Cauliflower and Bell Pepper Chutney (Pachadi)

Having spent half of my formative years in Hyderabad, I’m what you may call a Tamil Born (not) Confused Hyderabadi Living in the US! I just made that up…but seriously, I am quite proud to call myself a Hyderabadi, or half Hyderabadi! Some of my best friends are from Hyderabad and I’ve definitely imbibed a taste for pappus (lentils) and pachadis (chutneys) and pulusus (stews?). I believe that Indian cookery’s flavorful and some very creative concoctions come from Andhra Pradesh.

So it was one morning at breakfast at my dear friend Radhika’s house that she made dosas (Indian pancakes) and asked us to taste this new pachadi (chutney) that she had got from her sis-in-law. It was what you might call a true Southern Spice creation. Incidentally, that’s also the name of a famous restaurant from Hyderabad.

She made the culinary experience even more intriguing by asking us to guess the ingredients in the chutney. We assumed it was something generic like ridged gourd or peanuts. Turns out the chutney was made with cauliflower stems and leaves, and scraps of bell peppers. Basically, leftovers from an earlier cauliflower-bell pepper vegetable recipe. The gracious cook that she is, Radhika shared my enthusiasm and made this at my house just for roz ka khana. Thanks, Radhika for your support being such a great friend!

You could practically experiment this chutney with other vegetables as well. I think poblano peppers may work very well too. Let me know if you do try other variations.

She also made a tomato chutney that follows this recipe.

 Ingredients:

Bell pepper 1/2

Medium sized cauliflower stem – 1

Green chilies (Thai peppers) – 10. We like our food spicy but you can adjust this quantity to taste

Tamarind – lime sized ball

Oil – 3 tsp

To be ground:

Urad dal – 2 tsp

Chana dal – 3 tbsp

Peanuts (roasted) – 1 tbsp

Dhania (coriander) – 1 tbsp

Dry red chilies – 8

Garlic – 4 pods peeled

1. Take a little oil in a heavy bottomed vessel and saute all the above (for grinding) except the green chilies and the vegetables .

2. Now saute the green chilies, cauliflower stem and the bell pepper separately in a skillet, until cooked and a little soft.

3. Take the tamarind in a microwaveable container, add a little water and microwave on High for 15 secs.

4. Grind the ingredients for the powder (step1 ) finely.

5. Now add the sauteed vegetables to this mixture, add 1/2 tsp turmeric and salt to taste. Grind again while adding some of the tamarind paste.

6. Add 1 tbsp chopped cilantro to this paste.

For popu or tadka:

1 tsp mustard seeds

1 tsp urad dal

Garlic – 1pod peeled

Curry leaves – a few

Heat some oil in a small pan, and add the above ingredients when the oil is hot. When the mustard seeds start to crackle, switch off the heat and pout the tadka on the finished chutney. Serve with dosas, idli or mix wirh hot rice.