Onion Chutney

Onions are popular in Indian cooking. Their strong flavor serves as the foundation for most gravies, curries and chutneys. Here is a chutney that tries to bring out the milder flavors of the onion by tempering its potent taste to the right degrees.

Ingredients (serves 2-3)

1. 2 medium-sized onions - diced
2. 1 tablespoon of vegetable / olive oil
3. 1 teaspoon black mustard seeds
4. 1 tablespoon split urad-dhal / ullutham paruppu
5. 1 teaspoon bengal gram dhal / kadala paruppu
6. ½ teaspoon thoor dhal / thuvaram paruppu (normally not added in chutneys, but I like to)
7. ¼ teaspoon hing / asafoetida
8. a 2 inch strip of tamarind
9. 1 teaspoon salt or as needed
10. 2-3 dry red chillies

Preparation

1. Heat oil in a pan. When the oil is hot, splutter mustard seeds. Add to it - split urad-dhal, bengal gram dhal, thoor dhal, hing, and red chillies. Fry for 30 seconds or so.
2. Add the chopped onions and saute/fry for about 15 minutes on medium heat until the onions start to brown at the edges and are translucent. If you would like, you can fry the onions on low heat for a few more minutes so that the edges caramelize and give out a sweet flavor. Turn off the heat.
3. At this point, add the tamarind (roughly torn into smaller bits) and salt, and saute in the residual heat for a couple of minutes. Let the mixture cool.
4. When cool, grind to a paste with about 2 tablespoons or ¼ cup of water.

This is a tangy and spicy chutney to go along idli, dosai, adai etc. It can also be served as a dip for chips - just to be different.

I think some prefer to slightly fry the resulting paste with a little bit of oil to add another layer of flavors and to tone down the pungency of the onions a bit more. Some also reserve the garnish (comprising of mustard seeds and the dhals) to be served on top of the ground chutney in order to provide a crunchy texture to the homogeneous paste. Alternatively, I coarsely grind the chutney so that there is a bit of bite and crunch from the dhals. There are always adaptions to any simple dish, so go with what works for you.