Coconut Chutney (2 Methods)

Coconut chutney is one of the most popular side dish made by grinding coconut and blending it with tempered spices & curry leaves. Coconut Chutney is a soulful accompaniment for Idli, Dosa, Vada and lot more tiffin items. Coconut chutney recipe with step by step pictures and video.

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Coconut chutney is a sidedish for Idli, dosa, pongal, vada, oothapam etc. I have given both home style & hotel style variations here in this post. It is called thengai chutney in tamil and nariyal ka chutney in Hindi both translate to coconut chutney in their corresponding languages.

About Coconut Chutney

Coconut chutney is a day in and a day out dish that is made at least thrice every week in South India. Partnered with sambar they make a great combo for idli, dosa, vada, etc. It is absolutely easy to make and a good dish for cooking beginners.

One of my close friend has a weird way of selecting hotels – yes – she will not go to hotels which does not serve chutney and will prefer hotels that serve two or more types of chutney along with sambar and podi.

Who let the coconuts out?

Coconut chutney could be made in 5 minutes if the coconut is ready for use – either in grated form or in cut pieces form. Getting the coconuts out from the shell is the toughest part in the making of this chutney. We can get the coconuts grated either manually with a serrated knife fixed to board or with the help of grinder with coconut scraper accessories. Grating / serrating knife fixed to board is called Nariyal Khuruchni, Boti in Bengali, Thuruvamanai in Tamil, Kathipeeta in Telugu, Vili in Marathi – is still used in homes for serrating coconut, cutting vegetables in many parts of the country. Grated coconuts gets mixed well with dal & spices and gives a good crunchy feel to chutney. If we do not have access to scraper, coconut could be cut and use. It is lot more easy when we use coconut splitter / peeler / scraper / chipper knife to remove the coconut flesh from the shell. If we do not have access to grating or cutting we can buy grated coconut from supermarket.

Coconut Chutney Ingredients

• Coconut : Fresh grated coconut is recommended for this recipe though we can use desiccated coconut, grated coconut available in the super markets as well when fresh coconut is not available.Scrap the white fleshy part of coconut without brown part for better taste.

• Oil : Use regular cooking oil (refined sunflower / groundnut / sesame) for making coconut chutney. If you like the aroma of coconut oil, go for it.
• Tempering : A simple temering with mustard seeds, urad dal and curry leaves is made for coconut chutney. However you can add red chillies too.

Selecting coconuts : Select coconuts which weighs proportionately to their size or which is heavier. Heavier coconuts mean fresh and it is ideal for cooking. Coconut which are underweight might have become dry and the yield & taste may not be much. Coconut water sloshing sound should be heard when you shake it. Store coconut with eyes of the coconut facing upwards as they tend to breathe with it and shelf life will be more.

Find below the tools for crack opening coconut and scrpaping it. The first one is aruvamanai as we call it in tamil used for scrapping / grating coconut manually the middle small one is the grinder attachment for grating coconut and the long stick is the one used for crack opening the coconut shell and cutting coconut into pieces.

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Coconut Chutney 2 Methods

I have given 2 methods of making this chutney – home style and hotel style. Enjoy both the style and continue cooking the style you like the most! Also see variation section to experiment varieties of coconut chutney & make your day!

• Home style : This version is a simple everyday chutney which uses just basic ingredients. This is the version I make often to accompany with tiffin items.
• Hotel style : This hotel ctyle coconut chutney ues cashews for makeing it more white in color and rich in taste too.

Mass Chutney – Fluid Chutney

Coconut chutney is made as solid mass (ketti chutney in tamil) at homes without adding water so that it is easy to pack with Idli for train & bus journeys. Similarly the mass coconut chutney is a great side for vada, bajji, bonda and variety rice(heavenly tasty combo)like lemon rice, tamarind rice, mint rice, curry leaf rice as well. Mass thick chutney is usually made with 2 more green chillies or with mint so that it is spicy & flavourful.

Coconut chutney when made for a family of 3 or 4 could easily be served for 7-8 people by just adding equivalent water & tempered spices. I do this technique when we have sudden visitors at home or have little leftover which can be used for one more meal.

Why some coconut chutney are white, some orange, some red and some green?

Coconut chutney as such is white. However coconut takes colour and taste of the accompanied ingredient quickly and hence come in different colours& flavours. If we add couple of tomatoes the coconut chutney becomes orangish, if we add couple of red chillies it becomes redish, if we add mint or green chillies or both it becomes greenish and if we add ginger, it becomes mild brownish. 

If you have any more questions about this coconut chutney recipe do mail me at sharmispassions@gmail.com. In addition, follow me on Instagram, Facebook, Pinterest ,Youtube and Twitter .

Tried this coconut chutney recipe ? Do let me know how you liked it. Also tag us on Instagram @sharmispassions and hash tag it on #sharmispassions.

