I was watching David Letterman show on a Monday night few days ago. He was making jokes about Winter Olympics… about Bode Miller, his poor performance and how Germany won the No.1 spot in medal count beating the US etc., He also made a joke about German victory celebrations – “Germany celebrated the No.1 spot in Winter Olympics with a victory parade. It started in Berlin and ended in Poland“. He was of course referring to German occupation of Poland under Hitler. I got the joke, but couldn’t laugh because I was thinking how could he make jokes about Germany, when his own country is committing war crimes, occupying and killing thousands of innocent civilians in Iraq and Afghanistan. Talk about projection. Dave is the most cynical and sharp one in late night circuit, I was surprised at his pretense that Nazi Germany is worse than current US behaviour. US is following the pattern, aren’t they?
Well, anyway, back to cooking, today it’s methi chutney.:) People back in India may wonder how come methi is so popular in Mahanandi’s world? Methi, spinach, and occasionally gongura (ambari) are the only familiar green leafy vegetables available year round in Indian grocery shops here in US. Reason for the methi’s frequent appearance.
Methi chutney is completely an acquired taste. Sauteed methi and sesame combined with other ingredients, taste little bit bitter, sour and spicy. If you are going to prepare it from my recipe, first check the list of ingredients, imagine the taste, see if you like the combination, then attempt it. Please don’t nag me if it doesn’t turn out to your expectations in a typical mother-in-law fashion. Some people would say that I didn’t add this, I didn’t do that, or I didn’t cook their way etc., I might have accepted these if I were their daughter-in-law, but I am not :-).
Recipe:
3 cups of fresh methi leaves (one small bunch)
¼ cup of sesame seeds
8 dried red chillies or more
(This chutney needs a little bit of extra hotness, so don’t skimp on chillies)
2 teaspoons tamarind juice
½ teaspoon urad dal
¼ teaspoon salt or to taste
1 teaspoon of peanut oil
In a kadai, heat half teaspoon of peanut oil. First add and toast dried red chillies, then sesame seeds and urad dal, until golden. Remove them. In the same kadai heat another half teaspoon of oil and sauté methi leaves for few minutes. Take them all in a plate, wait to cool. Whenever you make these kinds of chutneys always wait for the ingredients to cool, never blend when they are hot. If you do this, the change in taste will be significant.
When they are cool enough to touch, take them in a blender, add tamarind juice and salt. Puree them to smooth paste. If necessary add few tablespoons of water for smooth blending. (Don’t make it too watery.) Remove and serve this chutney with upma or with rice and dal.
Semolina Upma with Methi Chutney
Excellent use of Methi. Need to defenitely try this.
Comment by Krithika Ramachandran — March 16, 2006 @ 2:48 pm
Hi Indira,
Does it taste bitter? Just want to find out the taste of the end product before experimenting.
Thanks!
Comment by Swathi — March 16, 2006 @ 3:12 pm
No comments about Letterman’s comments, but the methi chutney recipe sounds good. And i wish i were your daughter-in-law. That way i’d have a master chef in the family to look up to and get to eat yummy food everyday. Meeru mundu puttalsindi 🙂
Comment by sandhya — March 16, 2006 @ 3:21 pm
hey indira,
do you use asofetida/hing in your indian dishes?
Comment by payal — March 16, 2006 @ 3:40 pm
Hei indira ur blog is so cool it has given more info which i did not knew before yummy menthi chutney i make this but mine is different from urs even i did not have chance to taste with upma i have to try this, keep up the good work.
Comment by tanuja — March 16, 2006 @ 4:23 pm
Luv methi chappathis,methi sambhar and methi everything..well until now, i have to try this and will let u know..
Comment by BDSN — March 16, 2006 @ 5:15 pm
Aha, this is more to my taste than sweets! 🙂 I’ve got a large bunch of fresh methi, so I’ll probably try this recipe. I dont mind the spicy-sour-bitter combo at all!
Comment by shammi — March 16, 2006 @ 5:22 pm
aww…the gongura chutney reminds me of home…
Do you know how to make the “niluva pachadi” the one that keeps good for a while?
Comment by Luv2cook — March 16, 2006 @ 5:43 pm
Hi There Indira,
I luv ur website,recipes and the flavour of it all.Congrats on the job.But what I find interesting is some of the utensils u use for cooking.Like the cast iron skillet u used for donkaya curry and the “Jaadi” u used to store ghee and ofcourse that cutsie cast iron poopu pan.Wud you be a sweet heart and tell me where I can find that small cast iron skillet for poopu and also the jaadi[mostly to store the new usirikaya pachhadi thats coming from home].Plzzz.
Chaitu.
Comment by chaitu — March 16, 2006 @ 6:03 pm
I love methi. This is a new one for me. The bitter/sweet combo sounds good.
Comment by Saffron Hut — March 16, 2006 @ 6:41 pm
I haven’t tried anything with methi yet.But I have some frozen methi which i bought on my weekend shopping.Can I use frozen methi for this chutney?
Indira replies:
I’ve never tried frozen methi before, Annita. Sorry can’t help you there.
