Not all recipes you try from a blog/book/cookery-show turn out to be tasty. I lately tried a Roasted gram Chutney recipe from a book and it turned out to something that tasted like Asian paints exterior emulsion 
. That’s the downside of hunting and trying out unknown recipes, especially if it did not include any elaborate pictorial instructions. In such cases, I better skip making the recipe or postpone the idea of trying it. However, there are recipes that exist in magazines and books that run to just 2 lines, but the resulting taste will be yummy-licious, just like this Carrot Chutney recipe 
!
Being a Recipe blogger, I just cannot copy-paste the recipe from that book. Moreover, there exists no recipe in my blog that would run to just 2-lines. [He heeee… my readers would know this 
] I don’t know if you remember, we used to have a hints-developing section in our childhood Grammar books 
. I enjoy doing those hints developing exercises, especially when I see them on my English exam question paper! It’s because, I’m somebody who can write lengthy stories {lengthy means, which can be written all through the China wall – Both sides! 
} out of the shortest hints given. So somehow this habit grew along in my blog’s recipe writing too! By hints I do not mean the 2-line instruction from that recipe supplementary, but the hints which I develop as and when I cook.
In order to develop the hints for a recipe, I have to have my eyes, nose, ears, taste-buds and touch senses very alert ALL-THROUGH my cooking in order to perfectly write the recipe for my readers. I wanted to tell them about the aroma that spreads, the colors that change, the sounds that are produced, the consistency or the texture of the product and about the taste of the food while a recipe is being developed. This way I can give hints to the readers on where exactly to start and stop a process when they try out my recipes. Uhhhhhh… I think I’m trying too much to hide my practice of recipe-copying. Hey, I should not be ashamed of copying either. I’m trying them on my own in my kitchen and writing them in my own words. My own tips and tricks! My own measurements! My own pictures! Okkkay okkkkayyy… let me stop playing my trumpet here and show you ‘How to make tasty Carrot Chutney (without using coconut)’.
How to make Carrot Chutney Recipe – With Step by Step pictures
**
*Step 1.
*Set the **ingredients for making Carrot chutney ready on the kitchen table. Peel, wash and slice the onions. Peel, wash and cut the garlic cloves. Wash and remove stalk from green chilies. Break them partially. Wash, peel and grate the carrots. Take tamarind and remove seeds, if any. I normally lightly wash the tamarind. Keep a wok on stove in Medium flame. Add 2 tsp. oil. Add all the ingredients. Add little salt too, so that they can be cooked quickly.
Step 2.
*Mix and sauté the contents until the onions sweat. The raw smell of the carrots vanishes and the sweet smell begins to show up slowly as you sauté the mixture. Once the carrots turn pale (you see the color difference in the below pictures?), that’s when you should switch *OFF the stove. This step takes 10 minutes.
Step 3.
*Transfer the mixture to a plate. Let the mixture cool before you blend. Once the sautéed mixture comes to room temperature, pop them into a mixie/blender. Add 3 tbsp. water. Grind them to a thick mixture, not too smooth, not too coarse, but to a thicky chutney. Check taste in mid way of grinding the chutney. _[If you’re hungry, don’t bother to temper the carrot chutney. Yes, this *carrot chatni tastes good right out from the mixer grinder!]_
Step 4.
*Transfer the chutney to a bowl. To *temper the chutney, keep a small wok on stove in Medium flame. Add 1 tsp. oil. Once the oil is hot, add the mustard seeds. Let the mustard seeds splutter completely. Add the urid dal. When the urad dal begins to turn golden, switch OFF gas. Immediately add the curry leaves (if you have). Careful the curry leaves will splutter.
Step 5.
*Add the tempering into the *carrot chutney. Mix. Yummy Carrot Chutney is now ready to serve. We had it with Roast Dosa 
yummmm….
3Ts [ Tips | Tricks | Tactics and Secrets ] to make Tasty Carrot Chutney
If you want more of a brilliant orange color to this Carrot Chutney, you may add 1/4 tsp. turmeric powder along with the ingredients when you sauté.
In Step 1., once the oil heats up, I add the partially broken green chilies first and sauté them for a minute. Then I add the rest of the ingredients with the chili and sauté them. This way the essence and flavors of green chilies will be completely infused with the oil and thus spread to the other ingredients when added next.
Now, why to grate the carrots? Can I not just slice them or chop them? Grating the carrots makes the sautéing process to be done quickly. It also helps the blender to grind the chutney easily and quickly.
Were you reminded of Carrot poriyal (Carrot stir fry) when you did the sautéing for this chutney. No?
You may check for salt/taste in the midway of grinding and adjust the salt/chilies accordingly. I always have additional green chilies sautéed and if need be I add them while grinding.
Before grinding any chutneys I make sure the content is not hot and is in room temperature. Grinding the content when hot will give a different color to the chutney and worn out your mixer grinder easily.
If your chutney turns out spicy, have a spoon of ghee or sesame oil when you eat it with idlis and dosas. More than idlis, I liked this Carrot Chutney with Dosas.
Red pearl onions (chinna vengayam) gives best taste for any chatney. However if you don’t have it just use big onions. I used sweet onions. The number of green chilies to be used for this carrot chutney is Inversely proportional to the type of onion used. That is, more the spiciness in the onions, less the number of green chilies needed. If you are using small onions/shallots/red onions, then you may need to reduce the number of green chilies to balance the spiciness. Since I used sweet onions (salad onions) I had to use more green chilies to balance the spiciness. So take care.
If you are somebody, following my chutney recipes, you must be knowing what am I to tell now.
The trick behind this Carrot chutney is in balancing: Balancing the tanginess from the tamarind, sweetness from the carrots and onions, sharpness from the garlic AND spiciness from the green chilies and the onions.
Long story short: if you’re able to balance the sweetness of the carrots and spiciness of the green chilies perfectly while making this chutney, then the diners will say, ‘Mmmmmnnnnhhhhhh… this carrot chutney is playing violin on my tongue…’
Carrot Chutney for Idli-Dosa
- PREP TIME: 5 min
- COOK TIME: 10 min
- TOTAL TIME: 15 min
- YIELD: 2
- DIFFICULTY: easy
- RECIPE TYPE: Chutney/Dip/Sidedish for Idly Dosai
Ingredients:
- 70 g Carrot (about 3/4 cup when grated)
- 50 g Onion (about 1/2 cup when sliced)
- 2 Garlic Cloves (about 10 g)
- 10 g Green Chilies (about 10 chilies if they are small)
- 5 g Tamarind (marble size)
- 2 tsp Oil
- 1/2 tsp Salt, adjust to taste
- *\ To Temper ***
- 1/4 tsp Black Mustard seeds (Kadugu)
- 1/4 tsp Urad dal (Uluttham paruppu)
- 1 tsp. Oil
Mangala from Cooking.Jingalala.Org
Eat Well !