Laukhi Ki Chutney @ Bottlegourd Chutney

I have got half of a laukhi/bottlegourd/soorkai which I have used the other half to make sambar.  I was planning to make idly for dinner with chicken curry and needed to make a chutney.

Remembered long back, a friend of mine ever mentioned making chutney out of the skin ridged bottlegourd.  I was tempted to make my chutney of the same but the decided otherwise as the bottlegourd skin was more brown than green.  Instead I used chopped bottlegourd.

I always like to prepare my chutneys using coconut oil.  It gives this nice aroma while sauteing and afterwards.  I was pleasantly surprised on how it turned out - my sister-in-law liked it.

Ingredients:

Half of bottle gourd medium sized
1 medium sized onion
1 tsp ginger garlic paste
2-3 green/red chilly - depending on your spicy taste bud
1 sprig of curry leaves
10 sprigs of coriander leaves - chopped coarsely
salt to taste
tamarind paste/juice - small pinch
1 -2 tbs of coconut oil - optional can use any other vegetable oil
1tsp cumin seeds
1 tsp of channa dhall
2-3 tbs of coconut gratings.


Preparation:

Some of the ingredients 

1. Removed the skin of the bottlegourd.  Chopped the vegetable to small pieces.  Since you are grinding into a paste, you need not remove the inner white portion and the seeds of the bottle gourd if they are not hard.

2  Heat coconut oil. Once hot, add in cumin seeds.  Let it splutter.  Afterward add in channa dhall and let it turn slightly brown.

3.  Next add in the onions and cook till soft and light in colour.  Add in ginger/garlic paste - stir till the rawness of the paste disappear.  Add in green chilly and curry leaves.  Fry for another minute or two so.

4.  Add in the the chopped bottle gourd. Mix well and let it cooked till soft.

5.  Add in the coriander leaves and cooked for a few more minutes.

6.  Remove from fire and leave it to cool.

7.  In a grinder, add in the cooled bottle gourd mixture, adding coconut scraps. salt and tamarind juice/paste.  Blend into a fine paste.

8.  Remove from the blender and serve with some chopped coriander leaves.

Home Grown Pudina Chutney

fancy going out to your small little plot (this time though my hubby had the honour of doing so) that you call a garden and picking up herbs and vegetables and making it to a nice dish...this is really awesome..I must make sure that by next winter I shall start preparing my garden for more wonders with the mother nature...

Home grown pudina.

Final product click here for how to make Pudina Chutney

More pictures of my current garden later on..

Onion, Coriander & Tomato Chutney

I made this for the chapatis my hubby was preparing...I made this chutney with coconut oil..emm the aroma is just so amazing...

What you need
2 tomatoes - chopped
a handful of shallots - sliced
a handful of coriander leaves - chopped coarsely
1 -2 sprigs of curry leaves
1-2 green chillies
coconut oil
salt to taste
turmeric powder
1 tsp cumin powder
1tsp fennel powder
1 tsp cumin seeds
1tsp black mustard seeds


How to do

• heat coconut oil
• add mustard seeds, once it starts to crackle, add in cumin seeds.
• next add in onions, fry for 1-2mins. Add salt to it too, (it helps to soften the onions fast)
• once the onions are soft, add in tomatoes, curry leaves and chillies.
• Add in turmeric, cumin and fennel powders, mix well
• Add water if you find it too thick.
• Finally add in chopped coriander leaves. Mix well and let it simmer for a few more minutes.
• Remove from fire and let it cool and blend either coarsely or smooth paste to your preference.

Ready to serve...

Mint (Pudina) Chutney

Cleaned and drained mints

Green chillies(deseeded), ginger, garlic, shallots, cherry tomatoes

Heat a pan, fry without oil all the ingredients till soft, let it cool.

Remove to a grinder with salt to taste and blend to a fine paste and serve.

Mint chuntney 

Tomato Chutney

There are many ways of doing tomatoes chutneys.  This is my version - it has a slight taste of sweet, sour and spice added to it....You can add a little sugar if you wish.....

It's an excellent dish with thosei (dosa), idlis and chapatis......

What you need:
5- 6 ripe tomatoes
2 big onions
2-3 garlic
small ginger
1 red chilly
1 -2 dry chilly
/2 tsp of tumeric powder
1 tsp of mustard seeds
1 tsp of urad dhall
a sprig of curry leaves
salt to taste
Coconut oil

How to do:

1. Chopped the tomatoes and onions.  Slice ginger and garlic. 
2. Cut the dry chillies in small pieces.
3. Slit and remove the seeds of the red chilly.
4. Heat coconut oil on a pan.  Once it is hot, add in the mustard and urad dhall.
5. When it starts to crackle, saute the onions till they are soft. 
6. Add in the chillies and curry leaves and saute for a few more minutes
7. Lastly add in the chopped tomatoes,tumeric and salt, mix well and cover the pan.
8. By covering the pan, more water will come out from the tomatoes.  Keep stirring to avoid the tomotoes from sticking to the bottom of the pan.
9. You can add water if the mixture is dry.
10. Once the tomatoes are soft and cooked, remove from the heat.  Let it cool for a short while and then blend to a fine puree.
11. Ready to serve....

Onion Chutney

Chutney mania!!!! - yes I made 2 different chutneys for my dinner dosa/thosei. One is tomato,mint, coriander chutney and the other one is onion chutney.

My children love their dosa with ghee and sugar and coupled with this chutneys, there are awesome combination, sweet from the sugar, tangy/sourish from the tomatoes, nice aroma from the mint/coriander, spicy from the chillies....

Lets venture them.

Onion Chutney
Loads of onions saute in virgin coconut oil, it is really an awesome aroma.



4-5 onions - finely chopped/sliced
3-4 tbs of coconut oil ( you may opt to other types of oil)
1 tsp of urad dhall
2 sprig of curry leaves
1 dry chilly - break into pieces
1 tsp of cumin powder
1 tsp of fennel powder
1/4 tsp of tumeric powder
1/4 tsp of coriander powder
salt to taste

Method

Heat coconut oil. Once hot, add in urad dhall. Once it starts to splutter, add in the chillies, curry leaves and onions. Saute till the onions are soft and light in color. Add salt and all the powders, mix well and fry for a few minutes and remove from fire. let it cool. Once cool blend in a food processor and serve.

Tomato,Mint & Coriander Chutney

Tomato, Mint & Coriander Chutney


3-4 large tomatoes- chopped
a handful of mint
a handful of coriander - chopped finely
1 tsp urad dhall
1 tsp of cumin seed
1 tsp of fennel seed
1 green chilly - finely chopped ( I used 2 bird eyes chilli)
salt to taste
oil for sauteing

Tempering
1 tsp of mustard seeds
a few sprig of curry leaves
a pinch of asofoetida (hing)

Method

Heat oil, once hot, add in urad dhall, cumin seed and fennel seeds. Once start to splutter, add in chilly, saute for a few seconds, add in mint/coriander and saute for a few more minutes. Remove to a plate.

In the same work/pan, heat a little oil, once hot add in tomatoes and saute for a minutes till the water evaporates and the tomatoes are soft. Remove and let it cool.

Blend coriander/mint, add in the tomatoes and blend into a fine paste. Remove to a bowl.

In a wok, heat a little oil, once hot, add in hing and fry, add in mustard seeds, once they start to splutter, add in curry leaves, saute for a few seconds and pour the chutney. Serve.