Coconut Chutney - தேங்காய் சட்னி - Side dish for Idlies and dosais - step by step

     Coconut chutney is a very basic chutney or dip, It is a staple in many house hold of Tamil Nadu. A perfect chutney depends on the combination of coconut and roasted gram dhal. If you increase the amount of roasted gram dhal, then the taste will not be accomplished. The perfect white colour of the chutney depends on the coconut. The brown skin of the coconut has to be removed,before grinding. We can also add shredded coconut to get white colour of the chutney. 

Ingredients:

1.Coconut pieces - 4 to 5

2.Green chillies- 3 to 4

3.Onion - a small piece

4.Roasted gram dhal - 3 tbsp

6.Salt - to taste

7.Water - as needed

To temper:

1.Oil - 1 tsp

2.Mustard seeds- 1/2 tsp

3.Urad dal- 1/2 tsp

4.Curry leaves - few

5.Hing - a pinch (optional)

Method:

* Usually, the proportion of coconut to roasted gram should be high to get a very tasty chutney. Some even skip the addition of roasted gram dhal . Adding little onion will give a spicy kick to the chutney.Addition od green chillies ,can be altered to our taste. My MIL will add one or two garlic pods instead of onion.

 

* Take all the ingredients in a jar ,add little salt and grind it first, without adding water. If you add water initially, then your chutney will not be perfect. First pulse the ingredients coarsely and add little water to the mixie.Grind it to a smooth paste,adding little water.Adjust salt to your taste. Some will prefer the chutney to be thick. So add water according to your consistancy.

* Take a pan, add oil. Temper with mustard seeds,urad dal and curry leaves. Pour it to the grinded mixture and mix it. Some prefer to add little hing to the tempering. It will give a nice aroma to the chutney.

Serve it with idli or dosai.

Notes:

* We can use shredded coconut too.

* To get a perfect white chutney, the outer brown skin has to be removed.

* We can also skip the addition of roasted gram dhal and use only coconut.

* We can also substitute green chillies with red chillies, but it will change the colour.

* Addition onion gives a kick to the chutney, but you can skip that, if you don't like it.

* Adding hing, while tempering will give a nice aroma to the chutney.

* chutney can be stored in refrigerator for 2 days.

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