• 

If you are looking for a recipe other than fried green tomatillos or summery green tomato salsa verde, then you’ve landed on the right page. Like any other spread or dip recipe, the chutney Verde is seasoned with a few other ingredients such as cilantro, green chili, curry leaves, and cumin, to name a few. The green tomato chutney, or the chutney Verde I name it at times, is sweet and tangy in taste and can be used as a dip with pita chips or as a spread on your favorite bread. The chutney Verde is a popular side dish of the south-west part of Maharashtra, India. I am going to share my Grandma’s special variation of this lip-smacking preparation.

If green tomatoes are not available, you can use tomatillos, known as Mexican green tomatoes, and belong to the same family as tomatoes. Tomatillos taste a little more like lemon, apples, and herbs than green tomatoes, but they’re still quite similar. It’s a popular side dish, but I prefer to use it as a spread for my sandwich.

INGREDIENTS

• 4 small green tomatoes.
• 4 Thai green chili.
• A handful of cilantro.
• 3 tbsp Jaggery, aka, unrefined Indian palm sugar.
  (Increase/adjust the quantity of jaggery if tomatillos are sour).
• 2 tbsp roasted sesame seeds.
• 2 tbsp roasted and crushed peanuts.
• 2 tsp cumin seeds.
• 13-15 curry leaves.
• 1/2 tsp mustard seeds.
• A pinch of asafoetida.
• 3 tsp oil.
  (1 tsp for roasting and 2 tsp for tempering.)
• 1 cup water.
• Salt as per your taste.

• 

RECIPE

• Heat oil in a pan. Add diced tomatoes and green chili to the pan once the oil is hot.
• Sauté chilies and tomatoes for 3-4 minutes, and then add cilantro, curry leaves, cumin seeds, and salt. Mix everything well and sauté for another 2-3 minutes on a medium to high flame, as shown in picture #2.

• 

• Next, transfer the mixture into a bowl and let it cool down. Add roasted & crushed raw peanuts, pan-roasted sesame seeds, and jagger in it, as shown in picture #3.

• 

• If your blender allows hot ingredients, you can transfer the following mixture directly to the jar, add water, blend it to a fine paste, as shown in picture #4.
• Next, heat the remaining oil in a saucepan. Add mustard seeds once the oil is hot, add asafoetida once the seeds start spluttering, and pour the blended mixture into the saucepan, as shown in picture #5

• 

• 

• Give it a nice stir and boil the chutney until it thickens. It takes 5 to 6 minutes approximately for the chutney to reduce to the desired consistency. Turn off the flame, let the dip cool down, and then transfer it to the air-tight container.
• Refrigerate the green tomato chutney. It lasts for 10-12 days in the refrigerator. I paired it with baked pita chips as the dip. My favorite recipe using the green tomato chutney is aIt sandwich spread. The sandwich made using this spread tastes incredibly delicious.

Many people also relish the chutney without tempering. I prefer to temper it with oil, mustard seeds, and asafoetida, enhancing the side-side and dip flavor.

PS: Verde means green in the Spanish language.