Coconut Chutney

Here is the recipe for Coconut chutney that I serve with Appam and I promised to post today. I will publish the Pol sambal recipe on my blog post tomorrow.

Coconut chutney is a South Indian spicy chutney-side-dish and condiment. This is a blend of grated fresh coconut, mixed with other spices. It is served with Idli, Dosai and other south Indian snacks and breakfast items like dal bada, appam, iddiappam, etc.

It can be mild to extra hot depending on the individual preference. Following is my version of this chutney.



Ingredients:


1 cup chana daal soaked in water for 6 hours and drained (Take 2 table spoon of soaked dal out before grinding and keep it aside for Tadka)

2 cups of grated fresh coconut

1 cup plain yogurt

1" piece ginger peeled and chopped

1/2 bunch fresh coriander leaves

1 jalapeno pepper

8 curry leaves

Lime/lemon juice and salt to taste


* Grind above ingredients in food processor to fine paste using a little water. Pour the paste into a bowl and adjust the consistency using desired amount of water. I prefer mine to be thick paste as shown in the picture.


For Tadka:

3 table spoon of oil

2 teaspoon(s) mustard seeds

2 teaspoon of urad dal

2 table spoon of soaked chana dal that was kept aside earlier

½ teaspoon(s) asafoetida powder

4-6 curry leaves

1 jalapeno pepper chopped

3-4 red chili dry pods



Method:


* Heat oil in a pan.

* Add mustard seeds, when they crackle add asafetida.

* Add red chili pods and both dals.

* Saute until dals are light brown.

* Add curry leaves and chopped jalapeno pepper.

* Pour some of this over the ground coconut and dal paste.

* Mix well and the pour the rest over the chutney for garnish.

* Serve with desired snacks.





Note:

* You can adjust amount of soaked chana dal that I add to this recipe. I personally like coconut blended with dal for this chutney, but you can make it just with ground coconut.

* You can adjust amount of jalapenos to desired heat.

* Some people roast the channa dal instead of soaking it and then grind it with coconut.

* Since this chutney needs some planning and special ingredients, I usually make this chutney in large quantity and freeze it small containers and then take it out as needed.

* Already grated fresh coconut can be found in freezer at local Indian Grocer, or you may grate a fresh coconut using a special coconut grater also available at Indian store.



Recipe and photographs by Surekha.







Description of Coconut chutney source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coconut_chutney
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Text_of_Creative_Commons_Attribution-ShareAlike_3.0_Unported_License