Relishing Chutney

Photo: flickr user avlxyz

Ingredients

Indian condiment takes advantage of seasonal delights, mixing sweet, spicy

flavors to awaken jaded taste buds with any meal

BY HEMA KUNDARGI

Preparation

WHAT KETCHUP is to an American meal, chutney is to an Indian meal.

But Major Grey's Mango Chutney, the style best known in the West, is just the tip of the chutney iceberg. There is so much more.

Chutney is a Sanskrit word for licking. And, indeed, chutney is a relish to be savored. Its purpose is to gently awaken the taste buds. The Indian cook's love for sour and spicy flavors is responsible for creating a vast assortment of chutneys, and no meal is complete without at least one of them.

Chutneys can be made from many types of foods: spices, herbs, fruits, vegetables, nuts and lentils. The combinations of sweet and fruity flavors with hot, sour and spicy ones can create an almost endless variety of chutneys.

Broadly speaking, there are two categories: cooked chutneys, which can be preserved, and fresh chutneys made for immediate consumption from seasonal fruits or vegetables.

India and the United States produce many of the same fruits and vegetables.

The big difference is that in India, everything is seasonal. Fresh mango is available only in the summer. Cauliflower is available only in winter, corn only in the monsoon months.

Chutneys are another way of enjoying the seasonal abundance of any fruit or vegetable.

Traditionally, fresh ingredients for chutney were ground together in stone mortars, but blenders, coffee grinders and food processors do an equally good job.

In India, chutney is enjoyed with every meal. It is a sandwich spread for breakfast, a relish with Indian breads for lunch and a dip for an appetizer with tea in the late afternoon. Chutney adds pizazz to a simple supper of rice and yogurt or puts the finishing touch on an elegant dinner.

But just as salsa is not limited to Mexican meals, chutney should not be limited to Indian meals. You can make liberal use of a variety of chutneys with Western dishes.

Pesto sauce can be spiced up with cilantro chutney. Hot and spicy chile garlic chutney can be drizzled over pizza. Nutty peanut chutney can liven up a salad, and sweet saffron mango chutney can be an exotic topping for vanilla ice cream.

Chutney recipes tend to be handed down from generation to generation. As a result, chutneys made with the same ingredients differ from family to family.

Here are some recipes for chutneys that my family has long enjoyed. I have adapted many of them to make use of the produce available here.

Light green coconut chutney is a favorite relish for any meal. As a child, I enjoyed coconut chutney sandwiches for breakfast.

If you like peanut butter, you might enjoy its hot counterpart, peanut chutney. It is a snap to make and has a shelf life of a couple of weeks.

The delicate fragrance of saffron marries well with the flavor of mango to create an exquisite chutney.

Garbanzo chutney can be transformed into a tasty appetizer.