Red Pepper Chutney

This is a well loved dish in my home and among my friends and family and was definitely making the top 100 list, but has been hastened to publish by request of Gow...

Kudos for this recipe goes to my friend Nithya Hari - It was love at first taste for me and this chutney.
I know sometimes our kids don't like certain vegetables and one quick fix way to make them love it is to make a chutney of it  - Before I go any further with the recipe, I highly recommend a Vitamix blender for your homes - It is the king of my ktichen - the prepaid Slave king I use for all my preparations, starting from the blended fruit mix that we start our day with to making dry powders, wet chutneys, batter for Vadais and Idlis -  the Lakshmi or Kamala, Chandan or Chottu who we cannot afford to hire in the US. Yep - it does it all!

This chutney is great as a spread on bread, as a dip with celery, cukes and raw veggies, or even raw red peppers themselves! on pita bread; or as a chip dip - Indian options - great with vathakozhambu, or chappatis and better yet with hot idlis and dosas. Preparation time is under 15 minutes.

Ingredients:
Washed and diced large - 3-4 red peppers
3 tbl spoons of  Urid dal
1/2 tsp of turmeric powder
1 pinch of Asafoetida
1 stem of curry leaves
5 red chillies (dried cayenne)
1 tbl spoon of olive oil
salt to taste

Preparation:

I a pan, heat the olive oil and add the urid dal, asafoetida, curry leaves and chillies. Once the dal turns golden, add the diced peppers. Stir well and then keep pan closed for about 3 minutes. The pepper cooks pretty fast.
Add the salt and stir it well and let it cool. Put in blender and grind to a fine paste - NO water required. The water from the pepper is amply sufficient for the job. Gather in a nice container.

Garnish: 1 teaspoon of butter or olive oil - 1/2 tsp of cumin seeds and 1/2 tsp of mustard seeds. heat  the oil/butter, add the mustard seeds and allow them to pop; add the cumin seeds. Turn heat off and pour over the chutney.

Secret tip: If your peppers are not already sweet enough, a pinch of sugar does wonders to enhance the taste.

Note: all ingredients are available in Whole Foods or our local Indian store. Photos to follow!