I remember eating peanut chutney with idlis when I was in college at a friend’s place. Though I was not too impressed with the combination (I like my idlis with our traditional Hing/Asafoetida chutney), I loved the peanut chutney. I later ate it again in a restaurant in Hyderabad and this time, it was served as one of the condiments in a South Indian Thali. It tasted great with hot rice and a drizzle of warm ghee on top. The best part about this chutney is it doesn’t use any coconut as a base. This may not be the traditional way of making peanut chutney, but this is my take on it.
Ingredients
- Peanuts - 1 cup
- Oil - 1 tsp
- Onion - 1, small
- Garlic - 1 clove
- Red chillies - 2
- Green chillies - 3
- Tamarind paste - 1 tsp
- Cilantro - few stalks
- Salt to taste
- Seasoning:
- Oil - 1 tbsp
- Mustard seeds - 1/2 tsp
- Cumin seeds - 1/4 tsp
- curry leaves - 1 sprig
Instructions
Dry roast peanuts in a wide based pan. Set aside. When cool, peel the skins off the peanuts or you can use the skinless peanuts like I did.
Heat oil in the same pan. Put in the chopped onions, garlic clove, red chillies, green chillies and cilantro. Fry till onions are soft and translucent. Set aside to cool.
Once cooled, blend the onion mixture and the peeled peanuts to a smooth paste. Also put in the tamarind paste and salt to taste and blend well. Transfer the blended chutney to a bowl and season it.
For the seasoning, heat oil, put in the mustard seeds. When the seeds splutter, add cumin seeds and curry leaves. Wait for a few seconds and then pour this seasoning over the chutney. Mix well and this can be used with dosas, rotis or with just plain rice and little ghee.
Note:
- We get skinless blanched peanuts here and as I was short on time, I ended up using those and the chutney turned up pretty good.
- The amount of red and green chillies for this chutney can be decreased or increased depending on your taste and spice level.
No Comments