Groundnut Chutney / Peanut Chutney

Name: Groundnut Chutney / Peanut Chutney
Prep time: 15 min
Cook time: 10 min
Total time: 25 min
Yield: 6
Cuisine: South Indian
Ingredients: 1 1/2 cup peanuts; 1 teaspoon Oil; 3 cloves Garlic; 2 dried Red chillies; 2 medium sized Onions, chopped; 1/2 lime size tamarind; 1/2 lime size jaggery; 1/2 teaspoon salt; 2 teaspoon Oil; 2 dried Red Chilli; 1 sprig Curry leaves

February 5, 2015 by Suguna Vinodh 37 Comments

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Groundnut Chutney / Peanut Chutney.

Best recipe for South Indian Tamilnadu style Groundnut Chutney that can be served with idli and dosa varieties. Tangy, spicy and creamy.

Every food has a story somewhere. Whenever I speak to my good friend Sunitha, I ask what did you make today? Groundnut Chutney – Peanut chutney would feature in the answer very regularly. She has told me many times that her mother would make tubs of this Groundnut Chutney for their big family when she was young and how much ever she would make, the Groundnut Chutney would be polished off. She doesn’t know of a single time when there was a leftover. She would make this Groundnut Chutney almost everyday. She grew up eating this Groundnut Chutney. After hearing such a story, I wanted to make it too. Groundnut Chutney is easy to make, healthy and can feed a crowd. No problem. After hearing that story, I was eager to try it out. Here is the Groundnut Chutney recipe that I adapted from Sunitha. Its a very nice chutney that goes well with Idli, Dosa and the other south indian breakfast varieties. This Groundnut Chutney recipe has very few ingredients and the peanuts shine. This has now become a regular fare with my family and my little one cant get enough of it. Its really nutty and tasty and very creamy.

Here is how I do Groundnut Chutney.

We need to first roast the peanuts. Roasting peanuts makes them crisp and brings out the flavor by activating their essential oils. You need to roast the peanuts on a very low flame. Heat a pan with a cup and a half of peanuts and dry roast them until the skin is dark and the aroma is nutty. It will take a good 10 minutes. Roasting on a low flame is important else the nuts might burn on the outside. So take it low and slow. Good things take time. Once roasted, just smash the peanuts with a cup so its easier to de-skin. You can omit this step if you want to keep the skin on for your chutney. But I like it without the skins.

Just blow air on the peanuts. Do this at an open space outside or you will end up with peanut skin all over your kitchen. Just keep tossing and blowing the peanuts until majority of the peanut skins have been blown away. Set this aside.

Heat oil in a pan and add in 2-3 cloves of garlic. I added more as my garlic cloves were unbelievably small. Add in the dried red chillies and onions, saute on medium flame for 3-4 minutes until soft. No need to brown. Add in the salt, tamarind and the jaggery. There is an untold rule. Wherever tamarind goes, jaggery also goes. That little addition of jaggery rounds out the flavor and makes it very delicious. Briefly saute for a few seconds and remove off heat. Grind this mixture along with the peanuts to a smooth paste. Add upto 1 cup of water while grinding.

You can serve as is or do a simple tadka/tempering the following way.
Heat oil in a pan and add couple of dried red chillies and a sprig of curry leaves. When the curry leaves turn crisp (usually 30-40 seconds in medium flame), remove off heat and add it to the Groundnut Chutney.