Sometimes i think if Kieslowsky ever had chutney. Hot chutney, white, over hot dosa. You have to mix it with your hands and let the crispy dosa melt in the heat of the moment. When you have a sip of tea along with it you are all ready to make your next trilogy.
I am sorry. I am mad about a lot of filmmakers and i imagine them having all this mallu food whenever i cook. And even though my partner thinks i cook for them, i actually cook to blog. *Shrug*
So chutney is coconut ground with stuff with a little water. Thanks to non mallus who like 'south Indian' food, there are a lot of names for chutney floating around. So let me tell you what chutney is for me. It is not chammanthi. Chammanthi is solid. Chutney is watery. Chammanthi can be had with rice. Chutney can't be had with rice unless you are one of those who eat beef with pazhampori.
Even malayalees mix these names sometimes and since it is language, we can't call anything authentic. But that's allowed for mallus. We make this stuff. Non mallus should really stop calling stuff by weird names like 'mendu vada' etc. I once heard a guy ask for 'mehndi (henna) vada' you know!
So if you want to make chutney, you have to scrape coconut. There is no way around it. I scrape an entire coconut. It gives me two cups of grated coconut.
Add chopped small onions called shallots or cheriyulli or chomannulli. I used six or seven robust cheriyullis. Add a piece of chopped ginger. Add 5 green chillies. (I like it hot) I add two curry leaves just for fun. We will be adding them later anyway. Add salt. I added 1.5 teaspoon.
Mix all of this in a mixie after adding a bit of water. Don't add a lot of water or else the mixie won't be able to handle it and splatter it on your kitchen walls. This does not mean that this happened with me. Ever.
Little by little i added almost 1 cup of water to the mixie coconut mixture.
Now heat coconut oil in a pan or cheenachatti or a meenchatti, add and splutter mustard seeds. Add two or three dried red chillies. Add some curry leaves.
Now pour the coconut mixture to the chatti. Add more water to get the consistency you want. For the two cups of coconut i used, including the water used in the mixie, i usually end up using three cups of water. Check salt. I added half a teaspoon more. When bubbles come switch it off. Don't heat it till it boils like crazy. When you see small volcanic eruptions from the sides and the centre, you can turn off the fire.
To grind in mixie
Coconut scraped - 2 cups
Green chillies - 5
1 inch ginger - chopped
7 shallots chopped
salt - 1.5 teaspoon
2 curryleaves
To heat in coconut oil
Mustard 1/2 teaspoon
3 dried red chillies
Curry leaves 6/7
Pour the mixture. Add water. Adjust salt. Eat.
It takes me 30 minutes to make. Including coconut scraping.
 |
| For Kieslowsky :-o |
I am sorry. I am mad about a lot of filmmakers and i imagine them having all this mallu food whenever i cook. And even though my partner thinks i cook for them, i actually cook to blog. *Shrug*
So chutney is coconut ground with stuff with a little water. Thanks to non mallus who like 'south Indian' food, there are a lot of names for chutney floating around. So let me tell you what chutney is for me. It is not chammanthi. Chammanthi is solid. Chutney is watery. Chammanthi can be had with rice. Chutney can't be had with rice unless you are one of those who eat beef with pazhampori.
Even malayalees mix these names sometimes and since it is language, we can't call anything authentic. But that's allowed for mallus. We make this stuff. Non mallus should really stop calling stuff by weird names like 'mendu vada' etc. I once heard a guy ask for 'mehndi (henna) vada' you know!
So if you want to make chutney, you have to scrape coconut. There is no way around it. I scrape an entire coconut. It gives me two cups of grated coconut.
 |
| Cracked-open-a-minute-ago coconut. |
Add chopped small onions called shallots or cheriyulli or chomannulli. I used six or seven robust cheriyullis. Add a piece of chopped ginger. Add 5 green chillies. (I like it hot) I add two curry leaves just for fun. We will be adding them later anyway. Add salt. I added 1.5 teaspoon.
Mix all of this in a mixie after adding a bit of water. Don't add a lot of water or else the mixie won't be able to handle it and splatter it on your kitchen walls. This does not mean that this happened with me. Ever.
Now heat coconut oil in a pan or cheenachatti or a meenchatti, add and splutter mustard seeds. Add two or three dried red chillies. Add some curry leaves.
Now pour the coconut mixture to the chatti. Add more water to get the consistency you want. For the two cups of coconut i used, including the water used in the mixie, i usually end up using three cups of water. Check salt. I added half a teaspoon more. When bubbles come switch it off. Don't heat it till it boils like crazy. When you see small volcanic eruptions from the sides and the centre, you can turn off the fire.
 |
| Add caption |
To grind in mixie
Coconut scraped - 2 cups
Green chillies - 5
1 inch ginger - chopped
7 shallots chopped
salt - 1.5 teaspoon
2 curryleaves
To heat in coconut oil
Mustard 1/2 teaspoon
3 dried red chillies
Curry leaves 6/7
Pour the mixture. Add water. Adjust salt. Eat.
It takes me 30 minutes to make. Including coconut scraping.
No comments:
Post a Comment