How to make Coconut Chutney

1.To a mixer jar add coconut, green chillies, fried gram dal and required salt.

2.Add water to it. Add 1/4 cup first if needed while grinding you can add more.

3.Grind it smooth like shown below. Add more water if needed to grind it to a chutney consistency.

4.It should be smooth but you should be able to feel the texture like shown below.

5.Transfer the chutney to a bowl.

6.To a tadka pan : heat oil first crackle mustard seeds. then add urad dal let it become golden then finally add curry leaves and switch off.

7.Add this tadka to chutney.

8.Mix well and your chutney is done.

Coconut chutney ready!

Variations

Coconut chutney is a very flexible recipe which can be made in more than a hundred methods. Some of the variations are listed below

• Make coconut chutney skipping the tempering part
• Grind with little or no water to make it as a solid chutney with or without tempering
• Add tomatoes to coconut to make orange coconut chutney
• Add  red chillies to coconut to make red chutney
• Add coriander or mint or green chillies or both to make green chutney
• Add ginger to makemild brownishginger chutney
• Add raw mango flesh to make coconut mango chutney
• Add tamarind to make Puli chutney or Tamarind chutney
• Add equal amount of roasted gram dal to make pottukadalai / roasted gram chutney
• Add onions while tempering to make an onion mixed coconut chutney
• Add equal amounts of peanuts with coconut to make a coconut peanut chutney
• Using milk instead of water when grinding coconut to paste

Serving & Storage Suggestions

Coconut chutney is a great side for Idli, Dosa, Vada, Bajji, Bonda, Sevai, Uthappam, Pongal, Kichadi, Upma, Poori, Chapati, Idiyappam, Vellapaniyaram, Kuzhipaniyaram, appam, Adai, lemon rice, tamarind rice, mint rice, curry leaf rice and curd rice.

Coconut chutney has more raw coconut and hence to be consumed with 8-10hrs of making it. If you have leftover, you can use it in the poriyal / curry cooking for lunch or freeze it.

How will I know if the chutney has become bad : Chutney will look fermented and gives a sour & salty taste which means chutney has become bad.

Increase the shelf life by following the below steps and freezing it for using it beyond a day.

• Adding a tsp of tamarind to the grinding mixture
• Cooking without touching the chutney or the ground paste to prevent chutney from get spoilt fast.

FAQs

1.What is Coconut chutney?

Coconut chutney is a pleasant & creamy side dish made by grinding coconut and blending it with tempered spices & curry leaves.

2.How to make Coconut chutney?

1. Grind grated coconut along with roasted gram dal, green chillies with required water and grind it to a smooth paste.
2. Heat oil and add mustard seeds, urad dal & curry leaves and allow them to crackle.
3. Transfer it to the coconut paste, add required salt and mix well to make coconut chutney.

3.Can I use grated coconut available at super market as I do not have access to fresh grated coconut?

Yes we can use grated coconut only if we could not get the fresh ones. Saute for less than a minute just to heat it and use warm water in the cooking. However the taste when cooked with dried grated coconut will not be as good as with fresh grated coconut as the processed dried coconut is devoid of the oil/moist of coconut.

4.Can I skip gram dal, urad dal?

As both of them can be skipped if you do not have access to procure them. Also they can be replaced with chana dal.

5.My frozen grated coconut is creaming out when making chutney – What should I do?

Grated coconut at home when frozen does not normally cream out. However the ones which is bought from store tend to cream –allow frozen coconut to come to room temperature or dry roast it for couple of minutes and cook the recipe with warm water to get a near to taste fresh coconut chutney!

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Hotel style coconut chutney is best side dish for idli,dosa,pongal,vada etc. I have seen hotel chutneys with a nice white color and the taste is also different.

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The hotel coconut chutney served in Hotel Annapoorna here in Coimbatore, I have tried quite a few times to get that same taste but could only go near to it though not the exact taste and that is the reason why I delayed this post .I kept trying with different possible combinations, but still I am waiting to get the exact taste may be someday.

Over the years I have tasted white coconut chutney in many hotels but still the one in Annapurna definitely stands unique taste wise,texture wise and colorwise. I could give 100% to taste and texture for my chutney but then for the taste I can give only 90% but am sure to nail it soon.If I do, will surely update here .

How to make Hotel Style Coconut Chutney

1.To a mixer jar : add coconut, cashews, green chilli and salt.

2.Add water as needed and grind to a smooth chutney.

3.Transfer the chutney to a bowl.

4.To a tadka pan heat oil add mustard seeds let it crackle then add urad dak let it become golden then add red chilli and curry leaves.

5.Transfer the prepared tadka to chutney.

6.Mix well. Chutney ready.

Hotel style coconut chutney ready! Serve with hot idli,dosa or kozhakattai etc.