Coriander/ Cilantro/ Kothimeera chutney

The festival season has started in India but i am not yet in the mood for festive dishes. I want to try new dishes, alright. But i find that i have bookmarked too many recently and can't decide which ones to try first. Or maybe its just that i am still gloating over the success of my last venture. The peanut butter cookies became such a hit, more so than the chocolate chip cookies, that i am still jumping in joy every time i remember it. How could something so simple please so many people so much? My neighbours and their little girl liked it, my father-in-law who usually doesn't like anything crunchy liked them so much that there weren't any left for my mother-in-law to taste. And last Sunday my cousin and her friends kept eating one after another when they only started out with a small piece for taste test so they could politely tell me they liked it. I can't remember being happier about cooking/baking anything else, the only exception is probably this cake . So now i am eager to make something that beats those cookies. Suggestions anyone? Nothing too difficult though, OK?

Meanwhile, because i still have to feed myself and the guy i live with, i can't really stop cooking until i find that next big thing. So let me tell you about this simple green chutney i made and how i got to doing it at all. Recently we had gotten quite fond of the fresh "gongura" chutney and were returning home with a huge bunch of these leaves with every visit to the farmers market. Seeing that we were perennially eating one kind of chutney, my mother-in-law hinted that i should try the fresh coriander chutney once, since we are also very fond of coriander and garnish almost every curry with it. And so during the last visit, i ditched the gongura leaves (are they the same as red sorrel in English?) for a bigger than usual bunch of fresh coriander. I looked up a few websites and picked up bits from different websites, refused the coconut and tomato versions, and had my way with the coriander chutney. I liked what i tasted, but i didn't fall in love - maybe because i didn't have any deep fried snacks that are traditionally paired with green chutney. Instead i ate some with plain white rice and a day later with dosas. In my fridge it stored well for about 5 days, but i think it would taste best within the first two days. And with grilled/ fried chicken or anything else deep fried. 

Ingredients

2 cups Fresh coriander/cilantro/kothimeera, roughly chopped and packed in

1 teaspoon mustard seeds

1 teaspoon cumin seeds

pinch of turmeric

1 tablespoon olive oil

5 small fresh hot green chilies

1/4 small onion, roughly chopped

juice of 2 limes

salt to taste, approximately 3/4 teaspoon

Method

Wash the fresh coriander, discard the roots and any large stems. Roughly chop and keep aside. Dry roast the mustard and cumin seeds in a shallow frying pan until aromatic, about 2 minutes on medium-low flame. Grind into powder. Roughly chop the onion and green chilies and fry in a tablespoon of oil until the onion turns soft, about 3 minutes. Add all the ingredients including the coriander, lime juice and salt into a blender and grind to a paste, smooth or coarse based on how you like it. Green chutney is now ready to be served. It goes best with deep fried snacks like samosas and pakoras.