An Introduction To Madurai Kara Chutney:
Seduce your taste buds with the spicy tangy Madurai Kara Chutney with steaming hot mallipoo Idlis along with a sizzling cup of filter coffee...
Located at the banks of river Vaigai, the city of Madurai popularly called as "Thoonga Nagaram" , is revered not only for its ancient Tamil Literature (Sangam), the Meenakshi Amman temple, but also for the "Malli Poo" (jasmine flower) and "Thirumalai Nayak Palace" that attracts a lot of tourists every day. Apart from being an important industrial and cultural hub, Madurai proclaims itself to be one of the best places for authentic dishes that has traversed a long way in the gastronomic history of South India. For example, Jigardanda is a delightful dessert from Madurai, that is famous all over the country which has crossed the national borders for its cooling effect and scintillating taste. Madurai Food always adapts itself to different culinary styles as it is constantly influenced by its foreign traders in and outside the country. You can see a host of dishes in Madurai, that has the flavor of the Saurashtrian, Chettinad and Sri Lankan Cuisines and each one has its own distinct color and aroma that captivates your attention in a instant. One such lucrative dish is this Madurai Kara Chutney, a simple yet a tantalizing accompaniment for South Indian breakfasts like Idli, Dosa, Uthappam, Appam, Kuzhi Paniyaram, Venpongal, pidi kozhukattai, adai and Medu Vada.
Madurai Kara Chutney is a flavorful fiery chutney that comes with the strong flavor of raw garlic and the mild sweet taste of shallots. The combination of garlic and shallots is always magical as it gives an inexplicable unique flavor that spruces up any dish and has been used much in the Indian cooking. This Madurai Kara Chutney comes with this fantastic flavor and tastes astounding when taken with soft idli and fluffy dosa. The pungent smell of raw garlic is neutralized by the alluring aroma of sesame oil and fresh curry leaves. The addition of grated coconut gives a perfect texture to the chutney and a bit of tamarind balances the flavors altogether. There are quite a few variants of Madurai Kara Chutney and they are almost similar to each other with just an inclusion or exclusion of one or two condiments.
In the local eateries, one can relish both vegetarian and the non vegetarian breakfasts and dinner with this fiery Madurai Kara Chutney, and you have quite a lot of outlets around the city that supplies steam hot idli dosa round the clock. The restaurants in Madurai surprise you not only with the native dishes, but also take you aback with astounding dishes from the global cuisines. This is one major reason to attract tourists who keep pouring in all through the year from different parts of the world to Madurai, as the food ranges from authentic dishes to innovative recipes. The overnight food stalls and the street food kiosks will fascinate you with an array of hot dishes with suitable accompaniments that are sold at reasonable price. If you get a chance to visit Madurai, never miss out the street food feast which you would get anywhere anytime around the corner.
Here is the recipe of delicious Madurai Kara Chutney that can be made in a jiffy:
Ingredients Required To Make Madurai Kara Chutney Recipe:
How To Make Madurai Kara Chutney Recipe:
Peel off the skin from the shallots and garlic and finely chop the former and keep aside.
Take a blender and tip in the measured quantities of dried red chili, garlic cloves and tamarind into it.
Add the required amount of salt and sprinkle a little water and make a smooth paste out of it and transfer it to a bowl.
Heat a small pan and tip in two tablespoons of sesame oil and when it is heated, drop in a teaspoon of mustard seeds to it.
When it pops up, add a teaspoon of broken urad dal and chana dal each follow it up with a sprig of curry leaves.
Let it sizzle too. Add a pinch of asafoetida powder and finally throw in some chopped shallots and when it turns golden brown turn off the flame and add these tempered ingredients to the kara chutney.
Now the lip-smacking Madurai Kara Chutney is ready to eat. Serve it with hot and fluffy Idlis or Kari (mutton) Dosa.
Tips And Tricks To Make Madurai Kara Chutney Recipe:
Some Useful Observations:
- Apart from Idli and dosa, it tastes super good with vellai paniyaram, ilandosai, bonda, arisi upma and vahzakai bajji.
- Sesame Oil serves the best for this kara chutney and therefore be liberal about the usage of oil in this recipe.
- We prefer shallots to regular onion as it has a mild sweet taste and enhances the overall flavor of the kara chutney but in case if shallots are not available, you can also use regular onion.
- Use byadagi red chili or kashmiri red chili to make the kara chutney as these varieties give the desired color and flavor.
- You can store it in the refrigerator for a week approximately as tamarind added in the chutney acts as a natural preservative.
- It can also be used as a dip for any crunch you have for snacks like pakoras, tapioca chips, khakra, ghatya and masala papad.
- You can also temper the chutney in groundnut oil and it tastes equally delicious like that of sesame oil.
- Usually the rai variety of mustard seeds (black and brown) are used in the South Indian seasoning and it makes the chutneys all the more appealing.
Ingredients
Directions
Peel off the skin from the shallots and garlic and finely chop the former and keep aside.
Take a blender and tip in the measured quantities of dried red chili, garlic cloves and tamarind into it.
Add the required amount of salt and sprinkle a little water and make a smooth paste out of it and transfer it to a bowl.
Heat a small pan and tip in two tablespoons of sesame oil and when it is heated, drop in a teaspoon of mustard seeds to it.
When it pops up, add a teaspoon of broken urad dal and chana dal each follow it up with a sprig of curry leaves.
Let it sizzle too. Add a pinch of asafoetida powder and finally throw in some chopped shallots and when it turns golden brown turn off the flame and add these tempered ingredients to the kara chutney.
Now the lip-smacking Madurai Kara Chutney is ready to eat. Serve it with hot and fluffy Idlis or Kari (mutton) Dosa.
