Thenga Chammanthi (Coconut Chutney)

Thenga Chammanthi (Coconut Chutney)

After seeing the picture of the Mocha Chocolate Chips Cupcake in FB, one of my friends, asked whether I have cupcakes n stuff on a daily basis. Its one of those questions that I get asked very often. Because of this blog, most people assume that I cook extravagantly on a daily basis. Let me set the record straight. I like cooking but I dont like slogging in kitchen day in & day out. Given the option (which is once in a while), I prefer to eat out! If by chance you come unannounced to our place, I’ll end up serving you a pile of “Takeaway”-Menus to choose from ;)

Though I like to cook more variety, I or rather we prefer the usual Kerala fare on a daily basis. Mostly when we go for trips, I’ll be all excited to try the different food varieties & eat all exotic dishes. But after two days of the trip, I’ll start craving for some choru (rice) n kachimoru (buttermilk curry) – plain and simple.

 Back to the recipe, I think chammanthi is something that you can call the perfect homely food. If you can give me a plate of steaming rice & freshly ground coconut chammanthi, I’ll be one happy soul. In fact, more happier than eating a piece of cake :) I promised this chammanthi recipe long time ago when I posted the manga chammanthi, but i forgot about it. I guess there are a zillion ways of making chammanthi… with & without shallots, with & without ginger, with & without curryleaves & it goes on. Below is one of my all time fav chammanthi recipe, which I ask Sarasa chechy to make for me every time I go home. It tastes heavenly especially if its made on ammikallu (picture given below). The coconut milk just oozes out from the freshly ground coconut & that gives a very moist chammanthi. Ok, I need to stop writing, otherwise my keypad will be drenched with my drool. I miss home :(

Here is the recipe:

Thenga Chammanthi (Coconut Chutney)
Author: 
Recipe type: Kerala, spicy, vegetarian
Prep time: 
Cook time: 
Total time: 

Serves: 4-5
 

A spicy coconut accompaniment for rice, dosa & idli.
Ingredients
  • Coconut – 1 cup (If you use freshly scraped coconut, nothing like it)
  • Dried red chilli flakes -1-2 tsp (refer notes)
  • Small/pearl onions – 4, sliced
  • Ginger – ½ tsp, chopped
  • Tamarind (valan puli or sambar puli) – size of a small lime (refer notes)
  • Salt
  • Coconut Oil
  • Curryleaves – 3-5 leaves

Instructions
  1. Heat oil in a pan & add small onions, ginger, curry leaves & dried red chilli flakes. Fry for 2-3 minutes, till you get the roasted smell. Add coconut & mix well. Just fry it for a minute or two. DO NOT brown it. Remove from fire & let it cool. Add tamarind & salt to this mix. Ground it in the smallest jar of the mixie. Ideally no water should be added, but I end up adding ½ – 1 tbsp of water. You can serve it with rice,kanji or idli & dosa.

Notes
If you dont have dried red chilli, you can use chilli powder. Use around 2 tsp (adjust to suit your taste). Also you can increase or reduce the qty of tamarind to suit your taste. But first do a taste test of tamarind, some variety tends to be very strong. Also its better to add salt after tasting tamarind, because some tamarinds can be very salty. So adjust the qty of salt accordingly. Try to grind the chammanthi without water, if its possible.

 



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  • Torviewtoronto

    grinding in this would be nicer :)
    delicious chammanthi with kanji cheers

    • http://mariasmenu.com Maria Jose

      Thanks :)

  • Magikals

    wow too yumm n hot..

    • http://mariasmenu.com Maria Jose

      Thank you!

  • Priti S

    Yum…nice recipe n pic

    • http://mariasmenu.com Maria Jose

      Thanks Priti!

  • Shabs

    LOL Maria, I too get those question very often and as u say if anyone pops home un-told, they are going to have all the greasy take-aways or an eat out…Even my family asks if I cook all these food on daily basis!…BTW, nalla recipe n clear pic.

    • http://mariasmenu.com Maria Jose

      Shabs – ;) thanks sweetie!

