Coconut Chutney - Simple yet Significant !

Coconut Chutney - Side Dish for Idli/Dosa/Pongal/Vadai/Upma

Coconut chutney - when I was thinking for a word to describe it.. i got the word "simple".. and was waiting for another word which really brings the "feel" for chutney in our menu and in our hearts. My daughter came out with the word "significant". Bingo! thats the word. Coconut chutney is such a simple yet significant side dish in our south Indian breakfast menu.

More side dishes and chutney recipes are here - Side dishes and chutneys 

Coconut chutney is side dish made with coconut and fried gram (udaicha kadala/pottu kadalai). Coconut is such a healthy ingredient which has been in our Indian diet from ancient days. When we check out the health benefits of coconut, no wonder our ancestors made it a must on auspicious days or poojas or temples so as to increase the frequency of consumption of coconut. And so are bananas too.. will talk about bananas in another post.

Say yes to coconut for it is the best source of lauric acid...

In-spite of the fact that our ancestors knew the health benefits of coconut and used it in our daily diet, we have seen days when we had threats that coconut and/or its oil is bad for health. But, now, research has finally uncovered the secrets of this amazing super food. 91% of fat in coconut is healthy saturated fat. One of them which I would like to mention here is the Lauric acid present in coconut. Lauric acid has a strong antimicrobial and antiviral properties. I was surprised to know that lauric acid came out to be number one among the 30 different fatty acids studied for their antimicrobial property.

Other benefits of using coconuts in our regular diet is that the lauric acid in it is likely to lower the risks for heart disease, aids skin health, naturally fights acne and increases health and longevity. Studies also show that, the type of fats found in natural, unprocessed coconuts,coconut oil and coconut milk do not raise total serum cholesterol levels.

So friends, let us bring back coconut to our diet. And the best way to use coconut without loosing its nutrients is.. making chutney !

I bet we cannot make a healthier dish with coconut than a chutney. No cooking and that means all the nutrients are preserved. The other ingredients we add to the chutney like fried gram, ginger small onion, coriander (optional) are all nutrient bombs!

Another best reason to make coconut chutney for morning breakfast's side dish is that it is super easy to make so we home chefs love this.

We can make many types of chutneys with slight variations with the ingredients. I will keep posting those chutney recipes as I make it.

I know, all of you might be already following a very good recipe for coconut chutney. Still, there will be small variations in the ingredients which makes your chutney different from others. So is mine. Let us quickly give a glance to my recipe.

Ingredients:

• coconut - medium size coconut - half
• fried gram - 1/4 cup
• ginger - 1/2 inch piece
• green chilli - 1 medium
• small onion (sambar onions/pearl onions) - 2
• coriander leaves - 2 twigs (optional)
• asafoetida - 1 pinch
• salt as required
• water as required

Tempering ingredients:

• oil -  to temper
• mustard seeds - 1/2 teaspoon
• broken urad dhal - 1/2 teaspoon
• curry leaves - 1 sprig

Procedure:

• Carefully remove the coconut from the shell. cut into pieces. transfer this to the mixer jar.
• Add green chilli, ginger, fried gram, small onion, salt and asafoetida. (adding coriander leaf is optional. i add it as we like the subtle flavour of coriander leaves and also because i do not want to miss the chance of consuming coriander leaves raw as it is one of the best detoxing herb.)
• Run the mixer once. open it and add little water.
• Now run the mixer again and grind this chutney to required consistency. 
• Transfer this to a serving bowl.
• Heat oil in a tempering pan and add the tempering ingredients. 
• Transfer this to the chutney in the serving bowl. 
• Mix and serve with your favourite breakfast.

Tips:

1. Simple, healthy and tasty coconut chutney is ready to be served with idli/dosai/upma/rava kichadi/venn pongal/bajji/medhu vadai/poha and more if you have any personal favourites. i like to eat it with chapathi too !
2. You can either cut coconut into pieces and grind chutney or grate it. Some prefer to grate it as it gives whiter chutney. but i have heard that the brown part of the coconut is rich in calcium hence i do not waste it.
3. Tempering with coconut oil is a different flavour. Try it.
4. Adding asafoetida while grinding itself is another tip for a twist in flavour and health benefits of asafoetida.
5. If you have never added small onions in chutney.. just try them. You will continue adding onions to the chutney thereafter. 
6. And so is ginger. Mood for mango?.. try mango-ginger (Botanical name: Curcuma amada). Chutney will be with mango and ginger flavour.
7. Sometimes try skipping ginger and add 1 garlic clove instead. Another awesome flavour.
8. Use dry red chillies instead of green. that is a change.
9. All these above tips.. you got to try to believe it.
10. And above all.. do not run the mixer so long so that the jar becomes hot and the contents too become hot. This definitely reduces the taste of the chutney.

Happy cooking !!