Tomato and Coconut Chutney recipe, a perfect little treat to scoop up with your soft idlis and crispy dosas
A freshly made coconut chutney served with steaming hot idlis or a crisp dosa hot off the pan is a thing of delight.
There are many varieties of this coconut chutney, but I prefer the one with tomatoes. It just adds that much more depth of flavour and dimension.
This easy recipe becomes even more fun to create when using a powerful blender like my new Optimum G.21 Platinum blender. Why? Because the speed and convenience of having a pre-set function to grind means the job is done at the press of a button.
Besides the consistency and texture of the chutney is perfect.
If you are using frozen grated coconut as I do, it will look like this
Tomato and Coconut Chutney
Equipment
- Blender/Mixer-Grinder
Ingredients
For grinding the chutney
- 55 gm Grated coconut – 1/4 cup
- 1/2 large Tomato or 1 small
- 3 Kashmiri red chillies dried
- ½ Green Chilli
- 1 tsp Chana dal or yellow Bengal gram split and without skin
- Ginger – a small knob about the size of your thumbnail
- 2 Small cloves Garlic – without skin
- Salt as per taste
- Water – add according to consistency
For the tadka or tempering
- 1 tbsp Oil
- 5 Curry Leaves
- 1 tsp Mustard seeds
- 1/2 tsp Urad dal (split black lentil without skin)
Instructions
- Heat a pan on a medium flame and pan roast the chana dal till it turns a dark brown colour, do not allow it to burn, gently keep moving it on the pan with a wooden spatula. Set aside to cool
- Halve the tomato and add into the blender
- Add the freshly grated coconut, I buy a frozen packet from my local Indian store, have a look at the photograph in my post
- Remove the skin of the ginger – this is best done using the back of a spoon if the ginger is fresh – it will come off easily, of not use a knife
- Now add the garlic cloves, Kashmiri red chillies, and salt. You can increase or decrease the number of Red Chillies depending on how hot you want the chutney to be
- Add the roasted chana dal which should have cooled down by now
- Add about one and a half tbsp water and grind to a thick coarse paste-like consistency.
- The water level depends on how you would like the consistency to be. I generally add a little more water after the first grind and give it one more pulse in my Froothie to get a better pouring consistency
- Decant the chutney into a bowl
- Heat the oil in a kadhai or saucepan and add the mustard seeds in the hot oil
- Once the seeds begin to pop add the urad dal and let it brown, then throw in the fresh curry leaves
- Pour this hot tadka mixture onto the chutney and serve fresh with steaming hot idlis or dosas
A peek inside the blender ..
If you are not using the Froothie power blender, then chop the chillies roughly into small pieces, repeat with the ginger and garlic too.
This is because the sharp blades of the Optimum G2.1 Platinum blender will be able to easily grind the whole ingredients, a task that a regular mixie will struggle with.
I add the dried red Kashmiri chilli for its colour as well as flavour. In many of my curries I just these chillies whole to add a hint of flavour. But remember once made into a paste these chillies release their hidden potency – it’s a very different beast then and the heat can be really intense. So if you don’t deal with heaty – spicy chillies well then use only a half of a Kashmiri chilli in this chutney. It will still add a dash of colour and flavour without scathing your palate
And the green chilli gives it necessary flavour which I find very distinctly pungent and traceable when I eat this chutney, if it was missing I would know instantly and would miss it.
The fresh taste of the chutney and the crunch of the curry leaves is simply irresistible, the tomatoes add just the right amount of tang to this beautiful chutney. Typical to the South of India this recipe is something that most families make with variations of their own. Some even prefer to add some onion or roast the coconut before adding to the blender. whichever recipe you use this chutney will never go out of fashion.
Need an easy recipe for steam idlis, check out my recipe here
*I am an ambassador for Froothie and was sent a Froothie Optimum G2.1 Platinum blender for review. This post has affiliate links.
This looks delicious Manjiri. I love these quick and easy chutneys.
Thank you Nayna, yes I love whizzing up quick chutneys to accompany my dishes, they just change the whole dimension of the dish , don’t they? 🙂
This looks absolutely scrumptious! I wish I had it now with my veggie curry 🙂
Thanks Sylvia, it would taste fab with steamed white rice and a piping hot veggie curry!
Wow! I love chutneys, especially different ones with coconut. Going to try this soon, have got lot of tomatoes. How long can I keep it?
Hi Ruma, Thank you. I love coconut based chutneys too. This should last in the freezer for a while but I would not refreeze after defrosting simply because coconut is notorious for going bad. I have stored it for a maximum of 15 days in my freezer. Having said that plain grated coconut lasts in the freezer for months!
Ooh Manjiri, this sounds so good. We have a whole coconut sitting here, so I’m wondering if I should try this and see if it works. BTW, I find I don’t need to peel ginger if I’m using my power blender.
You must try using that coconut and let me know how it turns out! Oh I can’t really get myself to use the ginger with it’s skin on – must give it a go sometime soon though!
This sounds awesome, I have to try it Love chutneys and creating new accompaniments to go with my curries.
I really hope you try this recipe, it is a super easy and such a fab treat
Oh I do love chutneys and this sounds so good and easy using the froothie!
Oh yum! I love the idea of adding coconut to a tomato based chutney.
This looks like a very tasty chutney indeed and not too tricky to whizz up either!
Oh my goodness I absolutely love chutney! And this looks and sounds divine! I think I will definitely be stopping by more often 😉
Hello Manjiri. Thank you for sharing this wonderful Coconut with Tomato Chutney recipe. I love South Indian dishes. The monotonous green chutney was getting too regular. The tangy twist of the tomatoes looks relishing. It seems like an excellent blend with the coconut chutney. I will definitely give it a try soon.
I love the colour of this chutney, its seriously delicious looking and perfect to serve with vadas nad dosas.
I love the tangy kick of the tomato – ummm now I want dosas!
I’ve never tried a chutney quite like this. It looks so good. Glad you are enjoying your Froothie blender.