Chutney on the side!

Here are two chutney recipes. I made these with the dosas when we had friends over. Easy peasy and great tasting.

Green Coconut Chutney -

• half a fresh coconut
• 4-5 fresh hot chillies
• half a bunch fresh coriander/cilantro
• a small piece of ginger
• chutney dal (a creamish lentil kind of thing, don't exactly know what it's called)
• 1/4 tspn tamarind extract (optional)
• 1/4 tspn jaggery (molasses) or sugar, again optional
• salt to taste
• for tempering - oil, mustard seeds, jeera (whole cumin), hing (asafotieda) and curry leaves.

1. Simply grind all of the above with a litttle water until well amalgamated. I use my knife to carve out chunks of coconut from the shell and then further chop them into smaller bits and run it once in the blender before adding the rest of the ingredients. You could grate the coconut if you have the required equipment :-)
2. Heat oil and add in the ingredients needed for tempering and pour over the chutney. That's it, all ready to be served!

Onion 'n' Tomato Chutney -

• 2 medium sized onions, chopped
• 2 tomatoes, chopped
• 3-4 red dry chillies
• 1 tsp chana dal (yellow split lentils)
• 1/4 tsp urad dal (white split lentils)
• 1/4 tsp jeera (whole cumin)
• a pinch of hing (asafotieda) and turmeric powder
• salt to taste
  
• 2 tbspns oil

1. Heat oil in a pan and add jeera, hing, chana dal, urad dal and red chillies. Saute for a couple of minutes.
2. Next add chopped onions and cook till tender.
3. Put in the chopped tomatoes and cook till soft.
4. Add turmeric powder and salt and mix well.
5. Once cool, transfer the mixture into the blender and blend to a smooth paste.
6. All done!