Red Bell Pepper Chutney

I had this whole batch of idli maavu sitting in the fridge and was running low on chutney. I was thinking of my options as far as making chutneys and for some reason, I was totally stumped. If it were left up to my husband, he'd want coconut chutney every day. I don't do this mainly for health reasons.

Anyway, I was searching around for recipes, when I came across a recipe for red bell pepper chutney on pachakam.com. I happened to have a red bell pepper in the fridge, so I tried it and it was FANTASTIC! Even my husband liked it, and that's saying a lot. Basically, if it's not coconut chutney, peanut chutney, or mint chutney, he's not thrilled. So, I was pleasantly surpirsed with this one.

It's got the fragrance of bell pepper, and is hot and a little sour from tamarind. Easy, quick, and yummy!!


Ingredients:

Red bell pepper - 1, coarsely chopped
Tomatoes - 1 large or 2 medium, coarsely chopped
Green chillies - 10, or to taste
Garlic - 3 cloves, coarsely chopped
Tamarind - small gooseberry size
Curry leaves - 1 sprig
Salt to taste

For seasoning:

Oil
Mustard seeds - 1/2 tsp
Curry leaves - 1 sprig

Method:

1. Heat oil in pan until very hot. Add tomatoes and fry on very high heat until they soften a bit on the edges.

2. Add the bell pepper, garlic, green chillies, curry leaves and continue to fry on very high until the edges char a bit and the veggies have softened.

3. Cool completely and grind with tamarind and salt to taste. Add a little water if necessary to grind or if you don't want a very thick chutney.

4. Heat oil in pan and season the chutney using mustard and curry leaves. Pour seasoning over the chutney.

Serve with any tiffin item like idli, dosa, uthappam, etc. Enjoy! :)