Coconut Chutney
Fresh coconut, roasted gram and a green chilli, ground loose. Five minutes, and it goes with almost everything from a South Indian kitchen.
- Prep
- 10m
- Cook
- 3m
- Total
- 13m
- Serves
- about 1 1/2 cups
- Effort
- Easy
Scale
Units
Method
Tap a step number to mark it done. Tap an ingredient once for got it, twice for need it.
| 1 1/2 cups | Grind to a coarse paste, adding water slowly 6m Coarse, not smooth. Add water a spoonful at a time or it goes watery fast. | Pour the tempering over and stir once 1m | |
| 3 tbsp | |||
| 2 | |||
| 1 tsp | |||
| 1 tsp | |||
| 1/2 cup | |||
| 1 tbsp | Fry until the mustard seeds pop and the leaves crackle 2m | ||
| 1 tsp | |||
| 1 tsp | |||
| 1 | |||
| a sprig | |||
| a pinch | |||
| 1 tsp |
-
Grind to a coarse paste, adding water slowly
6m- fresh grated coconut 1 1/2 cups
- roasted chana dal 3 tbsp
- green chillies 2
- ginger 1 tsp
- salt 1 tsp
- cold water 1/2 cup
Coarse, not smooth. Add water a spoonful at a time or it goes watery fast.
-
Fry until the mustard seeds pop and the leaves crackle
2m- coconut oil 1 tbsp
- mustard seeds 1 tsp
- urad dal (optional) 1 tsp
- dried red chilli 1
- curry leaves a sprig
- asafoetida a pinch
-
Pour the tempering over and stir once
1m- from 1 Grind to a coarse paste, adding water slowly
- from 2 Fry until the mustard seeds pop and the leaves crackle
- lemon juice (optional) 1 tsp
Roasted gram is doing the thickening
Roasted chana dal (pottukadalai) is already cooked and very dry, so it grinds to a fine powder that absorbs water and holds the chutney together. Without it, coconut and water separate within minutes. Cashews or a spoonful of soaked rice do a similar job if you cannot find it.
Notes
- Cold water, added gradually. Warm water makes it split and go oily.
- Fresh or frozen coconut, not desiccated, unless you soak the desiccated in warm milk or water for twenty minutes first.
- It keeps two days in the fridge and loses its freshness fast. Make what you will eat.