Chilli chutneys to spice up your meal

Even the most boring of meals can be spiced up instantly with a generous serving of some good ol’ chilli chutney, Andhra style. A perfect mix of spicy and tangy, these lip-smacking pacchidis are easy to whip up too, says Ganesh, a chef at Rayalaseema Ruchulu.

“Once you get the classic base right, you can experiment with different spices. Some can even make variations with coconut in it,” says the chef, who adds that the classic chilli recipes are of three kinds. “You can make a chutney with fiery red chillies, green chillies or even the dried red ones with the same base mentioned in the recipe below. While the green chilli chutney will leave a raw, tingly taste in your mouth, the red chilli version has an intense flavour. I personally recommend the chutney with dried red chillies. The flavour is to die for,” he adds.

Red chilli pacchidi

Ingredients

• 250 gms red chillies
• 50 gms garlic
• 250 gms peanuts, ground to paste
• 1 tsp nuvvulu (til)
• ½ tsp haldi
• 250 gms imli, ground to paste
• 250 ml oil
• ½ tsp jeera
• Salt to taste

METHOD
Fry the peanuts, jeera, til in oil, before adding the red chillies. