Peanut Chutney

 Blender alert

This isn’t what most Westerners would think of as a chutney. To us it is more of a pâté or a spread. However, it tastes surprisingly good and goes very well with lentil flatbreads. However, it’s also very acceptable as part of a ‛charcutérie’ board with bread or crackers. The tempering adds an exotic touch, but isn’t essential, especially if there are other dips and pâtés on the board.

Ingredients

1½ tsp oil

1 to 2 green chillies or dried red chillies, to taste

1½ tbsp urad dal or chana dal

1/2 cup raw peanuts, OR roasted peanuts

1/2 tsp cumin seeds

1/4 tsp of garlic OR ginger paste

1/4 tsp salt

1/2 to 3/4 cup water

1/2 tsp tamarind paste

Tempering (optional)

1 tsp oil

1/4 tsp black mustard seeds

1/4 tsp chilli flakes

1/4 tsp crushed garlic

1 pinch asafoetida/hing (omit for GF)

Method:

• Heat 1 tsp oil in a pan. Fry chillies and dal until the dal turns golden.
• Remove and set aside.
• Add peanuts and fry over a medium flame until golden and aromatic.
• Add cumin to the hot peanuts. Keep aside to cool.
• Transfer all these to a blender along with garlic/ginger, salt and 1/2 to 3/4 cup water.
• If your are using it, add the tamarind paste.
• Blend until it’s smooth.
• Taste and add more salt and chilli if required.

Tempering (optional)

• Add 1 teaspoon oil to the hot pan.
• Next add mustard, red chilli and garlic. Fry until fragrant.
• Lastly add hing.
• Turn off the heat and pour the tempering over the chutney.

Serve peanut chutney with bread, crackers or lentil flatbreads.

Notes:

• If you are using roasted and salted peanuts, don’t add any more salt until you’ve mixed and tasted the chutney.
• You can dry roast the peanuts without oil.
• Traditionally, the peanuts are dry roasted first and then the skin removed. In this case, brown the skin as well as the nut to bring out the full flavour. A compromise is to use blanched peanuts and roast them yourself. They will add a better flavour to the chutney.

Carrot chutney

Blender Alert

This is another Indian chutney, that most of us would not recognise as such, and while it may sound unpromising, it’s very good. Like the peanut chutney, it also makes a very useful spread or dip, particularly with lentil flatbreads. The tempering adds a bit more spice and an interesting appearance. If you’re serving it with bread, or crackers, along with other ‛charcuterie’, you might prefer it without. It will still be both an unusual and pleasant addition.

Makes a good cupful

1 tbsp (coconut) oil (divided) 

2 tsp chana dal OR roasted peanuts

1 tsp urad dal OR sesame seeds

2 dried red chillies (adjust to taste)

1/2 garlic paste

1/2 tsp ginger paste

1 green chilli (adjust to taste)

1/2 tsp cumin seeds

1 cup carrots (chopped, 200 grams)

1/2 tsp salt

1/8 tsp turmeric

1 to 2 tsp lemon juice OR tamarind paste

Optional Tempering

1 tsp (coconut) oil

1/4 tsp mustard seeds

1/2 tsp cumin seeds

1/4 tsp chilli flakes

1/4 tsp garlic paste

1 pinch hing (asafoetida)

Method

• Pour 1 teaspoon oil to a hot pan. Add chana dal, urad dal and red chillies to the hot oil and fry until the dal turns light golden.
• Add garlic, ginger and green chillies. Fry until the dal turns deep golden to light brown. Add cumin seeds, stir and remove all of the fried ingredients to a plate.
• To the same pan, pour 2 teaspoons oil. Add carrots, salt and turmeric. Stir fry on a medium high heat for 3 to 4 minutes until fragrant. Covered and cook for 2 to 3 minutes or until tender. Turn off the heat and cool.
• Add the cooled dal, ginger, garlic, chillies and cumin to a blender and make a slightly coarse powder.
• Add the cooked carrots and tamarind paste/lemon juice. Pour in 1/4 cup water. Blend to a smooth or coarse chutney to suit your liking, scraping the sides as you go.
• Taste and add more salt if you think it needs it.
• Adjust the consistency to suit with more water, if you want to.

To temper (optional)

• Heat oil in a pan. Add the mustard seeds, cumin seeds, chilli flakes and garlic paste. Fry until the cumin seeds have changed colour and the spices smell fragrant. Add hing and turn off.
• Pour the tempering over the carrot chutney.

