Friday, June 19, 2009

Pudhina Kadalai Chutney

I remember one day, not too long after marriage, when my husband and I were eating breakfast at my parents' house. We were eating idlis and hubby started talking about "palli chutney." Now, if you speak Tamil, you shouldn't have a problem understanding why I had an absolutely shocked and disgusted expression on my face.

See, palli in Tamil means a gecko... It's one of those little green lizard-like creatures that crawls on the walls and makes noise in India. So, when hubby mentioned "palli chutney", I was inferring that someone must have gotten the brilliant idea to turn these creatures into a chutney. If that wasn't disgusting enough, people would actually eat this stuff??!!

Turns out, he had been exposed to it via an Andhraite friend of his. The name was apparently in Telugu and means peanut chutney! Of course he just sat there and enjoyed the facial contortions from my mother and myself. After taking his sweet time, he finally explained what he meant. First, a sigh of relief and then I spent a while trying to chase him down to smack him. Men!! Anyone else have antics like this going on??

What's all the buildup about? Well, I had some mint lying around in the fridge and wanted to make it into a chutney. So, I thought, why not combine it with peanuts and see how it comes out? It's really good and hubby simply loves it!

Ingredients:

Peanuts - 1/2 cup, roasted
Mint leaves - 1 cup, loosely packed
Garlic - 2 cloves, roughly chopped
Urad dal - 1 tsp
Tamarind - small almond size
Red chillies - 6-8, or to taste
Salt to taste
Oil as needed

Seasoning:

Oil - 1 tbsp
Mustard seeds - 1/2 tsp
Urad dal - 1 tsp
Curry leaves - 6-8 leaves

Method:

1. Heat a little bit of oil in a pan. Once hot, add the red chillies, urad dal, tamarind, and garlic. Fry until the chillies darken slightly and the garlic starts to turn slightly golden at the edges.

2. Now, add the mint leaves and fry until the leaves wilt and shrink down.

3. Cool the mixture and grind to smooth paste along with the roasted peanuts and water as required to achieve a chutney consistency.

4. Heat oil for seasoning. Add the seasoning ingredients, allow to splutter and pour over the prepared chutney. Serve with idli, dosai, etc.



So, what did we think? Well, this is like peanut chutney with a kiss of mint to it. Extremely light and refreshing. We had it with dosai, but it would be great with tiffin items. Enjoy!

24 comments:

Pooja said...

ha ha ha ,, i was utterly shocked when reading post.. palli chutney...not in my wildest of dreams, hey i make the peanut chutney by adding coriander instead of mint and i dont add urad dal and garlic.. rest the same.. next time will try your version ! nice click !

Pavithra Elangovan said...

Yummy chutney with idli and dosas

Unknown said...

yuumy chutney...and lovely pic :)

Chitra said...

will try this soon..i want to try some chutney peanut ;)

Parita said...

nicely presented, pudina chutney sounds yummy..

Finla said...

Hi hi i have this huge smile in my face seeing your disgust in hearing the chutney name.
My BIL is form Andhra so i knew what it was :-)

Nupur said...

The chutney looks delicious- peanuts and mint are such an interesting combination!
Well, "paal" in Tamil is milk, and in Marathi is the same creature- gecko/house lizard :D

indosungod said...

:) I would have had the same expression when I read palli chutney. my my.

But for the combination of mint and peanut is indeed delicious. Would taste great with rice too I would think?

Priya Suresh said...

Never tried this combination..looks very delicious Kalai!

Unknown said...

Very nice combinatin, pudina and kadalai. That photo has come out superb.

BDSN said...

Good read!!! Will stop by often!!

Shama Nagarajan said...

NICE PIC...NICE READ..YUMMY CHUTNEY

Usha said...

Lovely chutney, I am sure this tasted really delicious :-)

Laavanya said...

I would've been horrified at the idea of a 'palli' chutney too. Infact as a kid, i thought that aama vadai and thavalai vadai were made with turtles and frogs respectively and was so shocked!

Chutney and the picture look so good.

lubnakarim06 said...

Oh wow love that hint of pudina in peanut.....

Malar Gandhi said...

Addition of mint is a great idea, I never tried this before...thanks for the recipe, dear.

Vanamala Hebbar said...

Nice presentation...nice pic..ofcourse lovely chutney

Rush said...

first time here and just wanted to suggest something..love ur blog, even better are the photos..however they dnt get all the highlights coz of their size..if u can increase the size of ur photos, giving it a better bigger view..it would be amazing and do true justice to them

Prema Sundar said...

mint with peanuts is something new and it sure sounds refreshing..

Srikitchen said...

that's a unique combo!
looking so good!

egglesscooking said...

That's a combination I have never tried. I know what I'm going to prepare when I get mint next time.

Kalai said...

Thanks to all of you! Yes, it's definitely a unique combo, but very yummy. Glad to see that some of you had a good laugh, too! :)

Sumi said...

Hubby an I love peanut chutney, but never use it in combo with mint.great recipe, should try it sometime.

Seena said...

Never tried chutney with peanuts. very healthy one, should def. try.. :)