Just up the street from us is a tiny Indian bakery called Jewel of India.  If a friend or coworker doesn’t give you the scoop on where to find it, you might easily miss it.  The bakery is sandwiched between a small Indian grocery store, and a pool hall. Though small and humble looking, it has some of the best dessert and snack items in our area.

Besides offering a full lunch and dinner menu, they boast a large selection of delectable Indian desserts. At the front of their modest store is a large glass display counter.  Every shelf is piled high with neat squares of traditional milk-made desserts in a rainbow of colors.  A tray of freshly fried jalebis sit atop the counter, still shinning with hot oil and dripping sticky orange syrup, which I usually can’t wait to bite into. Hubby and I find ourselves perusing this bakery on a regular basis.  Whether for a quick Friday night treat or an on the road snack.  Our most frequent excuse for a visit is to pick up some freshly made samosas accompanied with spicy green chutney.

These samosas are the very best in the bay area. Sometimes we pick up orders of twenty or more for dinner parties or potlucks. Along with every order comes a container full of their famous green chutney.  This chutney is the finishing touch, adding mouthwatering zest and freshness to any snack.

On our last trip to India, Mummy-ji showed me how to whip up a green chutney in less than five minutes.  Coriander, mint, chilies and lemon are tossed into a blender and whipped into a sauce.  A sprinkling of salt and sugar rounds out the flavor.  If you like your sauce hot enough to breath fire, use four chilies.  You can also leave the chilies out and the onion and lemon will lend more than enough zest for a refreshing accompaniment  to almost any snack.

Serve this chutney along side any snack food.  It goes great with fried  or salty foods.

 

 

Green Chutney

The measurements below are a simple guideline to get you started, but this common Indian recipe is typically thrown together minutes before sitting down to eat and the cooks I’ve watched never bother to measure.  

Ingredients:

2 cups / 2.5 oz / 80 g coriander (cilantro) leaves

½ cup / .3 oz / 9 g mint leaves

2-4 green chilies (according to how spicy you want it), stems removed

½ onion, roughly chopped

1 ½ tablespoons sugar

½ teaspoon salt

Juice of 2 lemons

2 tablespoons water (as needed, see recipe)

Directions:

1. Place all the ingredients in a food processor and blend into a thick sauce.  The consistency should be like a thick sauce or liquid paste.
2. If you do not have a food processor, use a blender or place all the ingredients in a bowl and blend with an immersion blender.
3. Store in an airtight container. The chutney should last 3-4 days.

 

Makes 1/2 cup of chutney.

Prep time: 5 min

Serving suggestions: serve as a side sauce to appetizers and snacks such as Samosas, mini samosa bites, potato pillows, vegetable cutlets, aloo parathas or chole.