Padma chutney - the capsicum dip :)

Hello All,

I once heard, nothing ages better than daadi ma's recipes :) And I now know what that saying meant :)

My husband's cousin grandmother makes this super yummy capsicum chutney. Once I tasted it at her place, I so knew that I would  make it once home. I did and here is my take on the chutney (her version was less spicy than mine) :)

Not only is this chutney yummy as a dip but also a great way of using up veggies that are too small in quantity to make a full fledged curry with food. And it is so versatile! You can use it mixed with rice, as a side dish with stuffed parathas, dip for pakodas and even for those tortillas! This would go beautifully with many things :) So, here is the recipe :)

Ingredients  

1 - 2 medium sized Capsicum
1 onion
1 tomato
4-5 cloves of garlic
1 medium sized green chilli (you can substitute it with red chilli powder)
1 teaspoon tamarind concentrate (you can use fresh tamarind juice, according to taste)
Salt to taste

Tempering:

1 pinch asafoetida (heeng)
1 tsp mustard seeds
1 tbsp chana dal (kadalai parappu/split bengal gram)

Preparation:

The ingredients

Coarsely chopped ingredients. You need not chop them very fine as they will be ground eventually

Heat oil in a small pan

Add heeng to the hot oil

A teaspoon of mustard seeds (they should crackle)

Bengal gram (chana dal) to the hot oil

Roast until light brown in colour

Add the chopped garlic and coarsely cut green chilli

Once the edges of garlic get brown, add onions and roast

Add tomatoes and roast till tomatoes soften up

Add salt to taste

Add turmeric (turmeric, when cooked slightly, leads to better taste and colour)

Now add capsicum to the pan

Add a teaspoon of tamarind concentrate (i prefer this as I don't like to get my hands messy with extracting tamarind juice)

Cover the pan and allow to cook until the capsicum becomes soft

It'd look like this after cooking

Grind to a smooth paste in the mixer jar

Add a zest of lemon if you like your chutney tangier. Sprinkle fresh chopped coriander from top and lo! It's ready to eat! :)

 Happy Cooking! Feedback welcome :) And ya, thanks Padma paati :)

Pritesh