CORIANDER CHUTNEY AND A POST ON A HERB AND A SPICE -CORIANDER/CILANTRO

CORIANDER CHUTNEY AND A POST ON A HERB AND  A SPICE -CORIANDER/CILANTRO

EDITED: This recipe was featured in the weekly blog party called Healthy happy and Green party, on 12-7 2017, Check here.

EDITED: This recipe was featured in the weekly blog party called Sweet Inspiration Party, on 15-07-17 Check here.

Coriander is also called cilantro in Northern America, which is a very popular herb and used in many cuisines of the world. Its fresh green leaves are used for garnishing because of its nice green colour and earthy aroma and also its many health benefits.

 

In Indian cuisine, coriander has been used from ages, not only as the fresh green leaves for garnishing but also the seeds and in ground form as seeds powder. In Hindi which is the national language of India, it is called “Dhania.”. Roasted Coriander seeds are also used in spice blend like sambhar powder of South India. In some parts of India, these roasted seeds are mixed in mouth fresheners and eaten as it is. In North India, it is commonly used in almost all curries and stews of lentils and vegetables, yoghurt dishes, lassis (savoury smoothies), fresh green salads, fruit salads, side vegetables and lentil dishes, either as seeds or as seeds powder. I mean, you just name it, and it can be used in most of the preparations.

 

In Indian cuisine, a lot of spices are used in everyday cooking. In a typical Indian kitchen, we use a special spice box, where we keep all the spices which we use in our everyday cooking, coriander powder is a must in that spice box. When I am talking about spice box, I remember one more incidence. The following photo of my spice box was published on a full page of Airdrie Life magazine together with my two recipes in April 2015. Those two recipes, I have already shared on my blog-Lentil Crepe and Carrot Halwa.

  

When the photographer from the magazine came to my house to take photos of those recipes, out of so many items in my kitchen, he really liked this spice box and said this is a unique piece because he had never seen it before. He even asked me, “How do you remember all the spices in it?” I told him, “This is very easy because I am the one who is filling these spices and I use them every day”. Normally the spices which are kept in this spice box are the common ones which we use every day in our kitchen. These type of spice boxes are normally a round stainless steel box with 7 or 9 individual stainless steel small bowls inside them. They come with a tightly fitted lid or a plain thin lid between the main lid and those small bowls so that spices do not mix when holding the whole box.

 

This spice coriander or cilantro is highly appreciated in Ayurveda (Ancient healing system of India) as a cooling spice. Cooling, in the sense that it helps in digestion and cools the stomach. It is mentioned in this website that by enhancing digestion, it works to alleviate the root cause of allergen reactions.

Coriander has many health benefits because it is a wonderful source of dietary fiber, magnesium, iron and other minerals. Green leaves have vitamin C, vitamin K and protein in it. Check this website for 16 amazing health benefits of Cilantro

Coming to the recipe, this is one of the most famous chutney of Indian cuisine, which is served in almost all Indian restaurants in India and abroad with snacks, samosas and other food items. In Indian cuisine, food is always served with pickles and chutneys and this is one of the famous ones. This is a simple recipe with few ingredients. Whenever this chutney is made, care should be taken about its consistency, it should not be watery or liquid. It should be thick enough like Jam which we can easily spread on a toast or a cracker, then only you can enjoy this chutney. This recipe is tried and tested; you can never go wrong with it.

 

RECIPE

INGREDIENTS

• Two bunches of fresh green coriander leaves
• Two tbs Chana dal/yellow flat lentil
• 1 tbs oil for roasting the lentil
• One medium onion
• 3-4 green chilies (optional)
• Salt to taste
• 2 tbs white vinegar
• 1 tbs sugar ( optional)

METHOD

• Heat the oil in a frying pan and roast yellow lentils till they turn light brown and leave them aside to cool.
• Rinse and chop cilantro, onion and green chilies.
• Add all ingredients in a blender and pulse for 2-3 minutes till it is turning to a nice green, thick paste.
• Keep it in the fridge, it can last for one month.

Serve cold with any snack, fritter, samosa etc.

I am sharing this recipe as my blog post entry with Meatless Monday, with Cook Blog Share, Hearth and Soul blog hop and with I am pinnable and Sweet Inspiration party and with Cook once and eat Twice and with Simple and in Season and with Eat your greens and with Fiesta Fridda with no so creative cook and My Baja kitchen and with Happy Healthy green and natural party