How to make Kalavai chutney
Kalavai chutney is an all-in-one mixed chutney prepared with onion, tomato, chillies, green leaves, tamarind and a bit of coconut. Try this kalavai chutney which is popular in roadside idli shops and tiffin centers with the help of stepwise pictures and a video.
Many of us already know this as Kara chutney for idli. It is one of the famous side dishes for idlis and dosas apart from sambar and coconut chutney. I have one exclusive Kara chutney recipe on my blog if you are interested. This Kalavai chutni is the basic kara chutny with extra few ingredients. A south Indian Tiffin chutney is a versatile recipe that we can customize as per the availability of our pantry ingredients.
If you are a chutney lover try the related chutney recipes given below the post or search as Chutney in my blog to find many more.
What is Kalavai chutni?
Kalavai means ‘mix of ingredients’ and this chutney is a complete mix of all the usual south Indian chutney items. South India is famous for chutneys, thogayals and thokkus. As you know, there are hundreds of recipes available for various chutneys in Tamil Nadu.
In small mess style restaurants, you can see this chutney for idli along with sambar which is a blissful breakfast indeed. You have to try this in small tiffin centers or roadside idli shops to believe me.
Actually, there is no fancy ingredient here in this kalavai chatni instead it is an all-in-one combo. That means we use garlic, ginger, greens, chillies both green and red, onions, tomato, dal, coconut and tamarind in this all-in-all side dish.
Hence no need for any other sides like sambar or kosthu or kootu and this kalavai chutney itself tastes delicious with idlis and dosas. It also goes well with ven Pongal, uthappam and paniyaram. This special name I heard first from my Instagram blogger friend Mullai. Her recipes specially gravies are very popular and you can find her blog here “www.spiceindiaonline.com”
Serve this yummy chutney with soft idlis, crispy dosas, uthappam and paniyaram. Idli is an emotion in Tamilnadu 😉 yes indeed. And you can see this as breakfast in almost all the homes most of the days in a week.
Watch the video of kalavai chutney in the recipe card & please subscribe if you like to see more videos from my channel 🙂
Kalavai chutney | Restaurant style all in one Kalavai chutney
Equipment
- Frying pan, Blender
Ingredients
Ingredients:
- 4 tsp oil
- 1 tbsp split urad dal
- 3 garlic
- 1 inch ginger
- 1 cup onion
- 2 green chillies
- 1 red chilli
- 1 cup tomato
- 1 cup coriander leaves
- 1 cup mint leaves
- Few curry leaves
- 2 tbsp coconut
- Small piece tamarind
- ¾ tsp salt as per taste
- Water to grind
Instructions
Recipe:
- Heat four teaspoons of oil and add whole or split urad dal.
- Roast the dal for two to three minutes in medium flame till they turn to golden brown color.
- Put three pods of garlic and a piece of ginger.
- Stir few seconds and add one cup of chopped red onions. I didn't have red onions in stock hence used white. Red onion gives a wonderful blend of orangish touch to the kalavai chutney.
- Add 2 green chillies and one red chilli, saute few seconds.
- Put the chopped tomatoes(1 medium size) and cook till soft for a minute.
- Along with tomato add green leaves. I had more greens hence used a cup of mint and a cup of coriander leaves.
- In restaurants, they just use a few green leaves just to give the flavor.
- Also, put a few curry leaves.
- Finally, add two tbsp of coconut and mix for 30 seconds and no need to fry coconut.
- Switch off and add a piece of tamarind (gooseberry size) and 3/4 tsp of salt as per your taste.
- Let the items cool down a bit and grind into smooth chutney by adding a quarter cup of water. You can also saute the green leaves separately and grind with the chutney at last.
- Serve the kalavai chutney with idlis, crispy dosas and uthappam.
Video
Notes
1) Use more greens like me for greenish look chutney and use more red onions for restaurant-style brownish chutney.
2) As the name suggests you can add or change the ingredients or quantities as you wish.
Nutrition
Recipe with pictures:
- Heat four teaspoons of oil and add whole or split urad dal.
- Roast the dal for two to three minutes in medium flame till they turn to golden brown color.
- Put three pods of garlic and a piece of ginger.
- Stir few seconds and add one cup of chopped red onions. I didn’t have red onions in stock hence used white. Red onion gives a wonderful blend of orangish touch to the kalavai chutney.
- Add 2 green chillies and one red chilli, saute few seconds.
- Put the chopped tomatoes(1 medium size) and cook till soft for a minute.
- Along with tomato add green leaves. I had more greens hence used a cup of mint and a cup of coriander leaves.
- In restaurants, they just use a few greens just to give the flavor. Also, put some curry leaves.
- Finally, add two tbsp of coconut and mix for 30 seconds and no need to fry coconut.
- Switch off and add a piece of tamarind (gooseberry size) and 3/4 tsp of salt as per your taste.
- Let the items cool down a bit and grind into smooth chutney by adding a quarter cup of water. You can also saute the green leaves separately and grind with the chutney at last.
- Serve the kalavai chutney with idlis, crispy dosas and uthappam.
Tips:
1) Use more greens like me for greenish look chutney and use more red onions for restaurant-style mild red color chutney.
2) As the name suggests you can add or change the ingredients or quantities as you wish.
