South Indian
Onion Chutney
Onion Chutney is South Indian home cooking, eaten at breakfast, lunch, and dinner. On the plate it is the condiment. Below is what usually sits beside it, what it does and does not contain, and what else to cook once you have made it.
Ingredients
- 2 cups shallots
- 4 dried red chilies
- 1 tbsp tamarind pulp
- 2 tbsp roasted chana dal
- 4 garlic cloves
- 1/2 tsp mustard seeds
- 1/2 tsp urad dal
- 10 curry leaves
- 2 tbsp neutral oil
- 3/4 tsp salt
How to cook it
- Heat half the oil in a pan and cook the shallots, garlic, and dried red chilies until softened and lightly browned, about 8 minutes.
- Cool slightly, then blend with the roasted chana dal, tamarind pulp, salt, and a splash of water into a coarse chutney.
- Heat the remaining oil, let the mustard seeds pop, then add the urad dal and curry leaves and let them turn golden.
- Pour the tempering over the chutney and serve.
Serve it with
A South Indian dinner is a plate rather than a single dish. These are the courses that normally sit beside Onion Chutney, read from the same composition Dinejot builds a real meal from.
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The dish at the centre
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What it is eaten with
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Something cool and fresh
A course labelled with another kitchen's name comes from a cuisine in the same family, which is where this plate usually borrows it from.
Safe at your table
Dinejot tracks ten allergens and tags every one of them by hand. Onion Chutney carries none of them. That is a checked answer rather than an ingredient list nobody read.
| Allergen | In this dish | Cook this instead |
|---|---|---|
| Peanuts | No | |
| Tree nuts | No | |
| Dairy | No | |
| Gluten | No | |
| Shellfish | No | |
| Eggs | No | |
| Soy | No | |
| Fish | No | |
| Sesame | No | |
| Coconut | No |
These tags are set by a person rather than inferred from an ingredient list, and they describe the recipe as written here. Read the labels on whatever you actually buy.
What it brings to the plate
Bands, not numbers. Dinejot does not weigh anybody's food, so it says light, moderate or hearty and stops there. This dish was read and set by hand.
- Calorie band
- Light
- Protein
- Low
- Food groups it covers
- Vegetables and Pulses
- How this was set
- Hand audited
When to cook it
Onion Chutney takes about 20 minutes from a cold stove to the table, and the cooking itself is easy going. It is eaten at breakfast, lunch, and dinner. Nothing in the calendar rules it out, so it is a year round dish.
Watch someone make it
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More to cook
Cooked from the same things
Other dishes built on onion and tamarind.
From the same kitchens
More cooking from South India.
Does the same job on the plate
Swap any of these in when you want a meal the same shape.
Cook this with your whole family
Dinejot plans breakfast, lunch and dinner as whole plates, built around the cooking you call home and filtered for the allergies at your table.
Meal suggestions support your goals. They are not medical advice. Please ask your doctor about your family's health needs.