Pudina Chutney (without coconut)

Chutneys are always the most favorite side dish, especially to us Indians. Aren’t they?? Chutneys are served with almost every meal in India - in dosas, idli, chapati, rotis like akki roti, ragi roti, rava roti, parathas, sometimes even with upittu (upma), cooked rice, puliogare, lemon rice and the list goes on… Just like salsa, in this country there is no right or wrong recipe - just a preferred flavor or two.

Chutneys not only transform the taste of what we eat but also have a variety of benefits ranging from soothing the tummy to being a detox agent; well... that’s a great nutritional fact!

Chutney is derived from the Hindi word "caṭni" & Northern Indian Urdu word "chaṭni" meaning to lick. Each region has a particular style that seems more popular. The most popular chutney made is the “Mint chutney”, which is from North Indian region. It is popularly called as the “Pudina Chutney”. Mint in hindi is pronounced as ‘Pudheena’ and is usually had with popular dishes like ‘hara bhara kabab’, ‘samosas’, ‘sandwiches’ ‘pakoras’ and most popularly in chats like bhel puri, dahi puri, bread pakoda and many more…..

Fact!

If you just look at mint chutney recipe, there are incredibly a dozen recipes made simply from mint leaves (pudina)!! So many versions of them to satisfy your needs and mainly your taste buds!!!

As I said earlier, chutneys are an eastern version of salsa, no right or wrong recipe, just a blend of preferred ingredients, toss and lick!

In this post, I have given a different version of the Mint Chutney recipes. This is also called as Pudina Chutney, but is made from a blend of lot of mint leaves, some onions, tomatoes, urad dal and other spices, without using coconut. This chutney gives a very different feel to the taste buds, a lip smacking desi dip it surely is!!

Hope you love this recipe as well. Also leave your comments on this recipe as how it came out for you.

Pudina chutney recipe (without coconut)

Ingredients: (makes a cup full of chutney; may serve 2 to 3)

Pudina leaves (1 cup)

Urad dal (1 tbsp)

Channa dal 1 tsp

Onion 1 big (chopped in cubes)

Tomato 1 (chopped in cubes)

Red chillies (1 to 2kashmiri chillies)

Turmeric powder ¼ tsp

Sunflower oil 1 tsp

Tamarind ¼ lemon sized

Salt (as per taste)

For tempering:

Mustard seeds ¼ tsp

Curry leaves 4 to5

Sunflower oil ¼ tsp

Method of preparation:

Step 1:

Wash the mint leaves, dry them off with excess water. Keep it aside.

Step 2:

In a pan add oil. Add urad dal and channa dal and fry them till they are turning golden brown in color. Add dry chillies. Now add in chopped onions, fry them till they turn translucent. Add turmeric powder.

Step 3:

Once the onions turn transparent, add in chopped tomatoes. Fry till tomatoes become soft and mushy. Add in pudina/ mint leaves and fry till they shrink in size. Add salt. Keep it aside. Let it cool.

Step 4:

Place the fried ingredients into the mixie jar, add tamarind. You can add little water if it is too dry for thick like paste consistency. Grind it into a fine paste. Pour this paste/ chutney onto a small bowl.

Step 5:

In the same kadai, add oil. Once it starts heating, keep the flame low and add mustard seeds, let it splutter. Add curry leaves and immediately switch off the flame. Pour this tempering to the ground paste/ chutney.

Tips:

1. Tempering adds a great taste to the chutney. You can enjoy this chutney even without tempering.

2. This chutney is great with chapatti/ plain wheat parathas, rice/ragi dosa, and even idlis or plain rice with some ghee…

3. You can store this chutney in a refrigerator for 1 day. Do not keep this chutney stored for more than 1 day. It loses its freshness.