Thursday, February 11, 2010

Mixed Vegetable Chutney

There are some days when I plan out the menu for dinner, for each evening, at least 3 days in advance. Then there are those days when I literally enter the kitchen with some vague ideas in my mind as to what's for dinner and then just kind of improvise from there.

On one such evening recently when I planned to make sandwiches along with soup for dinner, I found that my stock of cilantro (coriander leaves) was abysmally low. Since that ruled out this chutney, I took stock of the rest of the ingredients and decided to come up with a mixed vegetable chutney.

Sure enough that is just what I did, I made a chutney using onions, carrots, tomatoes and celery. I did not use very strong seasoning or flavorings as I wanted the natural tastes of the vegetables to shine through. Between the sweetness from the onions and carrots, slight tartness from tomatoes, earthy taste of celery and  heat from chillies, this chutney had it all and turned out to have a perfect balance of flavors. It tasted wonderful with some home baked whole wheat bread (will be posting that soon) and also in this sandwich

Mixed Vegetable Chutney

Click here for a printable view of this recipe

Ingredients and Method to make Mixed Vegetable Chutney
1 medium onion cut fine (pyaaz/ vengayam)
1 large carrot cut fine (gajar)
1/2 cup diced tomatoes (tamatar/thakkali)
2 stalks celery ends removed cut fine (can be substituted with one additional large carrot, see notes)

1 Tbsp oil
1 thin sliver ginger cut fine (adrak/inji)
3/4 tsp cumin seeds (jeera/jeeragam)
3 Thai or Indian variety green chillies (or to taste) (hara mirch/ pachai molagai)
1 dry red chili (or to taste) ( optional)
salt to taste

approximately 1/2 cup water

Heat oil in a medium sized heavy bottom pan. Add cumin seeds to it, when cumin seeds begin to splutter, add green chillies and dry red chili (if using).

Then add onions and saute until onions become transparent.

Then add ginger, stir a couple of times and add tomatoes and saute until tomatoes turn soft and mushy.

Now add carrots and celery, salt to taste and water and keep the pan covered, stir occasionally  until the vegetables become soft and cook.

Remove from heat and keep aside until the vegetables cool down to room temperature

Using a blender/ mixer grind this mixture until it forms a smooth paste.

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Serve along with dosai/ idli or use as a spread in a sandwich or as a dip for vegetables or chips

Serves approximately 2 to 3

Refrigerate the balance in an air tight container and use within a couple of days.

Notes :
If you cannot find or do not have celery you can use an additional large carrot in place of celery and proceed with the rest of the recipe in the same manner.

34 comments :

shahana said...

Hearing for the first time.Will try this healthy chutney soon.

FH said...

Healthy and tasty chutney

AMA's AnythingVegetarian said...

I have tasted mixed vegetable chutney sometime back at one of my friend's place.She added whatever veggies she had in bits and pieces.It tasted awesome.But yours have celery,I should try .I always wonder how to incorporate celery in our diet .Nice one

Rachana said...

This is an interesting Chutney! looks yumm:)

kitchen queen said...

nice innovative chutney and healthy also with a good combo.

Alexa said...

It came together so fast and yet it looks so good. I think I have all the ingredients to try it. I'm having fun with your blog and recipes. I made your Roti this week. I altered a few ingredients to make it gluten free. Everyone in my family loved it.

Vrinda said...

Lovely healthy chutney....

Latha said...

Healthy and yummy chutney.

Unknown said...

Hey this is a lovely colored chutney. The recipe is bookmarked...definitely a try on my list.

Sowjanya@Ruchikacooks said...

Nice chutney usha. I was so afraid to come here and comment without posting some soups for you. Did that today so I can browse your place guilt free :)

www.ruchikacooks.com

Valarmathi Sanjeev said...

Healthy and yummy chutney, looks delicious.

Shama Nagarajan said...

healthy chutney dear..nice idea

Ramya Vijaykumar said...

I make chutney with carrots but never tried it this way, looks very yummy!!!

http://memoryarchieved.blogspot.com

Mangala Bhat said...

Hye nice one! Looks good!

Gita Jaishankar said...

Vegetable chutney sounds very interesting Usha...definitely healthy too...I can try this as a side dish with dosas :)

Priya Suresh said...

Such a delectable chutney, love the idea of adding celery, sounds prefect for me..

Unknown said...

I love all kinds of chutneys..looks good with mixed veggies..

Cham said...

I never did mixed veggie chutney , should be good side dish for anything!

Anonymous said...

I love Chutney. Thanks for the recipe!

Pam said...

I've never had a vegetable chutney before - this looks delicious.

Nandinis food said...

I never tried vegetable chutney before. But this is really delicious!

PS said...

Vegetable chutney is something new to me. Will give it a try soon. im a budding blogger. pls visit my blog and post your valuable comments

Deepa G Joshi said...

lovely and innovative way to use the veggies in some different way. this helps to break the monotony.. great idea..

www.foodlyrics.com

Unknown said...

great idea,,healthy and should have tasted so good with the whole wheta bread..

Hayley said...

New to me..really healthy and tasty..thanks for sharing..

Mahimaa's kitchen said...

yummy and healthy chutney go with idlis and rotis.

Mythreyi Dilip said...

Yummy and healthy spread for sandwiches dear!!!

Myvegfare said...

Hi usha, you tried with carrot, I haven't tried it, I saw in Raks kitchen about carrot chutney, and you have used celery too!!, that's quite interesting, I think I should give it a go!, Looks lovely, very interesting!!, very innovative

Anonymous said...

great idea to incorporate all the veggies..must try

Parita said...

Something very new to me, chutney looks thick and delicious!

Devasena Hariharan said...

good one. Never added carrot & celery. Nice try...

miss v said...

yum! the carrot addition sounds great!

Simplyfood said...

Chutney looks delicious and tasty.

jayess said...

hi Usha,
i am jaya...subscribed again and got the email for confirmation!.and here i am! Your blog sure is very interesting.

jaya

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