31 March, 2014
Coconut and pine nuts chutney
Pine nuts are one of those nuts (seeds, actually) that have immense nutritional benefits but are not very tasty to eat by themselves. They are expensive and their shelf life is short too; need to be stored in the fridge or freezer. The best way to use them in Indian cuisine, from my experiments, is in combination with coconut in a saatvik (sans onion and garlic) chutney.
Chutneys are the best side dish for Indian crepes (dosa), savoury pancakes and idlis. Those of us who make coconut chutney know that frozen coconut is terrible to make chutney with. But what do you do if you need chutney in a hurry and a fresh coconut is not available? Use some pine nuts and you’ll get a really smooth and creamy texture.
It is best to soak nuts in water for a few hours (to remove enzyme inhibitors and anti-nutrients) and discard the water. This makes them activated and easily digestible (source: Food Matters). For storage, I spread the nuts in a glass baking dish, and dry in an oven at 170 °F for 30 minutes. After cooling to room temperature, they go back in the fridge. It is recommended that you use a dehydrator at 150 °F, since most ovens do not go down to that temperature. An oven works fine if the drying process is short.
Ok, I’m done with the boring lecture. 🙂 Ready for the recipe?
Coconut and pine nuts chutney
Ingredients:
frozen coconut (unsweetened)- 1 cup
pine nuts- 1/2 cup (soaked in water 5-7 hours, drain water)
split chickpeas (dalia)- 1/4 cup
green chillies- 2
salt- to taste
asafoetida powder- a pinch
for tempering:
mustard seeds- 1/4 tsp.
canola oil- 1 tsp.
Method:
* Thaw frozen coconut by keeping outside or heating gently in a pan. (I do not prefer the microwave method)
* Grind along with pine nuts, green chillies, asafoetida, salt in a blender. Use required amount of water.
* Heat oil in a pan, add mustard seeds and wait till they pop. Add into the chutney. Garnish with cilantro.
28 thoughts on : Coconut and pine nuts chutney
This looks really great. I’ve never seen frozen coconut, though, so here’s a silly question: do you think this would work with desiccated coconut or (tinned) coconut cream?
I think this would work with desiccated coconut, but not with coconut cream if it is too runny. You would find frozen coconut in an international/Indian/Chinese store.
Thank you for visiting my blog so I could find yours! I have never seen a chutney like this. It looks so rich and creamy and amazing. And I just so happen to LOVE pine nuts and use them a lot in my recipes. This looks fabulous 🙂
thank you!
Interesting combination. 🙂
thanks, Aruna
Wow! That looks really good x
Yes, Elaine. I don’t make chutneys very often, but this one I will!
The Global Recipe Project is looking for great chutney recipes (we don’t have any chutneys, yet). I hope you will consider contributing a recipe – it’s for a good cause! 🙂 http://crowdedearthkitchen.com/global-recipe-project/
I feel very honoured and would love to! May I contribute this recipe, or should it be new and not posted on my blog?
This recipe would be great – thank you!
Do you want me to submit it in some way? I don’t know how this works.
If you are willing to let us use the recipe, you can either link it to the submission box at http://crowdedearthkitchen.com/global-recipe-project/ or just let me know if I have permission to copy it from your post. Either way, thank you for considering this! 🙂
I linked it, if it does not work well, you can copy it from the post too.
Thank you, thank you! 🙂
The pleasure is mine, thanks for the opportunity 🙂
This is a nice combination! I mean pine nuts and coconut which i have never heard of…
yes, it is very creamy. I did not expect it to taste so good.
What a gorgeous sounding chutney – haven’t tried one with coconut base before, will have to!
do let me know how you like it.
Such a different combination! Loving it honey x
thank you, Dimple. I’m glad you like it. hugs:)
I love pine-nuts and use it often in my cooking (usually toasted on top of meat or rice), and have used it in making Afghan style chatney (inspiration from making Pesto) but this combination with coconut looks amazing, so creamy and dreamy looking I will definitely be giving this a try!
I hope you like it!
I go completely gaga for anything with coconuts. I could easily see this recipe becoming a new favorite for me.
thank you!
Wow! Pine nuts in coconut chutney! Never thought it work! I generally use roasted peanuts or roasted white Channa to flavour my coconut chutney! will have to try your version!
yes, it is an odd combo, right? 🙂