Chutney

A chutney (pronounced [ˈʧəʈɳiː]) is a condiment associated with cuisines of the Indian subcontinent. Chutneys are made in a wide variety of forms, such as a tomato relish, a ground peanut garnish, yogurt, or curd, cucumber, spicy coconut, spicy onion, or mint dipping sauce.

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Chutney
Different types of chutneys from Bengaluru, India
Alternative names	blatjang, chatni, pachadi, satni, thambuli
Place of origin	Indian subcontinent
Region or state	South Asia, Britain, Western world
Associated cuisine	Bangladesh, India, Nepal, Pakistan, South Africa, Sri Lanka, Trinidad and Tobago, United Kingdom
Main ingredients	Vegetables, fruits, vinegar, salt, spices.
Cookbook: Chutney Media: Chutney

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Etymology

The word chutney derives from Hindustani/Urdu (Nastaliq: چٹنی, Devanagari: चटनी) chaṭnī, deriving from चाटना chāṭnā 'to lick' or 'to eat with appetite'.^[1]^[2]

Overview

In India, chutneys can be either made alongside pickles that are matured in the sun for up to two weeks and kept up to a year or, more commonly, are freshly made from fresh ingredients that can be kept a couple of days or a week in the refrigerator. Chutneys were traditionally ground with a mortar and pestle. Spices are added and ground, usually in a particular order; the wet paste thus made is sautéed in vegetable oil, usually sesame or peanut oil.

In South India, chutneys are known as pachadi (Telugu: పచ్చడి, Kannada: ಪಚಡಿ, Tamil: பச்சடி, Malayalam: പച്ചടി, Marathi: पचडी) meaning traditional South Indian sauces or chutneys served as side dishes. Roughly translated, a pachadi is a pounded or crushed plant.^[3] Pachadis are made of fresh vegetables and are served on the side for dishes like idli, dosa, and pesarattu.

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History

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Indian cuisine

Similar in preparation and usage to a pickle, simple spiced chutneys can be dated to 500 BC.^[4] Originating in India,^[5]

Diego Álvarez Chanca brought back chili peppers from the Americas to Spain in 1493. He had sailed with Columbus. After discovering their medicinal properties, Chanca developed a chutney to administer them. In the early 17th century, officials of the East India Company on the Indian subcontinent subsisted on preserved foodstuffs such as lime pickles, chutneys and marmalades. Beginning in the 17th century, fruit chutneys were shipped to various European countries as luxury goods. These imitations were called "mangoed" fruits or vegetables, as the word 'chutney' was associated with the working class in these countries.^[4]

Anglo-Indian cuisine

Major Grey's Chutney, a sweet and spicy variety, was supposedly created by a likely apocryphal 19th-century British Army officer of the British Raj, adapting Indian cuisine to Anglo-Indian taste. Its characteristic ingredients are mango, raisins, vinegar, lime juice, onion, tamarind extract, sweetening and spices. Several companies produce a Major Grey's Chutney, in India, the UK and the US. The formula was sold to Crosse and Blackwell, a major British food manufacturer, probably in the early 1800s.^[6]^[7]

In the absence of Indian limes, mangoes, and tamarind, British chutneys use fresh fruits and vegetables such as apples and onions with an equal weight of brown sugar, and some vinegar. A liking for Indian pickle-style chutneys led Anglo-Indian cooks to devise piccalilly relish made with vegetables, vinegar, salt, and yellow turmeric. Influenced by Anglo-Indian cuisine, chutney is often eaten with hard cheese or with cold meats.^[8] Western-style chutneys may include flavourings such as salt, garlic, tamarind, onion or ginger.^[9]

By regions of India

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In Andhra Pradesh and Telangana

Vegetable pachadi is made with vegetables like bottle gourd, aubergine, and okra. The vegetable is cooked al dente and is ground with roasted red/green chilis, fenugreek seeds and mustard seeds.
Green pachadi: The most popular one is Gongura pachadi made out of red sorrel leaves and roasted red chiles, and is unique to Andhra cuisine. Other than this, chukka koora (a type of sour leafy greens found in Andhra Pradesh) pachadi is popular.

In Karnataka

Thambuli is a type of sauce or chutney eaten in the Indian state of Karnataka. Thambuli is a curd based dish and is usually consumed with hot rice along with hot sambar. It is made mostly from greens and carrots, beetroot like vegetables as their main ingredients. It is prepared by grinding the vegetable with the spices and then mixing it with yogurt. All ingredients are used raw.

An example is heeray kayi (ridge gourd) chutney.

In Tamil Nadu and Kerala

In Tamil Nadu, pachadi is eaten fresh and typically made of finely chopped and boiled vegetables such as cucumber or ash gourd, with coconut, green or red chillis and fried in oil with mustard seeds, ginger and curry leaves. Pachadi is commonly eaten with rice and lentil curry.

In Kerala, sour pachadi is prepared using curd much as in Tamil Nadu. Along with sour pachadi, a sweet variant in Kerala is made with pineapple, grapes or pumpkin.^[10] It is served at restaurants along with vegetable thali rice. It forms part of a traditional sadhya meal, especially during the Onam and Vishu festivals.

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