May 3, 2009

Eggplant Chutney - Andhra Style..


Before meeting my Andhra friends, my knowledge of Chutneys was very limited. In Konkani cuisine we do make a lot of Chutneys but mainly with coconut present in them. Its very few vegetables like tomoto, raw mango, ridge gourds that we make chutneys of, and most of them are used for pairing with Idlis/Dosas. I was quite surprised by the various other kinds of chutneys people make with eggplants, ridgegourds, ivy gourds, and literally every other vegetable. More surprised when I learnt that most of these chutneys are used to mix with rice and eat. Ahhhh, how wonderful they taste and what a great meal just a chutney and rice forms !!!

Ingredients

Eggplant, chopped into small cubes and soaked in water - 4 cups
Tomato, roughly chopped - 1 cup
Jeera/Cumin seeds - 1 tsp
Green chillies, chopped - 2 or more as per ur taste.
Garlic cloves, roughly chopped - 3
Tamarind - a small marble size ball
Turmeric powder - 1/4 pinch
Cilantro - to garnish
Salt - to taste

For tempering

Mustard seeds - 1 tsp
Udad dal - 1/2 tsp
Chana dal - 1/2 tsp
Curry leaves - 4

Optional - Chopped red onions, as per choice.

Method

- Heat oil in a deep pan. Add the green chillies, cumin seeds and the drained eggplant pieces and saute. Add salt and Turmeric. Let it cook till eggplants are half done.

- Then add the tomato and saute. Leave it cook and when done, switch off heat.

- Put in the garlic and tamarind and cover the pan.

- Once the mixture cools down, blend it in a mixie/blender WITHOUT adding any water. Take out the blended chutney in a serving bowl.

- In a separate small pan, heat little oil, add mustard seeds, when they crackle, add the udad dal, chana dal, and the curry leaves. Pour this seasoning over the blended chutney. Add chopped cilantro to garnish.

- You can serve it like this OR go one step further and top it with some chopped red onion along with chopped cilantro and mix well and serve.

Note :

- This chutney is mainly mixed with rice and had, but also works extremely great for dosas, idlis and rotis.

- Adding the chopped red onions at the end of it is optional, but gives a great crunch and bite to the chutney.

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15 Comments:

Finla said...

Yeah i know what you mean, before i only knew coconut chutney and that was it, this looks really yumm.

Ramya Vijaykumar said...

Hey Maya, I liked the chutney topped with onions should be crunchy as you mentioned... gotta try this...

chef and her kitchen said...

yeah agree...so many chutney varieties for telugites...
loved ur chutney..

Purnima said...

Maya, the list to chutneys seems endless and am surely taken by surprise at both..the veggies used for chutney as well as chutneys used as accompaniment for rice! Wow..this is truly a lovely recipe n surely when ground, kids cant make out what veggie is going in! :D I shall post feedback once I make this! Hey yet again- yummo pics!

Meera said...

Yummy picture. I agree with you rice & chutney seems so unusual but oh so delicious.

Mahimaa's kitchen said...

yummy chutney. looks great maya. i would love to have with rice and ghee.

Vani said...

The chutney sounds yummy, Maya! Nice pics too

Pria@HC said...

this is new to me.. gotta try this .. we love brinjal!..

Aparna Balasubramanian said...

This chutney is unusual to mee too. But it promises to be good with spice and tang.

FH said...

Good Monday morning to you!:)

Lovely swirly Eggplant chutney, wish I had some Eggplants to try!

Rachel said...

I have only had a roasted coconut chutney to date with rice....this sounds good.

Ashwini said...

Yumm. One of my favourite chutney to have with chapathi. Adding onion is nice idea..

Cham said...

Pretty much I was like u for the chutney, I learnt a lots of chutney from my andraite friends! Good one!

Pavithra Elangovan said...

Nice clicks and mouthwatering

Saee Koranne-Khandekar said...

What a lovely picture--I'm going to try this very soon, I can see! Chutneys really do save a day and this recipe looks very good.