Coconut & Coriander Chutney

Coconut & Coriander Chutney is a delightful combination of creaminess and tart lime with the freshness of herbs. I add a final tarka of fried mustard seeds, curry leaves and dried chilli to add depth of flavour. My favourite way of serving this Indian-style condiment is with snacks like spiced potato balls or dosa.

Jump to Recipe

Coconut chutney is a popular South Indian condiment.

I think I first ate it with the wonderful potato-stuffed masala dosas at Shivalli in Leicester. I used to work just around the corner from this bargain South Indian restaurant and some of us used to pop in for their incredible lunchtime vegetarian buffet. Besides the help-yourself table, they’d also come around with big dishes of the feather-light, fermented rice pancakes.

These days, here in the Moorlands, I have to create my own South Indian goodies. And this Coconut & Coriander Chutney, perfect for dipping into with Indian fried snacks, is my latest.

Coconut & Coriander Chutney

From my reading, it seems that traditional Indian coconut chutneys are made with fresh coconut meat, or sometimes frozen. However, here in Britain, a home cook like me makes do with the dried variety. To make up for any lack of richness though, I incorporate tinned coconut milk into my chutney.

I always have dried coconut shavings in the cupboard. Unless a recipe specifically calls for desiccated coconut, my preference is always for the shavings as I like the chewiness they bring.

However, in this recipe it’s going to be whizzed up, so if desiccated is what you have, then go ahead and use that.

The other main ingredients you’ll need (besides the coconut and coriander of the title) are a handful of cashew nuts, green chilli, fresh ginger and lime juice.

To make the basic Coconut & Coriander Chutney, all you do is whizz up the ingredients with water. You can add a little sweetener too if you like.

Try a Tasty Tarka

But I think what takes this chutney to another level is the addition of a tarka right at the end.

Sometimes also called a tadka or chaunk, a tarka is simply spices which have been heated in oil then stirred into a dish at the end. You might be most familiar with this in the restaurant favourite tarka dal.

For my Coconut & Coriander Chutney I heat black mustard seeds, dried chilli flakes and crushed dried curry leaves. Once they’re fizzing and popping, I stir them into the chutney, oil and all.

For a hot, coconut-flavoured dish, coconut oil would be my usual choice. However, as the chutney is going to be served at room temperature (and coconut oil is normally solid in this state) I use sesame oil instead. But you can use any oil really. Groundnut or sunflower oil would be fine.

Serving Coconut & Coriander Chutney

I created Coconut & Coriander Chutney especially to accompany the Aloo Bonda spiced potato balls you see in this post. I think the combination of coconut with spicy potato probably came to me from memories of those wonderful potato-stuffed dosas back in Leicester.

But the chutney will go well with lots of Indian-inspired snacks.

Best of all, have it on a traditional thali tray with curries, rice, salads plus more fried morsels and chutneys for a real feast.

Print

Coconut & Coriander Chutney

Indian-style condiment for snacks like dosa or Aloo Bonda. A final tarka of fried mustard seeds, curry leaves & dried chilli adds depth of flavour.

Course Side Dish, Chutney, Condiment

Cuisine Indian, Vegetarian, Vegan

Prep Time 20 minutes

Cook Time 5 minutes

Total Time 18 minutes

Servings 4

Author Moorlands Eater

Ingredients

• 15 g cashews
• 40 g dried coconut shavings or desiccated coconut
• 1 cm ginger root skin scraped off, grated
• 1-2 green chillies seeds in or out, as preferred
• 1 handful fresh coriander including stems
• 0.5 lime juice only
• 1 pinch salt
• 1 tsp sweetener optional
• 60 ml water
• 50 ml coconut milk

For the tarka/tadka

• 2 tsp oil e.g. sesame, groundnut, sunflower
• 1 tsp black mustard seeds
• 0.5 tsp dried chilli flakes
• 1 small handful dried curry leaves lightly crumbled in your hand

Instructions

1. Put the cashews in a heatproof bowl. Pour over boiling water from a kettle and leave until cold.

   Drain, then put in a food processor, blender or suitable container for using a stick/immersion blender.

2. Add to the processor, blender or container all of the rest of the ingredients except those for the tarka/tadka.

   Whizz until you reach the level of smoothness you'd like. Add more water or coconut milk if necessary.

   Set aside.

3. For the tarka:

   Heat the oil in a small saucepan.

   Add the mustard seeds, chilli flakes and the curry leaves.

   Cook until everything fizzles and pops then pour all (including the oil) into the prepared chutney.

   Stir well then set aside to cool before use.

Recipe Notes

Store leftovers in the fridge but best eaten at room temperature within 2 days. Not suitable for freezing.