NELLIKAI CHUTNEY

 NELLIKAI CHUTNEY

This is the time of year when Indian Gooseberries are available in plenty. These are called  Nellikai/Nellikayi in Tamil and Kannada, Amla in Hindi, and Avalo in my mother tongue, Konkani.

As we had gooseberries readily available, I decided to prepare an easy to make yet delicious chutney with them to go with the breakfast dosas! 

We have been told that even in ancient times our rishis knew about the many health benefits of amla. This article details some of the health benefits  of gooseberries. 

Elsewhere in this blog, you will find recipes for dishes made with health-filled gooseberries such as:-

• Nellikai Gojju
• Nellikai Saaru
• Nellikai Thayir Pachadi 
• Avale Kadi 
• Nellikayi Chitranna

Today's recipe is for Nellikai Chutney. For this you can add green chillies as per your taste. The addition of asafoetida and jaggery enhances the taste of this chutney. Overall this goes great as an accompaniment to our usual breakfast fare of idlis and dosas. 

I hope you will try this out and am sure that  you will like it as much as we do! 

Ingredients:-

• Large -sized Nellikai (Gooseberry), 2
• Fresh Coconut Gratings, 1/2 cup
• Green Chillies, 2-3
• Asafoetida, (Hing), 1/8 tsp
• Jaggery, grated, 1 tsp
• Salt, to taste

For  Seasoning:-

• Mustard Seeds, 1/4 tsp
• Urad Dal, 1/2 tsp
• Dried Red Chilli, 1- broken into halves
• Curry Leaves, 6-8
• Oil, 1 tsp 

Method:-

Wash the gooseberries, chop them and discard the central seed

In a mixer jar, grind together the gooseberries, fresh coconut gratings, green chillies, asafoetida, jaggery, and salt without adding any water- to a coarse paste

Now add 1/4 cup of water and grind once again to get a thick chutney

Transfer the chutney to a bowl

Heat oil in a seasoning pan and on medium heat add the mustard seeds and when they splutter, add the urad dal and saute till the dal changes colour. Next add the broken red chilli and the curry leaves and sauté for a few seconds.

Pour this seasoning onto the chutney

Serve the Nellikai Chutney as an accompaniment for idli, dosa etc