Tomato Onion Chutney

Tomato onion chutney is my all time favorite. I love South-Indian food and I always ask for extra helpings of coconut chutney and tomato onion chutney when eating in restaurants. Although quite a simple recipe, I never made it at home until today. (not sure why :)) Usually we have curd with paranthas but it turned out that there was no curd in the refrigerator and so quite suddenly I decided to give this recipe a try. It turned out quite well and hubby loved it. :) Here is the recipe...


Preparation time: 10 minutes
Cooking time: 10 minutes

Ingredients:

For the paste

• Onion - 1 medium sized
• Tomatoes - 3 medium sized (i used 1 big and 1 small)
• Red Chilies - 4-5
• Whole gram (chane ki dal) - 2 tbsp
• Garlic - 4-5 cloves
• Salt - to taste
• Oil - 1 tspn

For the tempering

• Mustard seeds - 1 tsp
• Curry leaves - 3-4
• Oil - 1 tbsp

Directions:

• Heat oil in a pan over medium heat and add whole gram (chane ki dal) and cloves and saute till they turn golden in color. Add whole red chilies and saute for a 2-3 minutes.

• Add Onions and saute till onions turn transparent. 

• Add the tomatoes and salt and saute till tomatoes become soft. Saute till all the water (from the tomatoes) evaporates. If there is too much of water left in this, your chutney will be too thin and watery. 

• Transfer it to a bowl and let it cool and then blend it in a blender. Adjust the salt if required. Transfer it to a bowl. 
• In the same pan, heat oil for tempering and add mustard seeds. Add curry leaves when the mustard seeds stop spluttering. 

• Add this to the onion tomato paste in the bowl and mix well.
•  Onion Tomato chutney is done. Serve it with Dosa, Idli or even paranthas.

Notes:

• You can saute/fry the " whole gram, clove and chili" and "onion and tomatoes" separately  This way you can ensure that the gram (dal) or the chilies don't get over fried (burnt) and then mix the two in the blender. If the dal or chilies get burnt or turn black, they will give a bitter taste to the chutney when blended together.
• You can increase or decrease the number of whole red chilies depending on how hot you want your chutney to be.
• You can store this chutney in a refrigerator for up to 3 days.