Monday, April 30, 2012

Bong Makes Madrasi Chutney

There is very little that stands between a Bong and food. If she can’t get it in phoren land, she will make sure her kitchen doles it out.

027So I brought Madras home. The idlis are take out from Anjappar. But the coconut chutney is mine. Actually the recipe is what my Mum had learnt from a Madrasi aunty living in Patna. For us Bongs, anyone living down South is a Madrasi. That’s how myopic we are. And what do we know about their cuisine? Well, it starts and ends with idli-dosa. And somewhere in between – this chutney!

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Ingredients for Madrasi Coconut Chutney are:

Grated fresh coconut, 1 cup (I used from a bag of frozen coconut available at Patel shops)
Handful of green chillies
Fat piece of ginger
2-3 tablespoons sattu (don’t faint! You can use roasted chana)
Few sprigs of fresh coriander
Salt

008
010005007Put all the above ingredients in a grinder and wet grind till coarse. Add little water to get a chutney-like consistency.

011

013For the tempering:

1 teaspoon chana dal
1 teaspoon urad dal
1-2 teaspoons yellow mustard seeds
5-6 whole dry red chillies
Few curry leaves (I freeze fresh ones, they last for months)
1-2 tablespoons canola oil

014Heat oil in a pan and add the mustard seeds. Let them splutter. Next add the lentils, dry red chillies and curry leaves, in no particular order.

017Cook them on low heat for a minute, don’t let them turn brown.

018Add the tempering to the chutney. Serve the chutney with vadas, idlis or dosas. Its even good with some aloo bonda. Go try!

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9 comments:

Moushumi - Rainbows and Cloudbursts said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Moushumi - Rainbows and Cloudbursts said...

For a second, I was stumped with the sattu, then realised you are using it as a replacement to the chana dal. Very smart! :) I shall make this over the weekend and take for our holiday! :))

Home Cooked Oriya Food said...

wow - cute post... love the chutney - my favorite too!

Priya Suresh said...

Love chutney and soft idlis.

Harshika said...

Hi Pree,

This post made me laugh as well as nostalgic...for what I used to be. I may have commented before, am from benaras and grew up in a predominantly bong neighbourhood, so picking up the language and culinary influences was a given. A lot of bengali friends, parents' friends etc had us eating 'shorsher' pretty much everything! :) Now years later am married to a guy who is part mallu and part tamilian and over the last 6 years of being married, I have simply crossed over! I rarely make north indian/UP/bong food, mustard oil is hardly ever used,which is why that word 'sattu' hit a chord, ha ha ha. Sadly enough hubster actually dislikes bong food and so i cook it very, very rarely when he is traveling for work.But i do love your blog and visit it everyday...i also keep trying stuff from here for myself and my 3 yr old because i dont want him ever growing up and saying he does not like so and so cuisine....all food is good isnt it? So you bet, he has been given food from all over india and UP/bihar/bong food absolutely must. On another (longish) note, why I got all the more amused was the way you describe a north indian reaction to anything from the other side of the vindhyas...ha ha ha, to us they are indeed all madrasis!

Coconut chutney is such a staple in my fridge now...i keep making all kinds of variations along with the dosas-idlis and what have you and now I suppose i can say i am a true madrasan! I am even forgeting my bangla slowly...sorry about the long,rambling comment...feel free not to publish!

Cheers
harshika
dubai

Gurgaonflowerplaza said...

Really Yummy!!!
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notyet100 said...

Even I prepare the same way as told by my mom,,,:)

Unknown said...

Superb... liked it... http://www.gujaratonnet.com

Unknown said...

I was stunned to see 'sattu' at first, but got the point :-) You can try this south Indian Onion coconut chutney too.