South Indian breakfast dishes items like Dosa, Idli, Paddu/Panniyaram are very popular across the country. The popularity of dishes is also available in many hotels across South Asian countries. And these dishes are now a typical dish part of the every Sunday brunch part of star hotels. Typically these dishes are consumed along with Chutney and Sambar. In fact, there are many eateries in South India, that serve them only with chutney. I will are share typical recipes for making some of these chutneys at home.

Chutney Variants

The chutney is nothing but a dish with a mix of spices along with Ground and/or Coconut. We get both dry and wet variants of these Chutneys. Dry chutney is made using dry-ingredients and meant to be consumed for many days. Wet chutney is made with fresh Coconuts, Tamarind, Ginger & spices that limit the shelf-life.

The most common chutney that we find everywhere is coconut chutney. But in a few restaurants, they serve multiple chutney varieties like Peanut chutney, Mint chutney, Coconut & Ground chutney.

Peanut Chutney

This chutney is typically prepared at home along with the South Indian dishes. Very few eateries outside make these, may be to high price of ground-nuts. But this creamy chutney has amazing flavors due to the presence of peanuts.

Ingredients

• 50gms Peanuts
• 2 pcs Dry Red Chili (Byadgi Menshinkayi)
• 4 pcs of Garlic
• ½ tsp Jeera
• ½ Tamarind piece
• 1 ½ pinch Salt
• ½ tbs Refined Oil
• ½ tsp Urad Dal
• ½ tsp Mustard seeds
• 1 pinch Asafetida or Hing
• 4 Curry Leaves

How to prepare Peanut Chutney

1. Add 5ml of Vegetable Oil on frying pan and heat.
2. Add peanuts and fry it until golden brown.
3. Take off the peanut, transfer to a plate and let it cool.
4. Add Roasted Peanuts, Dry Red Chili, Jeera, Tamarind & Salt into Grinder.
5. Blend the mixture for 30-40s.
6. Add a 20-30ml of water and again blend for 10-15s.

You will get smooth chutney that’s almost ready to be consumed. But a small step needs to be done before it’s completely ready to serve.

Finishing Touches

1. Add a mix of Mustard seeds, Cumin seeds, Urad Dal, Curry leaves & Hinge in Hot Vegetable Oil in a Tadka Pan.
2. Briefly cook for 30s-1min.
3. Add the mixture on the Smooth Chutney prepared before.

The end-result will be the perfect Peanut chutney that’s smooth and tasty. You can choose to less water if you want it to be a little dry.

Important Tips

Store Peanut Chutney – Peanut chutney can be stored for longer time as we don’t add Coconut in making the chutney. This makes it the ideal chutney to be sent along with the Tiffin to office or school. Store the chutney in an air-tight container and serve/consume it along with Dosa/Idli/Paddu.

Addition of Peanut – You can choose to add whole peanuts or peanuts with their skin out. Peanuts added without removing the skin adds a lot more fiber to the chutney, it also gives it a strong flavor.

Important Tips

Peanut Chutney with Coconut – You can make a variation of this chutney by adding ½ cup of grated fresh coconut to it too. Peanut Coconut Chutney tastes delicious with idli and dosa too.

Andhra Style Peanut Chutney – They add onions, garlic and ginger along with roasted peanuts & other ingredients while blender.  This chutney gets the additional taste due to the presence of onions.

Coconut Chutney

This is one of the most common chutney that’s prepared at home and al the eateries. If one uses fresh coconuts and follow simple steps, the chutney comes up very good.

Ingredients

• ½ Coconut
• 2 small Green Chilli
• 2 tbsp Channa Dal
• 1 piece Ginger
• ½ Tamarind piece
• 1-1/2 pinch Salt
• ½ tbs Refined Oil
• ½ tsp Mustard seeds
• ½ tbs Split Black gram
• 4 Curry Leaves

How to make Coconut Chutney

1. Grind Grated Coconut, Green Chilies, Channa Dal, Ginger, Tamarind, and Salt in a blender.
2. Make sure that its consistency is thick and not too thin.
3. Sauté Spices for Coconut Chutney Tadka – For the tempering, heat oil in a small pan over medium flame. Once the oil is sufficiently hot, add the mustard seeds, split black gram dal, and curry leaves.
4. Once they start to splutter, bring them off the flame.
5. Pour over the chutney and mix the ingredients properly.

If you want your chutney to be spicier add more finely chopped green chilies or you can add a pinch of red chili powder as per your taste preference.

If you feel that the chutney is too thick, you may add little water, if necessary.

Important Tips

Storage – Store the chutney in an air-tight container and don’t let it be in open. Avoid keeping it open when the temperature is hot as the coconuts tend to spoil much earlier.

Serving – Add a little bit of ghee on top of the chutney, mix it while serving it along with Idli, Dosa, Paddu. That typically enhances the flavor.

Closing Thoughts

This was an effort from my side to share the typical recipe for standard Chutneys – Coconut & Peanut. If you do follow the steps, I am sure the result will be very close to what you get in your favourite eatery. But this does not complete the series of chutneys, as there are many more variants like Mint, Mango & Tomato. Keep looking out for future posts and do share your feedback on the current recipes shared.

More Information

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