I am a budding cook and often try new recipes.My question to you is can coconut chutney be made from dry coconut available in the market(grated or shredded)?
All the recipes I see say to use fresh coconut.
Kindly advice.

Indira replies:
Hi Aparna, yes it can. But the taste will be entirely different and not at all similar to that of chutney prepared with fresh coconut.
In recent months, several Indian grocery shops are stocking fresh grated coconut. You can find it in frozen section. I’ve never tried this frozen stuff, but some of my friends did and they like it.
Hope this helps.

The coconuts we get here, suck! The organic store has run out of their coconut supply too. Dried coconut/frozen ones don’t taste like normal coconut.

I have been enjoying your blog for sometime now. It is a show case for the simple joys of life, which many of us just rush through as a mundane chore.

We are from Tamil Nadu, and I too enjoy cooking simple and nourishing food for my family. Thank you for reminding me to savor every moment of it.

Regards, Saahitya

I love your stone mortar. May I ask where you got it from and how big it is? It really looks huge in the picture as I cannot tell clearly how big it is. I am in the market for one and looked and there seems to be tons of different kinds made from different material - stone(seems to be the Thai kind), marble, granite, steel, wood (probably not good for chutneys as it is porous). Can you suggest what to buy. I am looking to mainly grind spices (coriander, caradamom, cloves etc) and chutneys.

I would totally appreciate it .

Thanks,

Sam

But seeing your coconut posts three days in a row makes me wonder, if you have come across a coconut grove (kidding, of course). In US, I don’t have the guts to buy coconut. It is always rotten or very mature. Any tips on coconut selection?

Indira replies..
Yep, coarser than the regular coconut chutney for idlies. and this particular chutney is prepared without adding any water. Dry sort of thing, taste great with rice and roti.
Believe it or not, all 3 recipes- coconut milk, 2 types of chutneys all are from one coconut. I got lucky this weekend, found a good one. I thought you can get a decent, good quality coconut in California. no? I thought they are aboundant there.:)
Checkout this site for some good tips about coconuts.

We have similar sambal in Srilanka. [Sambal is the Malaysian connection. This connection could have been from the early days of spice trading or it could have been from 18th/19th century. During that time Tamil people went to work in the plantations. Some returned carrying the malaysian traditions.] Only thing, we used dried red chillies. The red chillies were saute
ed in oil for a few seconds. Curry leaves are also added to this mixture. In my aunts house, dried fish(small ones) is also added. Some times another kind of dried fish named ‘maasi’ is also added. I have seen this ‘maasi’ in southern Tamil Nadu. I had this sambal in Srilanka when i was very young. We had a seperate stone grinder (ural) for this. Some people have stone grinders. We had a wooden ural which was almost one-two feet tall.

A miniature version of the ural which is used to pound away the rice(to get rice flour). I remember that we used to hire people to do this chore. Amma or ammamma would sit and sift the flour. My aunt would immiediatly roast the flour. Even though flour mills were available, almost everybody pounded rice in their houses. The puttu or idiyappam always tasted much better than what i had in Madras or in Hawaii or Montreal.

Let me stop here..

Thanks for the post Indira. Your recipes almost always excite me. some of them take me on this magical journey down the memory lane..

-Mathy

Indira replies…
My mother also used to do that when we were children. I remember helping her, when she was preparing rice ravva for idli and flours for dosa and muruku, chakli etc., I feel nostalgic whenever I use the mortar (pothram in Telugu), the taste is worth all the time and energy, which I’ve a lot.
Thanks Mathy for your nice, informative comment.

Coconut chutney with shallot sambhar is a new thing to me….Pounding in a mortar and pestle gives a unique flavour.It brings memories of the olden days when pounding and grinding chutneys with stone grinder..

That looks yummy. My mom used to put some turmeric in it to make it yellow and also added popu at the very end. She did not add tamarind Thanks for your recipes. I always look at your blog to get some new ideas .

Sam