Chutney recipes

Farmers in Maharashtra eat simple. A couple of jowari ki roti, two onions smashed smartly with a clenched fist, and lasun ka chatni/garlic chutney. Lunch is generally taken the in shade of a tamarind tree in the heat of the day when the sun is directly overhead. Ploughing hard, dry, clods of soil and handling a pair of large white bullocks is no easy job, as experience tells me, and the afternoon break is one to look forward to, with a stirring of a breeze to cool one down and water that tastes sweet after the spartan but filling meal.

Lasun Ka Chatni

I think of lasun ka chatni and other chutneys as the pesto of the east. A piquant and often hot accompaniment to a basic meal whose main ingredient is grain, taken here as roti/flat bread as opposed to pasta.It is a very significant part because for very little money it adds most of the taste.

It is the imaginative way of poverty to use all that is at hand to the best advantage and luckily these recipes have stayed with people even as they have risen out of the conditions which made it necessary to concoct them. Herbs and grasses, roots and leaves find their way into these chutneys as the most well known of them all, Hare Dhaniya ki Chatni / Coriander Chutney, will bear out.

Most Maharastrians, rural or urban, like a large spoonful of lasun ka chatni with their food, and other chutneys are invariably part of the thali meal. Lunch would not be considered complete without at least one ot two of them.

Chutneys are nice to eat with your main meal or as dips, with fries and chips or julienned vegetables to eat along with drinks or with kebabs. Here are a couple of chutneys I make when there is little to offer in the house and friends come over.

Lasun Ka Chatni / Garlic Chutney

• 40 cloves of garlic
• 1 whole copra/ dried coconut, chopped into small pieces.
• 10 red chillies, broken into 3-4 bits each.
• 2 tbspns til /sesame seeds 1 tablespoon peanuts,
• Ball of tamarind the size of a walnut.

Roast all these ingredients on a griddle or in a kadhai one by one to ensure even browning. Put into a blender and process for a short while till it makes a coarse paste . Can be bottled

Sheengdana aur Hari Mirch ki Chatni /Peanut and Green Chilli chutney

• 4 tablespoons roasted peanuts. (Do not roast too long or they get a bitter taste. Just long enough for the skins to change colour and come off the peanut.)
• 4 green chillies finely chopped.
• 1/4 tsp salt.
• Juice of 1 lime app. 1 tbsp.
• 2 teaspoons gur or brown sugar.

Put into a blender and grind with 1 tablespoon of water till smooth. Tastes delicious with julienned carrots .

Karipatta aur Til ki Chatni/Kari leaf and Sesame seed Chutney

• 1 cup fresh kari leaves. Fry in a tablespoon of oil till crisp.
• 2 tablespoons til /sesame seeds.Dry roast till light brown.
• 6 dry kashmiri red chillies.
• 1/2 tsp sugar.
• 1/2 tsp salt.

Put all ingredients into a blender with a spoon of water and grind till smooth. Serve immediately. You can also dry grind all the ingredients and bottle till required when you can add a bit of water to make it into a chutney paste.

Tasty Tomato Chutney

• 500 gms red tomatoes
• 3 tblsps water
• 1/2 tablespoon ghee / clarified butter
• 1 tbsp adrak / fresh ginger grated
• 3 fresh green chillies chopped very fine
• 1" dalchini /cinnamon stick
• 2 tej patta /bay leaves
• 1/2 tsp jeera /cumin seeds
• 2 cloves
• Pinch of hing/asafoetida
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 2 tablepoons gur

Boil 1 litre of water, drop tomatoes in for a few minutes and then transfer them to a bowl of cold water. Peel. Put the peeled tomatoes in a blender with the water and puree till smooth.

Heat up the ghee in a thick bottomed pan or kadhai and saute the ginger, the chillies, cinnamon, bayleaves, cumin and cloves for a few seconds. Do not let the masalas get too dark.

Add the tomatoes to the pan along with the asafoetida and salt. Stir well , cover and let it simmer for 10 minutes. Lift cover and stir well again. Cover and simmer for 10-15 minutes more. It should cook till thick and no water remains. Add the gur and cook on medium heat stirring constantly till chutney has become really thick. Remove the bay leaves, the cinnamon stick and cloves. Let it cool. Serve. Yummy with chips , omelettes, burgers. This is the gourmet version of tomato ketchup.

Imli Khajur ki Chatni / Tamarind and Black Date Chutney

• 200 gms khajur /pitted dates.Chop fine
• 75 gms imli/tamarind
• 450 ml water
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/2 tsp ground jeera/cumin
• 1/4 tasp lal mirchi/ red chilli powder (optional)

Boil the tamarind in the water for 10 minutes. take off the fire and strain through a stainless steel mesh strainer , removing as much pulp from the seed as possible. Now add the salt, gur, jeera and chilli powder as well as the dates. Simmer uncovered till thick and all the water has been absorbed . We love this with saboodana vadas/ sago vada or any other fried snack foods.