Cilantro Mango Chutney
If you ever dined at Indian restaurants you might have come across cilantro chutney , which we call ‘hari” chutney. ‘Hari’ means green in Hindi. Green chutney is such an important part of Indian cuisine and goes with so many things from sandwich to wraps, side to our appetizers or ‘farsan’. “Farsan” is a Gujarati word for fried savory snacks like samosa, pakoras (fritter), etc.
You cannot make ‘chaat’ without cilantro chutney. These are easy to make and comes together in minutes if you have a blender. I am pretty sure, in old days people use to grind using mortal and pestle.
Chutney is versatile. They are some basic ingredients that are usually available in our homes, and you can come up with different variations. I have heard so many different ways people make their chutney’s.
I will give you some basic list of ingredients and some options too. I like our chutney to be chunky but if you like it runnier, then go for it.
It invariably has cilantro, right its cilantro chutney after all. Other basic common ingredients are green chilies for heat, spices like cumin seeds, some acidity in the form of lemon. It also helps keep the chutney fresh, green looking. Ginger also adds that nice sharpness to it. Lot of people use garlic, and some don’t prefer it. I would suggest do what you prefer. A small clove of garlic will not hurt anyone.
Additionally, things you can add as per your taste- Mangoes, ripe/unripe – Ripe will add slight sweetness and make it chunky. Unripe, mangoes will add that bright tartness. I love both. Go with what you have available.
Coconut, peanuts, cashewnuts, sesame seeds, yogurt, mint, chaat masala and cool trick that I have learnt is us Gujaratis sometimes add thick sev or ganthia also. You might wonder what is sev or ganthia. They both are same things but different texture and size. Sev is thin, crispy fried snack whereas ganthia are thick, melt in your mouth kind of fried snack. You would have seen sev on any ‘chaat’ dishes. These are made with chickpea flour and that’s why they help bind and absorb the water content from the chutney resulting in thick chunky chutney. How cool, right? In couple of weeks, I will show some other recipes where we can use this chutney and amp up our dish not just use it as a side condiment. Hope you are excited!
Cilantro Mango Chutney
Ingredients
- 1 bunch cilantro with stems washed and chopped
- Few stalks mint washed and chopped
- 1/2 cup mango ripe mango or unripe, both are equally good
- 1 – 2 green chili
- 1 piece ginger
- 1 small clove garlic optional
- 1 tsp roasted cumin seeds
- salt to taste
- 2 tsp lemon juice
Instructions
- Add all the ingredients with 1/4 cup water in a blender. Blend it, taste it and adjust the seasonings if needed.
- Remove it in a jar or bowl. Use it as a condiment, seasoning etc.
- It can be easily stored in fridge for up to a month or you can freeze it for later use.
- If you use ripe mango like I did, it will give little sweetness and mild tartness. But, if you want to use unripe mango it will give very good tartness. I love both flavors.
XO, Devangi