Garlic Chutney For Chaat 5/5 (1)

Lahsun ki chutney or Red chilli garlic chutney for chaat is a simple and easy recipe. It can be tried by an amateur or bachelor cook as it is super easy with a few ingredients and involves minimum to no cooking. Another added value is it’s storage life making it handy for the working class. Grind it, Freeze it.

This Garlic chutney for chaat as the name suggests is a key ingredient in chaat making. Three pearls of the chaats include these three chutneys:

• Green or Coriander Mint Chutney 
• Sweet Tamarind Dates Chutney 
• Garlic Chilli or Lahsun ki Chutney 

I highly recommend using Kashmiri Red chilli as it gives a deeper colour to your chutney and less spicy. It gives the illusion of a fiery look even though it’s less spicy. If you don’t have Kashmiri red chilli, you can replace it with a few spicy chillies of your region but make sure your chutney imbibes this intense colour which makes it more appealing.

For it’s long shelf life, this chutney is a hit among urban dwellers as you spend less time in the kitchen. Weekend you grind, store and weekdays you defrost and use. Maintain a thick consistency while you grind and store. You can add water and make it thin while using for chaat preparation. Adding lemon and sesame oil improves the storage life and balances the fieriness of the chillies, also adds glossy texture to it.

Don’t forget to scroll down to the Notes, you’ll have a bonus recipe under my kitchen secret. My Kitchen Secrets saves you when you are puzzled with leftovers.

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Discard the stalks of the whole Kashmiri red chilli, break the chillies deseed them, and soak it in hot water for 30 minutes minimum.

Peel the garlic cloves, sauté in 1 tsp of sesame oil for 3 – 4 minutes to make it soft, and to get rid of the pungent odour.

Take a mixer jar, add the soaked chilli and grind it as smooth paste. Then add the sautéed garlic, roasted cumin / jeera powder, brown / white sugar, salt, and grind it again.

Add 1 tbsp water if you find garlic chunks hard to grind. Finally, add sesame / gingelly oil and lemon juice

And again run the mixer for a while to get a fine paste. Transfer the garlic chutney into an airtight container and store it in the refrigerator for a week or in the freezer for longer life.

Recipe Card

Prep time : 10 minutes

Cooking time : 3 minutes

Cuisine : North Indian

Category :  Chutney/ Accompaniment

Serves : 1 cup

Author : Manimala

Ingredients :

Garlic cloves – ½ cup peeled

Kashmiri red chilli – 1 cup tightly packed and heaped (roughly 25 nos)

Cumin powder / Jeera  powder – ½ tsp

Sugar – 2 tsp

Salt – 1 tsp or as required

Gingelly oil / Sesame oil – ⅛  cup + 1 tsp

Lemon – 2 tbsp

*Water – 1 tbsp (if required)

Instructions:

1. Discard the stalks of the whole Kashmiri red chilli, break the chillies deseed them, and soak it in hot water for 30 minutes minimum.

2. Peel the garlic cloves, sauté in 1 tsp of sesame oil for 3 – 4 minutes to make it soft, and to get rid of the pungent odour.

3. Take a mixer jar, add the soaked chilli and grind it as smooth paste. 

4. Then add the sautéed garlic, roasted cumin / jeera powder, brown / white sugar, salt, and grind it again. Add 1 tbsp water if you find garlic chunks hard to grind.

5. Finally, add sesame / gingelly oil and lemon juice and again run the mixer for a while to get a fine paste.  

6. Transfer the garlic chutney into an airtight container and store it in the refrigerator for a week or in the freezer for longer life.

Notes:

• Adding oil gives a shiny texture to the chutney. Also improves the shelf life.
• I prefer to add gingelly oil (sesame oil) as it enhances and complements the flavour of garlic.
• Avoid adding water to improve the storage life, if your mixer jar struggles to grind, then add not more than a tbsp of water.
• Go with Kashmiri chilli whole as they impart good colour to the chutney, also it is less spicy. Soaking helps the chilli to grind it into a smooth paste.
• Adding lemon helps to give an extra punch to this garlic-y chutney, the sourness of the lemon complements the pungent flavour of garlic.
• This chutney goes well with Dahi Sev Puri, Bhel puri, Sev Puri Chaat Dahi Papdi, Ragda patties, etc. In short where there is chaat, there is Garlic chutney😆 

Now time for my Kitchen Secrets…😉🤩

This chutney has long shelf life if stored in freezer. It can be stored in refrigerator as well for a shorter period of time say a week time. This chutney is so versatile that it can be used in various ways. Apart from chaats, can be used as dips for appetizers, spreads for sandwiches, accompaniments for breakfasts, list goes on…

Still this chutney is too strong for kids due to it’s pungent flavour. Here I come with an alternative way to amend this chutney. I swear it’ll turn to be your kid’s all-time favourite chutney as it has become favourites to my kids and to their friends…😍. This easy Garlic yoghurt dip can be prepared by diluting chutney with yoghurt and goes well with samosas, dhoklas, idli and dosa.