Image: Times Food
This is a typical dry chutney served in Maharashtrian homes and is very popular because of its sweet and spicy taste. In the second recipe below, we add sesame seeds, peanuts, and cumin. You can also add condiments like coriander seeds, fenugreek seeds and use amchur (raw mango) powder instead of tamarind. This second garlic chutney without any tamarind or amchur powder is usually served with vada pav.
Recipe credit: Darshana Muzumdar
Serves 4 or more as part of a traditional Indian meal.
Ingredients
- 50 gms garlic
- 250 gms whole red chillies (with only the stems removed and care taken to ensure the seeds don’t come out)
- ½ kg dried coconut
- 25 gms or a lime sized ball of tamarind
- 50 gms salt (adjust to taste)
Method
- Wash and peel the garlic. Dry it well.
- Dry roast the red chillies taking care not to burn them.
- Grate and roast the dry coconut till it’s slightly golden brown in colour.
- Roast the salt on low heat. This is to remove any moisture in the salt as it will spoil the chutney sooner.
- Grind all the ingredients coarsely and store in a glass jar.
This chutney can be served as an accompaniment to any main meal or had as a snack with rotis.
Note: This dry chutney can be stored for a month if care is taken that no water spills in it or it doesn’t get moist in any way.
Garlic Chutney with Peanuts and Sesame Seeds
Ingredients
- 1 cup thinly sliced garlic
- 1 cup peanuts
- 1 cup grated dry coconut
- 1 tbsp cumin
- 1½ tbsps white sesame seeds
- 1 tbsp red chilli powder
- 2 tbsp groundnut oil
- 1 cup curry leaves (optional)
- Salt to taste
Method
- Dry roast the sesame seeds in a pan till lightly brown and transfer them to a bowl to cool.
- Heat the oil in the pan and roast the sliced garlic till it is golden brown. Transfer this to a separate plate to cool.
- Roast the peanuts in the remaining oil in the pan till they are golden brown. Transfer these to the plate to cool.
- Roast the curry leaves next in the same pan if you are using them. Once they are crisp, transfer them to a separate bowl to cool.
- The oil in the pan should be over by now. Sauté the dry grated coconut and the cumin seeds in the pan till the coconut is slightly golden brown and the cumin seeds release their flavour. Do not let the coconut become brown or burn.
- Blend the coconut-cumin seed mixture, peanuts and curry leaves if you are using them for a few seconds till they are powdered coarsely.
- Add the fried garlic, red chilli powder and salt and pulse the mixture again till the garlic is ground coarsely.
- Finally add the sesame seeds and pulse the mixture. Make sure the sesame seeds are not ground finely and are visible in the mixture.
Serve this chutney with vada pav or as an accompaniment in a traditional Indian meal.
Note: This chutney can last up to 3 months in an airtight jar or container.
For the Whole-Food Plant-Based (WFPB) version:
The first recipe is a WFPB recipe! Enjoy! Note: Make sure you use unrefined salt.
Do not use oil in the second recipe. Dry roast all the ingredients instead and of course use unrefined salt.