Comment by Annita — March 16, 2006 @ 8:55 pm
one more new methi recipe, will try this. Healthy one with methi, love the hot spiciness too:)
Indira replies:
Give it a try and let me know how you like it KK, thanks.
Comment by Karthi Kannan — March 16, 2006 @ 10:32 pm
Hi Indira
I think methi paruppu usli is quite tasty .I make it quite often. Methi chutney not much to my taste.
Have you tried the Menthedhittu of Karnataka?it is also called Methkuth powder in Maharashtra delicious.
Shubha
Indira replies:
Nope. is it prepared with dried methi leaves?
Comment by Shubha Shashikanth — March 17, 2006 @ 7:36 am
Hi Indira,
nice recipes, haven’t tried this methi leaves chutney..will try next time.
I came across your site browsing one day, can say that i got insipiration from you to start my own.
Indira replies:
Congrats and best wishes, Lakshmi.
Comment by Lakshmi — March 17, 2006 @ 8:12 am
I see that the comment war is escalating here. I appreciate all your opinions. This might be something, which won’t affect us directly, but still we have to raise our voice to say if something is wrong. That is what I tried to do and so does everybody else who participated in this discussion. But any way, to keep our discussions limited to food, for now, I have hidden some comments. I appreciate your understanding.
Comment by Indira — March 17, 2006 @ 8:58 am
Hi Indira: I think that’s what I love best about your blog…cooking along with your blog is like being in the company of a good friend whose politics are very akin to my own:)you seem as feisty as the food you make.
Its your blog:) Don’t back down!
Indira replies:
I care about what’s going on this world verymuch. Sometimes, I’ve to vent.:)
Thanks!
About your other comment about ‘putarekulu’, I was little busy, couldn’t reply you soon enough. Yep, there is a song about ‘putarekulu’. 🙂
Glad to know that you are also from Raayalaseema.:)
Comment by Janani — March 17, 2006 @ 11:42 am
I had no clue, methi leaves can be used for a chutney! Does it taste bitter, Indira? Well, I’ve seen methi pastes used in methi roti and they weren’t bitter.. So, I don;t know.
I’ll just say, after living in both coasts of US and having been exposed to different things happening here, I’ve lost all the respect I had, for this country.
Indira replies:
Just a little bit bitter, Kay, I think it’s also because of sesame.
Comment by Kay — March 17, 2006 @ 3:00 pm
Hi Indira,
I never ate menthaku chutney.Mama will prepare pappu and koora but urs is nice and new idea.
Iam gonna try it and post u soon.
vineela
Indira replies:
Hi Vineela, mee site chusaanu. Chaala bagundi. Hyderabad nunchi blog chestunnara? Chaala santhosham.
Idi amma recipe. Baguntindi, try chesi chudandi. Upma loki chaala ruchiga untindi.
Comment by vineela krishna — March 17, 2006 @ 7:17 pm
Hi Indira,
I discovered your blog a few weeks ago and have become a huge fan of it — I’m of Tamil descent, born and raised in Malaysia and now living in the States, and I can’t tell you what a delight it’s been to find all these traditional South Indian recipes carefully outlined here (and with pictures too!), because my mother (like most older Indian cooks) is unable to give precise measurements or instructions for anything! So thank you *so much* for being so generous with your knowledge.
You can delete my comment after reading it if you want, but I also wanted to say that what impelled me to post a comment after all these weeks was your brief political comment — I’ve been so happy to read your recipes all this while, and when I saw that, I was REALLY cheering. It’s, as someone else has said, a pleasure to discover that a cook you admire also shares your convictions — what a bonus! I commend you for speaking up, because sometimes I start to feel as if too many people in the US Indian community have no convictions — as long as they can make a lot of money and enjoy a fancy lifestyle they didn’t have back home, they’ll close one eye to whatever the government does, or even jump on the Republican bandwagon. I know that is a terrible generalization, but that is how I feel sometimes, so I am grateful to you for reminding me that that is not the case. You’ve made my with your methi chutney recipe and your outspokenness.
Preeta
Comment by Preeta — March 18, 2006 @ 12:28 pm
Er, I meant to say, “you’ve made my DAY with your methi chutney recipe and your outspokenness.” Was apparently too eager to post my comment as fast as possible!
Comment by Preeta — March 18, 2006 @ 12:30 pm
Hi Indira, I was looking for something different to make today with Methi. I tried yahoo and google for various Methi recipes, but they all talked about Methi-Mutter Malai, Aloo-Methi or Methi Thepla, but you are the only one with a difference. I made this chutney following your recipe and it was excellent. I am looking forward to some more such traditional recipes with a difference!!!
Comment by Antara — April 2, 2007 @ 1:59 pm
Indira Garu, Great work. I love your recipes. Everything I tried came out great. I cant wait to try Methi Chutney.
Thanks,
Kirti
Comment by Kirti — January 6, 2009 @ 1:25 pm
I have bunch of methi leaves ,
Usually i would make dal (pappu) or chicken curry but I will definitely try the pachadi today.
Comment by Mahathi — April 13, 2011 @ 2:17 pm
I followed the recipe and made methi chutney today, since i had very few methi leaves , added fresh coconut while blending . Must say it turned out delicious .
Comment by vidya — May 12, 2011 @ 6:34 pm