Easy and tasty Kerala style Red Coconut Chutney that is made with coconut, dried red chillies, pearl onions, curry leaves and some more spices. Best paired with snacks like Idli, Dosa, Medu Vada and Uttapam.
Take the tightly packed grated coconut, chopped shallots or pearl onions, dried red chilies and ginger in a chutney grinder or small blender.
Add salt as required and water.
Grind or blend to a fine consistency.
Note that, if you want to tone down the raw taste of red chilies, then just roast them lightly in a pan. You can also sauté them in a bit of coconut oil. Apart from ginger, you can also add 1 to 2 cloves of peeled garlic.
Transfer the ground red coconut chutney in a small steel bowl or pan and set aside.
Making tempering
Heat coconut oil in a small pan.
Add mustard seeds and allow them to crackle on low heat.
Then add the urad dal.
Fry the urad dal on low heat stirring often, till they are a maroonish golden.
Add the curry leaves and chopped shallots or pearl onions.
On a low heat, sauté stirring often till the shallots are light golden.
Next add the tempering mixture along with its oil to the red coconut chutney kept in the bowl.
Stir and mix well to combine.
Serve the Kerala style Red Coconut Chutney with idli, dosa, medu vada or uttapam.
Notes
Depending on the spiciness and pungency in the dried red chillies, you can add less or more.
The color of the chutney will vary with the kind of chillies you have used. Kashmiri red chillies and Byadagi chillies will give a nice deep orange color to the chutney.
You can use frozen coconut, instead of fresh coconut.
For a bit of sourness, add some tamarind or tamarind pulp while blending the ingredients.
If out of coconut oil, use any neutral flavored oil.
If you do not prefer the raw flavor of pearl onions or shallots in your chutney, then simply omit adding them. You can also opt to sauté them in some oil until they soften.