Quick coconut chutney

 

I do like my chutneys.  I live on green chutney, but this coconut chutney is also pretty good... for total convenience I make it with desiccated coconut but it would be lovely with fresh grated coconut.  I served it with this curry leaf and coconut toast and it was delicious.  To make your own, you will need:

1 cup of dessicated coconut

1 green chilli

1 inch square of ginger

½ a teaspoon of salt

1 ½ teaspoons of sugar

juice of half a lemon

For tempering:

1 tablespoon of coconut oil

1/3 teaspoon of mustard seeds

a stalk of curry leaves (10-12 leaves)

For the curry leaf toast:

sliced bread

10-15 curry leaves

coconut oil

To make the chutney, first place the coconut in a bowl and pour in some bowling water – it should reach the top of the coconut but not go over.  Set aside for 10-15 minutes.  After this, put it in a blender with the rest of the chutney ingredients and blend to a paste.

Heat the coconut oil in a small pan, throw in the mustard seeds and wait until they start to pop, then add the curry leaves and keep frying for a few seconds.  Tip this mixture into the blender and blend again to a paste.

Taste chutney for lemon, salt and sugar before serving. 

To make the curry leaf toast, I smeared a few slices of bread with coconut oil, arranged the curry leaves on top and placed them in a sandwich grill to brown.  I sprinkled a bit of salt and pepper on to the toast before serving. 

Green chutney with ginger and garlic

 

You can never have too much green chutney.  It is packed full of healthy greens and is so tasty and spicy it really doesn't feel like you're basically eating a pile of herbs.  

This is a variation on my normal recipe - I made it as the base for a green chicken curry from one of Nana's old books (recipe to come), but is was so easy to make and more-ish it deserves to be acknowledged in its own right.  The original recipe this was taken from contained 10 cloves of garlic and 12-15 green chillies, so I have also toned that down for normal consumption... 

100 grams of fresh coriander

50 grams of fresh mint

3-4 green chillies

3 cloves of garlic, peeled

1 inch square of ginger, peeled

50 grams of dessicated coconut

1/2 a can of coconut cream (around 135 grams)

3 teaspoons of raw or brown sugar

1 teaspoon of salt

juice of half a lemon

Rinse and dry coriander and mint leaves on a tea towel.  Roughly chop chilli, garlic and ginger and then put all ingredients in a Thermomix or blender.  Blend until the mixture if a fine paste and taste for salt and lemon. 

Green chutney on toast or in sandwiches is my absolute favourite, but it also makes a great dip, and a base for stir-fries and curries.  If you have any leftover, you can freeze it in an ice cube tray and pop out a cube or two whenever you need some.