Chilli Chutney

Karnataka has been my home until I moved to Dubai two years back. Brought up in a small town called Brahmavar in Udupi district and then completed my post graduation and experienced my first feel of corporate life in Bangalore. These are two unique places with its own charm. Karnataka has it all - from the coastal stretch of Mangalore - Gokarna to the mountainous charms of Coorg and Sakleshpur, not to forget the temple towns of Belur, Halebidu , Hampi and Bangalore - the silicon city of India. I have not yet traveled all these places but one day, I do wish to strike off all these from my bucket list.

Chikmaglur is one such beautiful hill station nestled at the foothills of the Mullayanagiri range with beautiful climate and coffee estates that adorn the hills. This makes it a popular tourist destination and we got to be one of them in February. No denying the gorgeous climate of the place, the wonderful coffee estates, greenery all around and you could relax the whole day almost doing nothing. A write up will soon follow on our Chikmaglur trip but before that let me bring your attention to this recipe which my mother learned from one of the chef's at the home stay.

Chilly Chutney - goes with almost anything be it rice, idli or dosa and co-incidentally we tried it with foccacia and it was undeniably the best combination (Italy meets Malnadu) which is why we have included it in the photograph. 

So here we go - 

Ingredients

1. Kashmiri red chilli - 15 to18 
2. Fenugreek seeds - 1/4 tsp
3. Garlic - 3 to 4 cloves
4. Jeera/ cumin seeds - 1/4 tsp
5. Tamarind - 1 lemon size ball 
6. Jaggery - 2 tbsp grated
7. Mustard seeds - 1/4 tsp
8. Salt to taste
9. Oil

Method

• Soak tamarind in half a cup of warm water and extract the juice.
• Soak the red chilly in water for ten minutes and drain off the water.
• Heat 1 tbsp of oil in a pan and add the fenugreek seeds, cumin seeds,garlic along with red chilli. Fry this until the raw smell of garlic goes away.
• Take it off the flame and let it cool. Pulse this into a paste.
• Transfer this back to the pan and add the tamarind extract along with grated jaggery and adjust the salt. Let the water run a little dry to get the desired chutney consistency.
• Heat oil in a pan, add mustard seeds and let it splutter. Temper the chutney with mustard seeds.

You may also note -

• De-seed the chilli before frying if you do not like the seeds in the chutney.