table:)
TRADITIONAL NAME “THOGAYAL” OR LENTIL COCONUT CHUTNEY
We try and eat healthy for the most part but we are all human:) and love to sink into those delicious goodness of carbs once in a while!
I make a dish which my whole family loves and await for me to finish cooking so they can dig in. Its very popularly called as “Chaat” in India. Its a dish which you find in the streets of Mumbai popularly and I am going to share an easy recipe today with you. ALOO TIKKI CHOLE CHAAT means Potato patties with chickpeas in a curry sauce along with some tamarind sauce and cilantro chutney with chopped up onions as garnish! You may squeeze some lemon for acidity if you like.
Ingredients:
For the potato patties:
Potatoes- 3/4 medium cooked by boiling or steaming peeled
Onions-1, Tomatoes -1, chopped up garlic ginger, 2 cloves, 1/4 tsp of cinnamon powder, 2 cardamoms,
Coconut or any oil
Salt to taste
Cayenne as per spice level
Preparation:
I usually like to boil my potatoes first and peel them and transfer to a bowl which has all the above mentioned spices to make the patties with salt and cayenne in it. I then mash up the potatoes with all the spices until dough like consistency. Then I cover it with a damp paper towel and stick it in the fridge for atleast 3-4 hours.
Now while the potato mix is inside the fridge, I prepare my chick pea or chana curry. You may use canned chickpeas for this. (I soak mine overnight and cook it in a pressure cooker until 3-4 whistles).
Take a pan and add 1-2 tsp of coconut oil over medium flame. Add chopped garlic, onions and saute with all the spices mentioned above for the chickpea curry along with salt and cayenne for about 5 minutes. Now transfer the tomatoes and add 1/4 cup water and cook covered for 5 minutes as well. Add the canned chickpeas and mix well and let it cook for another 5 -10 minutes.
Once this is done, take out a pan and add 2 tsp coconut oil over medium flame. Now is the time i take out my bowl with the potato mix from the fridge and add rice flour. The main reason to adding rice flour is to get perfectly crispy surface. Quick tip- I usually oil palm of my hand and make patties so they dont stick to my hands and slide it on the pan and cook them till the surface is golden brown.
Final step is Plating. If using a bowl, add chickpea curry first, then the patties on top then if available store bought tamarind and cilantro sauce. For garnish – add finely chopped onions for crunch, some green chilis and cilantro leaves.
As promised, I am posting some pics from my cooking demonstration at Williams Sonoma in Short Hills Mall, NJ on March 23rd. It was a lot of fun and
like always I had a wonderful audience. This time, I must confess that I had this one lady who came up to me and asked me how I could stay vegetarian for so long? and
if I missed eating meat? I said to her ” Not really since I love to cook with veggies and put a ton of flavor in it and share my secrets with everyone:)”
She was so thrilled she sat in a chair and watched me as I cooked away my dish. She had a pen and a book and was making a note of whatever I said.
So the dish I made was an Eggplant Tapanade with cilantro chutney served on a cracker. Lot of people walked in tried my dish and appreciated the flavors!
It was a truly memorable experience since the manager of the store at Williams Sonoma, Short Hills walked up to me, ate my dish and said to me” There was this lady who walked up to me and said that you did a great job answering all her questions, she loved your dish and thought it was great. That must mean a lot to you”.
And yes it did, I was so happy to merely listen to something like that and would consider myself lucky and all my efforts seemed to have paid off. This is the most rewarding job that I ever had – not in terms of money but in terms of happiness and appreciation! Nothing can beat this:)
Thanks again to all who walked in and tasted my dish- for all your kind words and time.
As promised, I am posting some pics from my cooking demonstration at Williams Sonoma in Short Hills Mall, NJ on March 23rd. It was a lot of fun and
like always I had a wonderful audience. This time, I must confess that I had this one lady who came up to me and asked me how I could stay vegetarian for so long? and
if I missed eating meat? I said to her ” Not really since I love to cook with veggies and put a ton of flavor in it and share my secrets with everyone:)”
She was so thrilled she sat in a chair and watched me as I cooked away my dish. She had a pen and a book and was making a note of whatever I said.
So the dish I made was an Eggplant Tapanade with cilantro chutney served on a cracker. Lot of people walked in tried my dish and appreciated the flavors!
It was a truly memorable experience since the manager of the store at Williams Sonoma, Short Hills walked up to me, ate my dish and said to me” There was this lady who walked up to me and said that you did a great job answering all her questions, she loved your dish and thought it was great. That must mean a lot to you”.
And yes it did, I was so happy to merely listen to something like that and would consider myself lucky and all my efforts seemed to have paid off. This is the most rewarding job that I ever had – not in terms of money but in terms of happiness and appreciation! Nothing can beat this:)
Thanks again to all who walked in and tasted my dish- for all your kind words and time.
Chop onions, tomatoes very fine. Place a pan over medium heat and drizzle some olive oil. Now add salt, lemon pepper, cumin seeds, cayenne powder, turmeric and cumin powder. Mix well with a spatula. Transfer the finely chopped onions immediately and mix well. Let it cook till onions start to sweat a little bit. At this point add your tomatoes and cook covered for about 3-4 minutes stirring in between.
Meanwhile open the frozen package of Athens Mini Phyllo/ Fillo Shells. Remove the shells from outer carton and inner tray. Place it on a baking pan. Place it in the oven at 350 degrees F and bake for 3-4 minutes.
Now cook until you reduce the onion- tomato to a chutney consistency( water from tomatoes help us gain the required pasty consistency along with all the spices). Switch off the gas.
Take out the shells from the oven and let it cool. Spoon in the onion tomato chutney into the cooled shells and crumble some goat cheese. Finally to give it some color, add chopped cilantro leaves as garnish. Trust me these are pure quick simple healthy pockets of HEAVEN!
Enjoy making this quick recipe this holiday season !
Tip: You can save some time by adding the filling to the frozen shells and baking it together till the filling is hot for about 5-8 minutes but I have just noticed that when I do it separately, I get a crispier lighter effect with the shells.
