Coconut chutney

Remember the dosas in India? the expert cook making crisp pancakes in the svelte ring heat of a udipi restaurant kitchen, bowls full of sambhar to dip dosas and eat like a soup when the dosa's no more, the spicy yet bland coconut chutney that proves to be the best accompanist to the mashed and spiced potatoes.
I'm not great at making dosas from scratch but can use a mix at its best, same goes for sambhar but chutney is a different ball game. So here goes a recipe for a simple coconut chutney south Indian style.



Ingredients

Chutney
1 cup coconut ( you can use fresh coconut and grate it or unsweetened dry flakes, try and avoid frozen)
6-8 serrano / indian chillies
1 tiny red onion or shallot
1/3 cup coriander and mint chopped)
1 tablespoon coconut milk or yogurt
1/4 cup of tamarind extract ( imlee or tamarind soaked in water)
¼ tsp of salt
Salt to taste


Baghar,tadka,tempering

1 tsp each of mustard seeds, cumin, urad dal, fresh curry leaves and few pieces of dried red chilli.


Method

Take all the ingredients under chutney and in a grinder and coarsely grind.

Taste and adjust spice level according to your taste

Take a small pan or kadhai heat two tablespoons of oil

Add the ingredients under tadka into the oil

Let them fry till dark, add to the chutney

Serve with dosa , idly ,upma , anything !