Peanut coconut chutney/ verusenagapappu kobbari pachadi

My favourite part of a south Indian breakfast is the chutney that accompanies it. While these chutneys are meant more as dips for the idlis and dosas, i eat them the other way round. I heap on double servings of chutney before i go for another serving of the actual breakfast course. And i love them so much that i bring them to the lunch table to enjoy with my rice and ignore the curries until the chutneys are gone. And i like them plain, like the picture you see above, without getting it cluttered by the zillion ingredients of tempering.

While i love all kinds of spicy chutneys, i especially love the white ones. The peanut chutney, coconut chutney, roasted Bengal gram chutney, and this one - peanut coconut chutney. Once its made, every visit to the kitchen will see me sneaking small spoonfuls. Its not just a delicious side dish to south Indian breakfasts, but goes perfectly with the deep fried evening snacks and if like me you can't get enough of it, pairs perfectly with rice too.

Ingredients

• 1 cup raw peanuts (salted roasted ones are fine too)
• 1/2 cup fresh coconut pieces
• seedless tamarind, small marble sized piece
• 1 teaspoon oil 
• 1 teaspoon cumin (optional, i just happen to love them)
• 5-7 green chilies
• salt to taste

For tempering (optional)

• 1 tablespoon oil
• 1/2 teaspoon mustard seeds
• 1/2 teaspoon cumin seeds
• 1/2 teaspoon split black gram, skinned
• 1/2 teaspoon split Bengal gram, skinned
• 1 dried red chili
• 2 sprigs curry leaves

Method

Dry roast the peanuts (or in a teaspoon of oil if you prefer) till they just start to brown and give out a slight aroma. Allow them to cool for 5 minutes. You can skin the peanuts if you want, but you won't notice the skins in the chutney even if you don't. Meanwhile heat a teaspoon of oil and saute the green chilies and cumin for 2-3 minutes on medium heat, turn off the flame and allow to cool. Soak the tamarind in two tablespoons of warm water for 5 minutes. Process all the ingredients in a mixer/food processor to a smooth paste, adding tablespoonfuls of water based on the consistency you want. Tempering is optional and is recommended if you like some curry leaves and crunchy Bengal gram in your chutney. Add any/all of the tempering ingredients to hot oil on medium flame for about a minute and add this to the chutney.

For now, I don't usually cook for food blogging events, rather look for food blogging events that will showcase what i  already cook. So this goes to Back to Basics: Basic Chutneys event being guest hosted by Siri and is the concept of Jaya.