Coconut Chutney
January 20th, 2011 filed under Chutneys / Pickles, Gluten Free
Coconut chutney is a typical condiment that is served with South Indian dishes, especially Idlis and Dosas. In fact, meals in South India are considered incomplete, without this chutney. It has great texture and a unique taste that compliments many dishes.
Recipe can serve 8.
Ingredients:
- 1 cup coconut peeled and cut in small pieces
- 2 tablespoon chana dal
- 1 cup of yogurt
- 1-1/2 tablespoon salt (adjust to taste)
- 2 Serrano green chilies cut in small pieces
- 1/2 inch ginger
- Approximately 1/2 cup water
- 1 teaspoon lemon juice (if needed)
For Seasoning
- 1 teaspoon oil
- pinch of asafetida
- 1/4 teaspoon black mustard seed
- 2 red chilies broken in pieces
- 6 to 8 curry leaves (1 sprig)
Method
- Peel coconut and cut into small pieces so they are easier to blend.
- Roast chana dal on medium heat until it is light brown in color and has a roasted aroma.
- Coarsely grind chana dal in a blender.
- Add yogurt, green chilies and salt and continue blending into the paste.
- Add coconut to the paste, a few pieces at a time and keep blending. Add water, as needed, to help with the grinding. Adding the coconut in small amounts also helps this process.
- Before removing from blender, taste chutney to adjust the salt and pepper. Use lemon juice to adjust the sourness as per your liking. Blend well.
Seasoning
- Heat oil in small pan, when hot, add black mustard seeds and wait till they crack.
- Add asafetida, red chilies and curry leaves.
- Pour the seasoning mixture over the chutney.
Coconut chutney can be refrigerated up to a week.
Hi Manjula…your recipes and the way you teach them are excellent. I saw you on Youtube and had to check out this website. Fantastic job, Aunty
(I am a professional chef in Canada. I LOVE Indian food, but I don’t know how to cook much of it. Keep up the good work. Thank you!!!
Cooking Passion,I don’t think you can actually cook, maybe you are a lousy cook, and no one appreciates what you make, that’s why the ‘DUMb” and ‘STUPID’ comment.
If I don’t have chana dal on hand, could I use gram flour? If so, how much? Thank you!!!
Jen,
Gram flour will work, different texture but it will taste good I have done many times, do not forget to roast the gram flour.
Great one. Thanks for the video as well as brief explanation. Its really helpful and very easy to prepare.
Thanks Manjulaji for all your recipes!
To all comments about adding yoghurt, in typical south indian recipe (from Karnataka or tamil nadu), we add a little tamarind to the chutney. This gives the sour taste and yet keeps the chutney thick (getti chutney or thick chutney). Sometimes you may even find a small brown piece of tamarind while eating at a restaurant!
Adding yoghurt instead of tamarind seems new, I tried it out and it tastes great!
adding little bit of hing,little cilantro a spoonful of split gramdhal with little tammarind instead of yogurt will taste better.It is optional if u add little pudina while grinding .This is thee typical south indian chutnet. TRY THIS OUT Mummmm it is yummy
Vidyaji,
would like to learn more recipes from you, could i have your E-Mail address.My E-mail ad is bckb18@yahoo.com.
Thank you
Manjula, may I adopt you? Just made your chutney and it is out-of-this-world awesome! I never thought I could get so enthusiastic about coconut chutney. I guess there is a first time for everything. Thank you for sharing your amazing gift.
I also add yoghurt to coconut chutney to get a slightly sour taste and it comes out very much like the chutney found in south indian restaurants.
Let me thank Manjula ji for sharing such nice recipies. I have learnt so much from her. and also recently I had this programme to attend and I prepared Gulab Jamuns from Manjula ji’s recipe and it came out really nice and everyone liked them. So thanks again to her for the recipe.
You can be still sensible to call a recipe dumb if it doesn’t taste good… but so far Manjula ji has a track record of very palatable recipies so please check your words before commenting. A recipe is not dumb just because it was not cooked your way.
To Jaya and primarily to Cooking Passion:
Jaya – I am thinking that your response about the coconut chutney was being geared and directed towards “Cooking Passion’s” comments and that you were trying to be way more politically correct than I am going to be “BUT” I have to say that I think it’s just so rude of this person to come onto someone else’s website (not even their own) and call Manjula’s recipe STUPID.
How RUDE of them to do so and if this person had any polite manners or any idea of what is right or courteous then they would come back here and apologize to Manjula immediately.
First and foremost, this is HER website and people need to know that Manjula isn’t doing this for herself – she’s spending all of her own time when she could be doing anything else – out of the kindness of her heart and also so that others may learn. She is not doing it to be torn down by others, to have her recipes called STUPID by others or to have people complain about how she conducts her contests.
If COOKING PASSION actually had any “cooking passion” they would know and understand that recipes are meant to be played with and are to be experimented with by the many different people who try them. Yogurt might not be a traditional component or ingredient in coconut chutney but then again, how many different millions of recipes are out there for any single given dish or recipe in this world. Some of the best recipes or ideas have come about by people who experiment and try different things. No one has to be so rigid in their approach. I say to those people who make comments like Cooking Passion’s – that if they don’t like the way that Manjula ji posts or writes a certain recipe – to say nothing if all they are going to do is leave rude comments. Either that or start their own blog to see if they can come anywhere close to being the international success that Manjula’s Kitchen is.
I’m sorry that I sound so mean but I can only imagine how Manjula feels when she tries to do so much good for everyone and then she comes on here and sees comments that her recipes are stupid. She doesn’t deserve to be treated with such disrespect EVER.
I made a huge mistake by using the word STUPID when actually the word used was DUMB. My mistake and apology….
Yogurt in the coconut chutney is not traditional – we all know that (especially the south Indian posters). I think it’s being added to give the chutney a creamier texture. Grinding coconut into the very fine texture that is needed for this chutney is not easy with the electric blenders. It grinds it pretty well, but not to the point of fineness for chutney.
Adding the yogurt helps to bind all of the coconut together so the consistency is better. It’s not traditional, but it’s sort of a way to “make do” and get the best results under the circumstances.
This recipe is dumb. Manjula should call this variation of the south indian.
I know of a south indian aunty who also adds yoghurt to the coconut chutney she makes and must say , its spectacular.
To say a recipe or a modification to it as dumb is in my opinion “dumb”
To each his/her own.If you don’t like it, don’t make it – simple!
I totally agree with u surbhi…..this cooking passion person is the one who is dumb……i have been using many of manjulaji’s recipes…all have come out superbly….they r so simple and easy as well as tasty….calling one of her recipes dumb in itself is dumb….if a recipe does not suit a person he/she just need not make it……it would be better to avoid making such stupid comments on such a popular website.