Notes:

• Leave out the hing for GF.
• Chana dal and urad dal are added for flavour and taste. However, for a change, you can use roasted, skinned peanuts and white sesame seeds. Both work well but the chutney tastes different. Most of us have salted peanuts on board and these can be used, but in that case, add the salt after you’ve blended the chutney so as not to over-salt it.
• You could make this without a blender, if you used peanuts and sesame seeds and either chopped the peanuts, or ground both in a Mouli. The other ingredients would need to be cooked until they were very soft and you might want to use a little cayenne pepper and ground cumin instead of the whole spices. This would end up a little more chunky, but none the worse for that.
• Use young juicy carrots and not old, tough ones. If they need peeling, rather than scrubbing, they won’t go well in this chutney. 
• Ginger and garlic: I love both, but you can skip one of them if you prefer. The chutney is quite delicately flavoured, so follow the recipe and don’t use too much.
• Chillies: Dried chillies add pungent flavours and heat while the fresh green chillies add heat. You can use one or the other, if you prefer. I use green chillies in brine due to the insane expense of fresh ones (in New Zealand).

Lentil flatbread

Blender Alert

These are a lazy way of making dosas, which require a particular type of split lentil (urad dal) and fermenting overnight, in a warm place, which often isn’t practical when voyaging. Unfortunately, they do need a blender. In due course, I’ll have a recipe for chickpea flour flatbreads that don’t need one. I have tried making these by grinding the lentils to make flour, but they weren't as successful as using the soaked lentils in this recipe.

These ‛flatbreads’ are halfway between a roti and a thick pancake, but are great hot or cold and excellent to serve with any sort of spread, pâté or dip, including some of the chutneys you will find on this blog. This recipe has minimal seasoning, so as not to compete with whatever you are serving them with, but fenugreek seeds are often used in traditional recipes, so I have included them.

I find the 150 mm/6 inch frying pan I use for tempering spices is perfect for cooking these flatbreads. Any pan that you trust for pancakes will be correct for these.

Makes 8 flatbreads

Ingredients

 

1/2 cup moong dal OR split red lentil

1 cup water

1/2 tsp salt

1/2 tsp fenugreek seeds

 1/2 tsp baking powder

oil

 

Method:

• Put the dal into the blender jug and add the water, fenugreek and salt.
• Add baking powder if you want a fluffier flatbread.
• Leave to soak for at least an hour. (Use hot water to speed things up, if necessary).
• Once the dal is well-soaked, blend everything into a smooth, thick batter. If it’s still a bit gritty, leave for another quarter of an hour and then blend again.
• Heat the pan and when you think it’s hot enough, dribble a drop of batter into it. It should instantly start to set.
• If you think it may need it, add a tiny amount of oil to your pan and swirl it around. Now add 2 tbsp batter, tipping the pan so that it covers the base, or spreads itself into a 150 mm/6 inch disc.
• Cook until the surface looks dry and then flip the flatbread or turn it using a spatula. Cook for another half minute or so and move to a plate.
• Add a little more oil if necessary and then continue cooking all the batter until it’s used up.

Notes:

• The flatbreads can be kept warm in a low oven, if you have one, or between two warmed plates.
• These flatbreads are equally good warm or cold. To reheat them, stack them in your frying pan and cover with a lid. Put them over a low heat. After a few minutes, turn the stack over. The heat should spread through all of them.

Variations:

• Add coriander, cumin, nigella, chilli, or any other spice that takes your fancy to add more flavour.
• Omit the fenugreek and use herbs such as oregano or rosemary, and use instead of bread or rolls.
• Add a generous amount of garlic to the batter, and drizzle the warm flatbread with a well-flavoured olive oil before serving.

Avocado and cheese pâté

I invented this on the spur of the moment one evening in Trinidad. We had invited some friends round for drinks and I wanted fairly substantial nibbles, so that no-one would need to cook more than a light meal after they left. I had a ripe avocado on board, but none of the other ingredients for Guacamole, which would have been my normal choice. However, this recipe worked so well that I reckoned it was worth adding to the repertoire!

Serves 4 for a starter

 

1 large, ripe avocado pear

at least 1/2 cup finely grated cheese

 1/4 tsp of hot sauce 

1 tbsp lime juice 

salt and pepper

 

Method:

• Cut the avocado pear in two, remove the stone and scoop out the flesh into a bowl.
• Add the grated cheese. A 1/2 cup is sufficient if the cheese is full-flavoured; add more if it’s very mild.
• Blend the avocado and cheese together with a broad-bladed knife, and add the hot sauce – use less if you don’t like your food too spicy.
• Blend in the lime juice and season the mixture. The result should be a soft pâté, almost like a dip.

Variation:

• Use lemon juice, if no lime is available.