Kara Chutney

If u've been thinking that the most easiest chutney was coconut, corriander, tomato or any other chutney for that matter, then i'm sure that you are yet to come across kara chutney. Thou' I've known about this chutney for a long while say since I was a kid cos my dad was in love with this chutney and my mom made sure that she prepared it for him atleast once in a week, I really never tried to make it. Well, the reason not being that I was against this chutney...Itz juz that my hubby dear was nt too gud a spicy eater nor was I...so never got an opportunity to do it...Then came the special day, the dosa mela event which was conducted @ my friend's padma's place and about which I've already written a long blog...She had listed down the recipes for the day and had sent mails to the guests for choosing their contribution for the party...there in it was the famous kara chutney...since i have never tried my hands on it and did nt want to spoil my name in the midst of a large crowd, obviously my pick of dip contribution did not have kara chutney in it....I had sent say more than 5 items from my side...but all padma wanted me to contribute for the day included juz...yeah...u guessed it rite..."kara chutney"... So bringing all my guts together I accepted, with also a different calculation in my mind...among the dips for the dosa was chicken kuruma and aatu kaal paaya...least did i expect that someone wud even turn towards my kara chutney with such top list hits before them....so, when the day arrived, I went ahead and prepared my kara chutney with no trouble.

Thou the recipe is so simple, the long story is cos of the big hit it was @ the party...yeah, my frnz loved it and trust me, my hubby liked it too...after all this happening, don't u think that kara chutney deserves an intro like tis...Ok...High time we moved on to the recipe, which is for sure not long as this explanation :)

Ingredients:

• Onion - 1
• Dry red Chilli - 5 or 6 (u can alter this as per ur taste)
• Tamarind - an inch long
• Curry leaf - 5 (getting curry leaves in US is not an easy task...so I had to skip this ingredient)
• Hing - 2 pinch
• Oil (I used gingelly oil)
• Mustard seeds
• salt

Preparation:

Grind Onion + red chilli + tamarind + hing. Try not to add water cos the chutney is supposed to be thick. In a pan, add oil, mustard seeds, curry leaves. Once mustard seeds splutter add the ground paste, salt and then on a low flame allow the chutney to cook for 5 mins or until the raw smell of the onion leaves. Know what, your Kara chutney is ready.
This goes great with dosa and idli.