Homemade Chutney Powder is a semi-spicy South Indian condiment made with lentils, dry coconut and red chillies that is an excellent accompaniment to Idlis, Dosas, and Rice.
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Chutney Powder has the right mix of spice, salt, tang and sweetness – the epitome of any well-made dish. Since it has that all-in-one palette, it goes well with dosas, idlis or steamed rice.
Chutney Powder is a condiment found in several south Indian homes. It is an easy substitute for fresh coconut chutney, usually made with idlis and dosas. Along with piping hot idlis or dosas, add a spoonful of chutney powder, make a small hole in the centre, and fill it with sesame oil. Mix the oil and chutney powder; now you have an equal contender for fresh coconut chutney.
Popular Homemade Chutney Powder Stores in Bangalore
This chutney powder will be available at most small mom & pop stores in old-time/traditional parts of Bangalore that sell homemade snacks, pickles and sweets.
Subamma Stores in Gandhi Bazaar, Basavanagudi area in Bangalore, is one such popular store known for its homemade pickles, powders, and sweets. But each store has its formulation of dals, dry coconut and red chillies ratio.
Chutney powder, or in Kannada known as Chutney Pudi, is a common condiment found in most Karnataka homes. Adukale is one brand that is loved by my family and we’ve tried almost all their varieties.
In Tamil households, it’s known as Milaga podi, which slightly differs from this recipe.
Ingredients for the Homemade Chutney Powder
The main ingredients used for the Chutney powder are:-
- Channa Dal
- Split Urad Dal
- Byadagi red chillies
- Dry Coconut or dessicated coconut
- Jaggery Powder
The first step to making the chutney powder is to roast all the ingredients on low heat. You can start with channa dal first in the order of ingredients mentioned above.
Place a shallow pan and allow it to warm up on medium to low heat. Add the Channa dal and roast it with the help of a large spoon on low heat. Remove the pan from the flame and pour the golden dal onto a plate for them to cool down. This process will take roughly 5 minutes to see the channa dal turn brown.
Next, split Urad dal is a small-sized dal; hence, this should take less than 5 minutes to roast. Once the dal turns light brown, remove the pan from the heat and pour the contents onto the same plate containing the channa dal.
Next, you can roast the red chillies. You must stand next to the stove to ensure they roast evenly on all sides. The red chillies are sufficiently roasted when they do not look shrivelled anymore and make a rough sound as they scrape the pan’s surface. Add the roasted chillies to the plate.
Dry coconut will roast quickly, it will take less than thirty seconds. Once the dry coconut turns brown, add it to a separate plate to cool down. Add the asafoetida to this plate; it will get toasted in the residual heat.
Grinding the chutney powder
Once all the ingredients have cooled down, add the dals and red chillies to the mixer and grind it to an almost smooth powder. Scrape down the elements so that all the ingredients blend well.
Next, add the dry coconut, jaggery powder, and salt per your taste (roughly one teaspoon).
Grind all the ingredients together. Add the chutney powder to a plate and let it cool down.
Store your freshly ground homemade chutney powder in an air-tight container and use it for up to a month.
Chutney Powder and Its uses
When eating chutney powder, add a generous tablespoon of chutney powder and a generous tablespoon of gingelly oil/sesame oil to the chutney powder – give it a good mix to make it a paste or the consistency of coconut chutney.
If you want extra crunch and flavour in your veggie stir-fries, Chutney powder makes for a great additive in them – try it.
If your sambar or dal gets too watery, add this chutney powder to help thicken it.
Variations to Homemade Chutney Powder
With this recipe as the base, you can add many ingredients to make it more nutritious. Some of the popular ones are:
- Crushed peanuts or powdered peanuts
- Flaxseed powder or crushed flaxseeds
- Curry Leaves
- Bengal Fried Gram (Hurikadale/ Pottu kadalai)
With this recipe, you get a yield of 500 gm of Chutney powder, which should last you at least a month.
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Recipe
Homemade Chutney Powder
Ingredients
For Roasting
- 1 cup Chana Dal
- 1 cup Copra
- 1/2 cup Split Urad Dal white
- 12-15 pieces Byadagi Red Chillies reduce for a less spicy version
- 10 gm Tamarind lime sized
- 1 tsp Asafoetida
- 1 tbsp Rock Salt
- 4 tsps Jaggery Powder or more if you want sweeter
Instructions
Prep Work
- Measure and keep all ingredients aside separately. It is advisable not to mix all the ingredients and roast them together, since each ingredient takes different time to get properly roasted.
- Remove the stems of the red chillies.
- If you do not have dry coconut / copra / desiccated coconut – you can make your own by cutting fresh coconut into tiny pieces, roasting them on a low flame until the coconut shrivels and you feel like the moisture is out. Dry coconut contains no moisture thereby adding to the shelf life of the chutney powder.
How to make Homemade Chutney Powder
- Place a pan on medium -low heat and let it warm up. Add Chana dal and roast it until golden brown. This process should take around 5 minutes. Once done, transfer the roasted chana dal to a large plate for it to cool down.
- Keep the pan back on the flame, roast the urad dal next, until golden brown. Roasting urad dal will take less than 5 minutes. Transfer the Urad dal to the same plate as the chana dal.
- Next, roast the dry chillies: you know they are well roasted when the chillies puff up and make a scratchy/crunchy noise when roasting it. Once done, transfer to the same plate.
- Now add the dry coconut into the pan for a light roast. Dry coconut will roast quite quickly, so do not move away from the pan. Once you see that the copra/dry coconut is slightly brown, switch off the flame, add the asafoetida powder and give it all a good mix. The powder will roast in the residual heat. Transfer the dry coconut to a separate plate and allow to cool down.
- Once all the roasted items have cooled down, add the roasted dals and red chillies to the mixer first. Grind until you get an almost smooth powder. Next, add the roasted dry coconut along with the powdered jaggery and salt.
- Grind it to a fine consistency. Spread the homemade chutney powder on the plate and let it cool down. Once cool, store this brilliant chutney powder in an airtight container.
Notes
If you are looking for a few chutney recipes, Click here to find them all.
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