Idli is my mother’s favourite. A family joke from my mother was the moment when news of my mother’s upcoming visit arrived through snail mail, my grandfather asked my grandmother to make the soft and pillowy steamed round cakes so popular in India. Start preparing for And my grandmother’s Idli were divine. I have a wonderful picture of her cooking them in a brass idli pot with two O-shaped side handles on an open flame. While most Indians cook idlis with coconut chutney, my grandmother served them with raw banana chutney.
My head is full of memories of countless different chutneys that have been prepared by my immediate and extended family. I come from a region in western India that gets close to everything – vegetables, DalFruits, seeds, nuts, herbs, you name it in the sauce. (Case in point: My mother and her siblings made a sauce from hibiscus flower petals when they were teenagers.)
What is sauce?
Hot, sweet, spicy, tangy, or an unusual combination of all, chutneys are condiments with concentrated flavor explosions. I remember the chutneys changing the atmosphere around the dinner table enhancing an unloved vegetable or lentil with the flavor of the party’s mouth. Chutneys are served as part of dinner or lunch in the Indian states of Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh and Telangana, catering to diners who like spicy, tangy flavors. Another very important function of chutney is to complement street food. samosas, Chaat, bhajiya and vada are woefully incomplete without chutney.
Since moving to America and setting up my own kitchen, I have an even deeper appreciation for sauces and how they can complement the cuisines I’ve discovered here. With little or no tampering, sauces turn into dips, marinades, chutneys, spreads, or accent flavors in a dish. One need only stroll down the spice aisle of the local grocery store (or check data.To witness the fascinating expansion of sauces in American cooking.
How to eat chutneys?
This brings me to a style of cooking I’m increasingly seeing in cookbooks and cooking blogs—what I’m calling composite cooking. It goes like this: Add an Asian spice to a tried-and-tested recipe, enhance a vegetable with an Indian spice mix, or spike pasta with an African sauce resulting in great dishes like Gochujang Mac and cheese, chaat masala Avocado toastand Harissa Spaghetti
So, if we can do this with other recipes, why not with sauces? For example: I was planning a meal consisting of uttapam (thick south Indian rice and lentil dosa with tomatoes, onions and green chilies), but I didn’t plan for a sauce, which is a There is a big problem. You can’t have an idli, dosa, or uttapam without some chutney — you can’t! Inspired, I mixed peanut butter, sambal olek (an Indonesian chili sauce) and lime juice in a blender and the result was what I named Phataft Chutney (fattaft means sharp in Bombay dialect Hindi). ). Making chutneys or using chutneys in recipes is a great example of holistic cooking.
Another beauty of chutneys? They come together at once. Most follow a simple template and they last at least 10 days, if not longer, in the fridge. Say you have a bunch of cilantro or parsley wilting in the fridge? Extend their life by tossing them in a green sauce on a Sunday afternoon and you have a sophisticated ingredient that can be used in wonderful ways during the week. A small amount of preparation over the weekend lays the foundation for an amazing variety. Time saving food In a busy week.
Types of Sauces (And What to Do With Them)
Here are five of my favorite chutneys, along with some ideas on how to incorporate them into your weekly menu.
green sauce
Thin out green sauce Tofu, red pepper, zucchini, red onion slices, and cherry tomatoes and orange juice to marinate the grill. Pour a dollop of green sauce over the baked potatoes and sour cream. And green chutney as a sandwich spread is epic!
Dry peanut sauce.
Alternate with peanut butter. Dry peanut sauce In delicious dishes. Whisk together the peanut sauce, soy sauce, any chili sauce you like, and the rice vinegar sauce. Add chopped zucchini, bell peppers, canned baby corn, and mushrooms to the sauce, and stir-fry cooked adon or soba noodles. Garnish with finely chopped spring onion and serve hot.
Onion Tamarind Chutney.
A batch of garbage Onion Tamarind Chutney And serve it with delicious pancakes.
Mint sauce.
spread Mint sauce Add a dash over toasted bagels and cream cheese or over savory oatmeal.
Sweet and sour sauce.
Add two tbsp. Sweet and sour sauce In a bowl of puffed rice (available in Asian grocery stores) or Rice Krispies. Mix in chopped tomatoes, red onion, chopped green chilies, and chopped red chilies. Afternoon snack.
And that’s why you should keep sauce in your fridge or pantry at all times!