I & the husband moved to my parent’s place slightly before the lock-down was established. South Indian food is not a regular occurrence here, while we, on the other hand, were idli regulars back at our place for two reasons – 1) we used to get really good quality ready made batter delivered at doorstep, 2) its the easiest thing to make once the batter is ready :P. A little side note though, I am too scared to try out Sambhar which goes really well with idli, I find it a bit overwhelming in my head, so much so that I never had the guts to even ask our cook if she can make it. So, our usual fare with idli used to be just coconut chutney, again store-bought, because it was difficult to find desiccated coconut on a whim where I live to make fresh coconut chutney. Again, I used to find tomato onion chutney which is a common occurrence in South Indian homes overwhelming in my head. This recipe gave me the impulsive nudge that I truly needed because as dramatic as it may sound, it has changed my life. I love me a good tomato onion chutney with South Indian food, I even love it on toasted bread, mixed with rice, you get the drift. Reading this post made me realize just how frigging easy it is! I am sure everyone knew this before me, but if you also fear making basic chutneys, please do try the recipe in the link out.

Funny thing, the moment I read this recipe, I literally took my wallet and phone and stepped out of the house to buy tomatoes for this recipe as we didn’t have any at home. Yes, that’s how much impulsive it was. Some of our friends were staying over that day and I had an aim in mind to get the chutney to the table before everyone gets ready to have breakfast. 🙂 I succeeded, so I again insist that it is super easy.

I think its important to mention at this point that you may feel bogged down because of the sheer number of ingredients in the chutney. I did skip a few basis my convenience and it should be okay for anyone. Just take a judgement call. I’ll tell you my case – I skipped buying/using whole red chillies because its usually sold in huge bags and I don’t think I’ll ever use that much so I just let it be, I anyway was going to add green chillies & red chilli powder. I also skipped tamarind pulp, something which is considered a sacrilege usually in South Indian food. I had Amchoor (mango powder) at hand so I added that for tartness. I loved the end result, so I guess its okay to not be too stuck up on ingredients. Just enjoy the process & the chutney. 🙂

One issue still remaining to be handled, the husband has never been big on tomato chutney, so I guess we do have to get over the fear of Sambhar to enjoy our South Indian food more wholesomely.

I didn’t click a picture of the chutney, will do it sometime later to update the post. 🙂

For other entries in the Easy Recipes 101 series, go here.