Spicy Tomato Almond Chutney is a simple, delicious & nutritious accompaniment to South Indian favorites like Idli, Dosa, Uttapams. Ready in just 15 minutes!
I have spoken many times about my association with South Indian food and how much I love it! Be it eating out or making it at home, I am all for it! I think me being a Tam Brahm has not much to do with me being a fan of South Indian food. I just love the simplicity and flavors of this cuisine. Most of the recipes in this cuisine heavily uses rice, lentils and coconut. Not just the vegetarian but also the non vegetarian food is very popular. Talking about the Indian cuisine in general, we love our chutneys and can make a chutney out of any ingredient. South Indian chutney also known sometimes as Thokku is famous too. What is a chutney? It is a creamy sauce/dip similar to pesto and is served as an accompaniment or side to any snack. Traditionally pickles, chutney and papadums were made at home. Today, many prefer to pick it up from the grocery store. The only drawback is that the store ones use lots of preservatives, are high in sugar and vinegar content making it unhealthy for us in the long run. This is done to make these products safe for long-term consumption. I miss those days when my grandma used to make pickles and papadums in summers. Although I resort to buying pickles and papad from the store, I make my chutney at home.
It tastes so much better plus it hardly takes any time to make it! This particular chutney is my mom's and my recipe. She made Tomato chutney and I decided to add almonds to it! Tomato Almond Chutney is made in our homes mostly when we are having Idli, Dosa or Uttapam. My mom would make the most delicious tomato chutney but I would only have it for idli/dosa if we ran out of Molagapudi! Crazy but it's true. I would always prefer molagapudi over any kind of chutney. After being married to KR, I got to know that he loves chutney and would always insist I make it whenever we had a South Indian menu. He eventually got me hooked onto a variety of chutneys and now I always make some chutney to go with idli/dosa besides molagapudi of course! I was making Rajgiri Potato Idli for lunch today and wanted to pair it with my mom's tomato chutney. I have only tweaked her recipe by adding almonds in it. Rest is all hers. Let me walk you through it. Heat oil
in a pan
, saute onions, tomatoes, dried red chillies
, garlic, cloves
and almonds
one after the other. Take it off the flame and let it cool. Then transfer it to a blender
, add salt and tamarind and blitz to make a smooth chutney. Garnish with chopped cilantro. Serve as a side with any dish!
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Spicy Tomato Almond Chutney
Ingredients
- 1 onion
- 2-3 tomatoes
- 3 dried red chillies
- 5 cloves garlic
- 4 cloves
- 1/3 cup almonds
- 1 small ball tamarind or use 1 tbsp tamarind paste
- 2 tbsp chopped cilantro
- salt as required
Instructions
- Heat oil in a pan, saute onions, tomatoes, dried red chillies, garlic, cloves and almonds one after the other. Take it off the flame and let it cool. Then transfer it to a blender, add salt and tamarind and blitz to make a smooth chutney. Garnish with chopped cilantro. Serve as a side with any dish!
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Some other condiments or side dishes that you can try are Coconut Chutney, 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.
This turned out so good. it definitely doesn't taste like a typical south indian chutney. It has a different flavor profile due to the addition of cloves I think. I really liked it. The only change that I made was to add soaked almonds.
I am so glad you liked it. Thank you so much.
Sadly, it does not taste anything South Indian.
Oh why do you feel so?