Chutney

This weekend I made Idlis (spongy rice cakes). The traditional condiment for Idlis is coconut chutney. I have made this many times, but I still mess it up.

I added the coconut, the dahlia (dry roasted channa daal), the green chilies, and some water and tried to grind it up. I tasted the mixture and realize that I added way too much dahlia (it doesn’t take much, maybe one tablespoon for a cup of chutney).

So I took some of the chutney mix and put it back in the mixer (Sumeet makes an awesome mixer). I looked for some more coconut, but we were all out. So, in desperation, I just took a half cup of almonds, thinking: “nuts are nuts.” I ground it smooth. Then I added too much salt so I added a little sugar to hide the salty taste. I was thinking this chutney would be a big disaster.

So how was this salty sugary almond chutney? Not bad at all actually. Of course I have no real sense of what traditional chutney is, so I’m more open to trying variations. If you give someone from India a pizza made with cheddar cheese, he might like it, but an American might think it was really odd tasting.

So the real test was my wife. She’s from Tamil Nadu. Surely she would know that I substituted almonds for coconut, wouldn’t she? Well, I was just curious if she would notice without my telling her. She ate it. I asked her how it was. She said that it seemed a little sweet, “did you add sugar?” I admitted that. “You forgot chilies.” I had not forgotten, but I should have added another one since the original chilies got diluted. But she never mentioned the almonds.

Actually, I think the chutney came out creamier than usual. Maybe substituting almond for coconut is a real option. Almonds are much better to eat that coconut.