Ingredients:
- 340 gm (12 oz) grated fresh coconut
- 2 tbsp oil
- 3 tbsp gram (channa) daal
- 2 green chilies
- 15-18 curry leaves
- ½”. piece ginger, chopped
- 2 tsp salt (or to taste)
For Tempering:
- 2 tsp oil
- 1 tsp mustard seeds
- 1 tsp cumin seeds
- 1 tbsp black gram dal (lentil)
- 1 dry red chili, halved
- ½ tsp asafetida powder
- a few curry leaves
Method:
- Heat the oil and roast gram daal till light brown in color, stirring regularly. Make sure that daal does not get too deep in color
- In a vessel, take 1 cup water and to it add coconut, roasted gram daal, cut chilies, chopped ginger, curry leaves and salt. Soak all the ingredients for about an hour so that they soften (especially roasted gram daal)
- Grind the combined ingredients to a fine paste and take out in a serving bowl
- Heat oil and add black gram daal. In about a minute add mustard and cumin seeds. When the mustard seeds start to splutter, add the rest of tempering ingredients and stir on medium flame for 20-30 seconds, making sure they don’t burn (must not start becoming black in color). Add the tempering to the ground chutney and mix well.
- Serve with dosai, idli and vadai (all South Indian savory dishes)
Inspiration source:
Vegetarian Cuisines from South India by Chandra Padmanabhan, page 113
Veggie Foodie 