  • Edmund Mascreen

    Its just great.I find it very useful.Thanks.

    • http://mariasmenu.com Maria Jose

      You are welcome Edmund!

  • anamika k

    Thenga chmmanathi is making me drool too…

    • http://mariasmenu.com Maria Jose

      Thanks Anamika :)

  • Parvathy

    Hi Maria,
    You can substitute Chilli flakes or chilli powder with whole roasted chillie. it give the Chamathi a smoky flavour. All taht you need to do is take 2-3 chillies or more ( I use Kashmiri chilli) and roast it on a open gas flame. Keep turning it over so that the whole chilli gets roasted well , it may burn a little but that is ok.
    This is one omy favourite too :=)

    Parvathy

    • http://mariasmenu.com Maria Jose

      Hi Parvathy,

      Adding roasted chilli sounds nice. I’m sure that smoked taste of the roasted chilli will enhance the flavour of chammanthi :)

      Cheers
      Maria

  • Mary

    Hi Maria, Excellent ! Excellent ! Excellent !! Wow, I must say this definitely does look delicious. I am going to try it out very soon. Please keep posting more recipes and keep up the good work. Your space is an encouragement to many. God Bless.

    • http://mariasmenu.com Maria Jose

      Hi Mary,

      Thank you so much for your wonderful comment! Hope you got a chance to make the chammanthi & liked it too.

      Cheers
      Maria

  • Tangerineskitchen

    This chammanthi is what I ask amma to make me when I’m home :)

    • http://mariasmenu.com Maria Jose

      Rachel,yeah it has homely food written all over it :)

  • Cincymary

    Dear maria,

    I have been looking for this recipe for a long time…thks for posting it!! :)

    Cincy

    • http://mariasmenu.com Maria Jose

      Hi Cincy,

      You are welcome! I’m glad that you found the recipe here. Please do try it when time permits.

      Cheers
      Maria

  • tina toms

    My fav chammanthi..

    • http://mariasmenu.com Maria Jose

      Thanks Tina :)

  • Asha Paul

    The chammanthi is mind blowing..Made it and had it for lunch along with Kanji, Muthira upperi, and chutta papadam..Thank you very much for the recipe…te snap tempted me to make it…

    • http://mariasmenu.com Maria Jose

      Hi Asha,

      Thank you so much for trying this & also for sharing your feedback :) I’m glad that you liked it.

      Cheers
      Maria

  • http://foodtravelandakeyboard.wordpress.com/ Shinta

    Yummm, this used to be a staple on my grandmother’s table, its one of my favorite comfort foods. Thanks for sharing !

    • http://mariasmenu.com Maria Jose

      Hi Shinta,

      Thank you :)

  • Reva

    Chammanthi looks so spicy and delicious.. I like the second pic as it reflects the traditional way of making the paste..:) Lovely post..
    Reva

    • http://mariasmenu.com Maria Jose

      Thanks Reva! Please try it sometime…

      Cheers
      Maria

  • http://pancuisine.blogspot.com/ Pan Cuisine

    Wow!! what an awesome blog! There are a lot of things i intend to try from here…thanks for sharing. Following you…

    • http://mariasmenu.com Maria Jose

      Hi Pan Cuisine,

      Thanks for dropping in. Hope you get to try the recipes sometime soon & Thanks for following…

      Cheers
      Maria

  • Nitha

    I tried this recipe… it was awesome!! Used kaanthari instead of red chilli… Had it with rice, kachimoru and pappadam.. Thank u so much for this recipe.

