Curry Leaf Chutney

Curry Leaf chutney one of my favorites and is pretty simple and fairly easy to make if I can find curry leaves, which is not always the case. I have tried growing my own, but probably the seeds were not quite happy or I left it out exposed to cold too much, they never survived so far. I have not given up hope yet.

Ingredients
1½ cup loosely packed curry leaves
1-2 jalapeno or serrano (remove seeds and membrane if too hot)
1 cup grated coconut (dry or fresh)
1 Tbsp urad dal
1 Tbsp toor dal
1 tsp brown mustard seeds
1 Tbsp canola oil
salt to taste
some water

Preparation

1. Heat the oil in a pan, toast the dals and mustard seeds till urad dal turns golden brown.
2. Off heat, add the curry leaves and toss them around in the residual heat of the pan.
3. Allow to cool a bit; then, combine the coconut and chilies, grind to a fine paste, adding water as needed.
4. Stir in some salt to taste.

Tempering is optional, I always like it as it adds a nutty flavor and gritty texture to an otherwise smooth chutney, and is visually appealing.

Tempering ingredients:
½ tsp mustard seeds
½ tsp cumin seeds
1 Tbsp canola oil

Heat the oil in a pan, add the mustard seeds and allow it to pop, then add the cumin seeds, allow them to plump up, and turn off heat. Garnish the chutney with the tempering. Stir well before serving.

Curry Leaf thogayal/thohayal is another wonderful way to enjoy these leaves: make it just like coconut thogayal recipe, with the curry leaves as the additional ingredient.

coconut thogayal

Thogayal (or, thohayal) is a versatile chutney-like dish: can be served with hot rice, or with dosai and rotis. It is usually pretty thick - holds shape when rolled into a ball:)

It happens to be a popular dish at home as D asks for it (are you making some toga-yell today?) and despite its fieriness, my wee one seems to relish it with dosai.

Ingredients
1 cup grated coconut (fresh or dry)
2 Tbsp toor dal
1 Tbsp urad dal
2-3 dry red chilies
1 Tbsp tamarind concentrate
1 Tbsp canola oil
salt to taste

Preparation

1. dry roast the dals on medium heat till they release a nutty aroma and urad dal turns light golden brown
2. combine the toasted dals and rest of the ingredients and blend to a coarse thick paste; adjust salt to taste; add water only if needed;
3. serve with dosai, adai, rotis or even hot basmati rice