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Pudhina Chutney - à la Amrutha!

Wednesday, December 19, 2007

I am back after a rather long absence. To compensate, I have two recipes today. The first is the recipe for Pudhina Chutney, which is very different from the ones I have seen on the Internet. It uses no onions or garlic, given that the two items were contraband during my great-grandmother's time. Anyway, here it is.


Ingredients:

Pudhina (Mint) Leaves - 5 cups
Tomatoes (big) - 2 nos.
Dried red chillies - 10-12 nos.
Tamarind - one ball of the size of half a lemon
Asafoetida - a pinch
Mustard seeds - 1 tsp
Urad Dal - 1 tsp
Cooking oil - 3 tbsps
Salt to taste

Preparation time: 20 mins

Method:

  1. Heat 1 tablespoon of oil in a frying pan and add the red chillies. Once they are well fried, remove into a food processor.
  2. Chop tomatoes into large pieces.
  3. Add some more oil and add the tomatoes. Fry until the tomatoes are soft and well-cooked. Remove into the food processor.
  4. Add half a tablespoon of oil and add the pudhina leaves. Fry until they wilt and become dark green in colour.
  5. Remove into the food processor. Add the tamarind and salt and grind to a fine paste.
  6. Remove into a serving bowl.
  7. Heat the remaining oil and add mustard seeds, Urad dal and asafoetida. Once the mustard has sputtered, add to the chutney.
  8. Serve with steamed rice and ghee. This can also be used as a side-dish for chapathis or toasted bread.

3 comments:

Thistlemoon said...

I love chutneys, especially ones with Tamarind. Looks yummy!

Welcome to The Foodie Blogroll!

TP said...

What do you mean by "were contraband during my great-grandmother's time"?

Do you mean that they were not widely available or were they banned for some reason? I am very interested in old cooking traditions of South India and this is an intriguing statement.

Amrutha said...

TP: Yes. I mean garlic and onion were banned from the household during my great-grandmother's time. These items were not allowed into an average Brahmin household until the late 1970s. So, most traditional Brahmin dishes were made without either.