Peanut Chutney / Verkadalai Chutney

Peanut Chutney / Verkadalai Chutney

In my father's village, they used to cultivate peanuts. So, peanuts were available in abundant. People used to use peanuts in most of their dishes. Peanut was part of most of the poriyals. Just steam cooked peanuts makes an excellent time pass. And we eat peanut in any form.. raw.. roasted.. boiled.. etc. I remember my grandma bringing bags of peanut from the village when she visits us. Now, no more grandma and no more bags of peanuts..😀.

This peanut chutney was my dad's favourite.. so mom used to make peanut chutney for pongal, idli and dosai. It is such an easy side dish.. only the peanut-roasting time. This recipe is for one of my best buddy L who requested for peanut chutney recipe. Here is the recipe.. just for you L...

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Peanut chutney

Ingredients:

• Peanuts - 1/2 cup
• Tamarind - one small marble size
• Salt -  as required
• Dry red chillies - 2 big
• Tempering vadagam - 1 teaspoon

Procedure:

• Dry roast the peanuts. (Roast the peanuts when you are making the chutney. Its flavour is intense. Never use old peanuts. It smells stale and sometimes even rancid.)
• Let the peanuts cool. Transfer this to the mixer along with the red chillies and tamarind.
• First run the mixer for 5 seconds. Then add salt and 1/2 cup water and run the mixer again.
• If required add more water and grind the peanut into a chutney. 
• Add water and make up the chutney to required consistency.
• Temper it with the kuzhambu vadagam.

Simple and flavourful peanut chutney is ready to be served with pongal or idli.

Tips:

1. Always roast the peanuts in low flame.. this helps the peanuts to release awesome flavour and that's when you know they are roasted. Stir it occasionally.. that's fine. But, never let it to burn. 
2. Need not remove the skin of roasted peanuts.. its fibre.
3. You can use a piece of coconut too along with the other ingredients if you wish.
4. Don't make the chutney too fine. It becomes pasty. Let it be between coarse and fine. 
5. Instead of kuzhambu vadagam, you can also temper it with mustard, curry leaves and asafoetida. 

Happy cooking !!