This pudina pachadi is made with fresh mint leaves, coconut, herbs and spices. It goes well with South Indian snacks like idli, dosa, vada, uttapam, pakoda, bonda or even with sandwiches.
Fry the mint leaves, curry leaves and ginger till the mint and curry leaves become crisp stirring often on a low heat.
Remove this mixture from the pan using a slotted spoon and draining all the oil in the pan. Place this mixture in a bowl and let it cool at room temperature.
In a chutney grinder or blender, add grated coconut (fresh or frozen), chopped green chilies and roasted chana dal.
Also add fried mixture of mint leaves, curry leaves and ginger that we had prepared in previous step.
Next add salt as required and about ¼ or ½ cup water. Grind or blend to a smooth paste without any chunks.
You can make the chutney thick or medium consistency as you prefer by adding less or more water.
tempering pudina pachadi
In the same pan, add oil if required. But do note that some oil will be there in the pan.
Add the mustard seeds and let them crackle at low heat.
Then add the curry leaves and asafoetida. Take care as oil can splutter when you add the curry leaves
Fry for some seconds on low heat stirring often till the curry leaves become crisp.
Pour the tempering mixture together with the oil in the ground pudina pachadi.
Stir well and serve pudina pachadi immediately with Idli, dosa or uttapam or vada.
Notes
Use fresh mint leaves. Only use the leaves and not the stems. The addition of stems may make the chutney get a bitter taste.
You can skip roasted chana dal if you don't have. And instead add roasted peanuts.
Instead of mint leaves you can use coriander leaves and make coriander pachadi. Alternatively use an equal mix of mint leaves and coriander leaves.
Make the chutney thick or medium consistency by adding water as needed.
You can opt to use fresh or frozen coconut. You can also use unsweetened desiccated coconut.