Simple Peanut Chutney

I was way too hungry the moment I finished making idlis today and had initially thought I'd have them with yogurt or sugar, but then I changed my mind and started craving for some chutney to go with my idlis and owing to the extent to which I was hungry, didn't want to make anything complicated that would take some time to prepare. While I was thinking of a really quick chutney to make, I saw this unopened can of lightly salted, roasted peanuts lying in my shelf and instantly knew what I was going to make. Having roasted peanuts at home came in handy today :-).

Ingredients (about 2 - 3 servings):

Roasted peanuts - a cup (using a measuring cup)
Green chillies - 2 to 3 cut into pieces (vary this to suit your taste)
Tamarind - 1/4 inch piece if fresh/less than 1/4 teaspoon if using paste
Salt to taste

For seasoning:

Cooking oil - 1 teaspoon
Mustard seeds - 1/2 teaspoon
Urad dhal - 1/4 teaspoon
Asafoetida - a pinch
Dried red chilli - 1
Curry leaves - a few

Procedure:

1. Grind the roasted peanuts, green chillies and tamarind to a paste along with salt and set aside. 2. In a small pan, heat some cooking oil, pop mustard seeds, add asafoetida dried red chilli, curry leaves and urad dhal and fry until the urad dhal turns light golden brown in color. Now, transfer the contents to ground peanuts from step 1, mix and serve.

Tip:

I usually have some seasoning (mustard, asafoetida and urad dhal) handy. It saved me the extra few minutes today!!!

To contribute more to the flavor, you can add a couple of cloves of crushed garlic in the seasoning or while grinding. You can serve this chutney with idli, dosai, chappathi and upmas.

This goes to 15 minute cooking @ Spices etc... hosted by Mahimaa.