    I noticed this website recently.. now I’m a frequent visitor. Appreciate ur work…

    • http://mariasmenu.com Maria Jose

      Hi Nitha,

      Thanks a ton for your lovely feedback. I’m happy to know that you like this space :)

      Cheers
      Maria

  • Eternalbless

    HI Maria
    Your blog is such a saving grace to ‘dinosaurs at cooking’ like me. I liked this recipe ‘cos its simple (i’ve gotta try it), but b4 i attempt at it, i’d these 2 questions. If it sounds silly, forgive me…i might get better at my ‘doubts’ in the recipes to come :P
    q#1: in ur ‘manga chammanthi’ recipe, u didn’t add tamarind; but in this recipe, you did– any reasons why?
    q#2: you advised to not use water, unless needed. But shouldn’t the tamarind be soaked in water? (umm…’cos i’ve always seen my mom n mom-in-law do so when it comes to tamarinds)

    • http://mariasmenu.com Maria Jose

      Hi Eternalbless

      I’m sorry that my reply comes a bit delayed. I’m traveling now & hence the delay. Thanks for your kind words dear!

      1. In this we use tamarind as the sour agent. In manga chammanthi the raw mango gives the sour taste (puli) that’s why we didnt add tamarind in that.

      2. Tamarind is usually soaked in water when we make curries like sambar or fish/prawns curry. That’s done to blend the tamarind well with the curry. In this chammanthi recipe, since we are grinding it, it’s blended well.

      Hope its clear now. Please do try it sometime & I do hope you like it.

      Cheers
      Maria

  • Antonysheela

    hi maria, i heard that your thenga chammanthi has made you more famous. congrats on the selection of one of the best blogs of india!!. thenga chammanthi was mentioned in it!

    • http://mariasmenu.com Maria Jose

      Thank you very much Sheela aunty :)

  • anju jayakrishnan

    i just need somemore vegetarian recipies

    • http://mariasmenu.com Maria Jose

      Please check the recipes listed under the vegetarian category.

      Cheers
      Maria

  • http://mariasmenu.com Maria Jose
  • Rahmath

    Kidalamiayittu vannnu ketto. Came real good. Thanks … This is not the first recipe have tried form your site and definitely not the last :)

    • http://mariasmenu.com Maria Jose

      Hi Rahmath,
      Thanks ketto :) Keep trying the recipes from here…

      Happy cooking!

      Cheers
      Maria

  • http://ohnothingness.blogspot.com.au/ Karmic Circle

    I have always struggled to make the perfect chutney – it never turned out right. And for my ill luck, Dosa is my husband’s favorite. So to avoid making my sloppy chutney, I end up making Chicken dosa, kheema dosa etc :)
    Tried this recipe the other day, and it turned out so well !! My husband super lovvvved and has been bragging about this chutney ever since ( he is a hard to please critic!) 
    Thanks a lot for this!!! 

    • http://mariasmenu.com Maria Jose

      Hi,

      I was really excited to see your comment :) Thank you so much for taking time to share your feedback here, appreciate it very much.

      I’m glad that this chammanthi passed your husband’s test :)

      Cheers
      Maria

  • Mrs. Daniel

    Hi Maria,

    This is exactly the way my mother used to make when we were small. Making your recipes makes me relive my childhood days and it brings back fond memories. Thanks for the lovely recipe :))

    • http://mariasmenu.com Maria Jose

      You are welcome dear! Thanks to you for such a wonderful comment :)

  • Goghul.R

    very good..thx

    • http://mariasmenu.com Maria Jose

      Thanks for the comment!

  • Anita Jeyan

    Dear Maria,
    I do not know how to thank you for this recipe! Yesterday we had kanji and I made this chammanthy. My hard-to-please husband gave me a 10/10!
    Thanks a ton !
    Anita Jeyan

    • http://mariasmenu.com Maria Jose

      Thanks a bunch dear! I’m really happy that this recipe worked very well for you :) Good going!

      Cheers
      Maria

  • Sheena

    Hi Maria! I wud love to try this recipe of yours to use with dosa…
    can this chamnathi be made a little loose? if yes should I add tamarind to it?
    can I use whole kashmiri dry chilies instead of chilly flakes? if yes, how many?

    • http://mariasmenu.com Maria Jose

      Hi Sheena,

      You can make it in gravy form… Usually when I make it for dosa/idly with gravy, i dont add tamarind. You can use Kashmiri chilli, since it’s less spicy use 3-5, depending on your spice tolerance.

      Hope it comes out well..

      Cheers
      Maria