Easy South Indian Coconut Chutney Recipe

Coconut Chutney is a delicious Indian chutney made using few ingredients, that’s served as a side for many breakfast meals like dosa, idli, paniyaram, etc.

Just the mere mention of this South Indian delicacy makes my mouth to water. Coconut chutney is one of the main and basic condiment that’s served on a South Indian platter. We love it with anything and everything. It’s served as  a side for Pongal (my favorite), of course for Idli & Dosa and as well and for any fried snack like South Indian Medu Wada | Lentil Fritters, Vegan South Indian Lemon & Chickpea Rice, Masala Dal Vada/Lentil Fritters and/or Chickpeas Sundal. I have heard that some even mix this chutney in noodles and eat! Now that is off-limits for me..I just cannot imagine this food combo but then who am I to judge! The world is filled with such weird food combos. I heard this one recently that one of our friend loves to eat Maggi with yogurt! I cannot even imagine how that would taste but he swears by it. Being a hardcore lover of these delicious instant noodles – Maggi, I cannot look at it being murdered like this but to each its own. Oddly, I don’t seem to have any such fascination for weird food combos but yes, KR has many! He eats Maggi and Chinese with papad! I rest my case on this. 

Anyways, this post is not about odd food combos but a very delicious coconut chutney that is an important aspect in South Indian cooking. My oldest memory of this chutney is seeing my mother whip up this chutney within seconds when we would have surprise guests over. We would always have Idli/Dosa batter in the fridge so she was always equipped to handle sudden guests or we come home super hungry. On most days, she would serve this chutney with Idli/Dosa and occasionally she would prepare some other chutney. You know, I can still feel the taste of her coconut chutney on my tongue (if that is even possible). Her chutney tasted the same every single time, it was like a record! We all loved that chutney. My dad would mix dry mulagapudi (minus the oil) in this chutney and enjoy it. I cringed on this back then but today that is how I too have it! I feel it’s the best way to enjoy both these side dishes. Butyes, her coconut chutney was very famous and all my neighbors would ask her to make this chutney whenever they visited our home for a typical South Indian meal. 

Her recipe to prepare this coconut chutney is very simple. All you need are some basic ingredients and that’s it! There are some substitutions you can use depending on what you have handy. I will share them with you. Now for this recipe, use of freshly grated coconut is highly recommended. However here in the US, I only get frozen coconut because the process to grate fresh coconut is tiresome. But I have noticed that the taste of this chutney is not the same when I use frozen coconut so I came up with plan B. I tried making this chutney with unsweetened desiccated coconut and it worked like a charm. Ever since, I only prepare this condiment with desiccated coconut. It yields similar result like when using fresh coconut. Also if you do not have daliya/roasted chana dal, you can dry roast raw chana dal and then soak it in water for 15-20 minutes. That ways, you don’t have to fret over a missing ingredient. And of course, if you are missing the traditional green chillies, you can substitute it with jalapeno.  

Add coconut, green chillies, daliya/roasted chana dal and cilantro to a mixer grinder. Note, many people don’t add cilantro in this chutney and that makes it white coconut chutney, but adding cilantro only enhances the flavor and gives it a nice green color. Blitz to a smooth paste. Empty it into a bowl. Add salt and mix it. Now you can consume this chutney as is or go ahead and give it a tadka/tempering. For tadka, heat oil in a tadka pan and once its hot add mustard seeds. As they begin to crackle, add chopped curry leaves. Pour this tadka over the chutney and before serving, give it a good mix. Easy South Indian Coconut Chutney is ready. This side dish is vegan, keto and gluten-free. This is served as a side to any Indian appetizer/snack or be served as a dip. While the dish comes very close to my mom’s but I know it’s not the same. Her chutney always tastes better than mine and I have no qualms in admitting that!

If you do try this recipe, please do share it with your friends on Facebook, Twitter and Pinterest. This will keep me motivated to develop more interesting recipes. Click a pic and post it with the hashtag #cookiliciousveg — I would love to see your pictures on Instagram, Facebook and Twitter!

Some other condiments or side dishes that you can try are Vegan Spinach & Peanut Chutney, Sweet Mango Chutney & Mint Yogurt Dip, Radish Chutney/Mulangi Thogayal/South Indian Chutney, Besan Chutney/Bombay Chutney Recipe, Green Chutney using Scallions, Coriander Mint Chutney, Bell Pepper Chutney/Dip, Carrots and Peanuts Chutney, Tomato Almond Chutney, Vegan Spinach & Peanut Chutney and Indian Green Chutney with Leftover Lettuce Leaves.