South Indian coconut chutney

As you've probably gathered I love South Indian food, my happy space has a dosa and some coconut chutney in it. I've tried many different coconut chutney recipes and I really like this one: it's fresh and simple and is more than the sum of it's parts.

My lovely friend Amuda is an amazing cook and whenever I go round to her house I keenly watch what she is cooking and what recipes she is using. She spoke very highly of the Bangla Kitchen cookbook but it was pretty pricey on Amazon so she kindly brought me back a copy from her last trip to India and I love it. As you can see from the photo, I've tabbed alot of recipes now I just need to make them all!

The Bangala is a family run heritage hotel in Chettinad and it's definitely somewhere I would love to visit. For now I can enjoy the images from their website and the recipes from their cookbook.

I asked Amuda which frozen coconut she uses and she recommended this Shana brand. Some other brands I've had tasted a bit insipid but this one is nice. If you don't have frozen coconut then you could make this recipe with unsweetened desiccated coconut. You would want to rehydrate it with it a little warm water, let it sit for a few minutes then squeeze out the water.

I'm lucky enough to have a curry leaf plant to provide me with the leaves for this recipe. I'd totally recommend buying one if you like making South Indian food. I manage to kill most plants but have found this plant really easy to look after: It just needs sunlight and watering once a week. It likes being fed with citrus plant food.

If you can get the roasted Daria Dal I would recommend it as it gives a lovely nutty earthy flavour to the dish. It isn't 100% what the recipe asks for but it's close enough.

I've dialled down the chilli in this recipe and I also added a handful of coriander. The volume was too small for my blender so I mixed it by hand using my pestle and mortar which is why is isn't as smooth a puree as I would have liked, it still tasted delicious though!

Coconut chutney recipe

Wet paste ingredients

3/4 cup of coconut (defrosted frozen or desiccated. Approx. 70 gram)

1 tbsp roasted Bengal gram (I used Daria dal)

4 shallots peeled and chopped (recipe said 6)

1½ fresh green chillies chopped (I tend to inc seeds from just one or none of the chillies)

½ inch piece of ginger peeled and chopped

handful washed chopped fresh coriander

salt to taste

Tempering ingredients

1½ tsp vegetable oil

1tsp black mustard seeds

1 dried Kashmiri chilli (recipe asked for 3 dried mild red chilli, preferably goondu milagi)

1 tsp urid dal, hulled split

15 curry leaves

If you have a good blender you can just add all of the wet paste ingredients with a little water and whizz it to a puree. But if like me you're doing this by hand with a pestle and mortar I would recommend pounding the roasted Bengal gram first then adding the onions and ginger and chilli and pounding then coconut and coriander and salt.

Next the tempering. Tempering releases the essential oils from spices and enhances their flavours.

I would recommend removing the seeds from your dried chilli and breaking it up. When I went on a cookery course with Monisha she said that if you fry the seeds from a dried chilli it can taste a little bitter. She also recommended chopping the curry leaves up as it blends better with the dish and you don't end up with whole leaves in your mouth.

Put your oil in a small frying pan or saucepan and add the mustard seeds then turn up the heat to medium. Adding the seeds first means there is less chance of them spitting and popping everywhere when you add them to a hot pan. Once the seeds crackle add the red chillies and the urid dal, stir and add the curry leaves.

Add the tempering mixture to the paste, stir and add 2-4 tbsp of water to loosen the mixture. Enjoy!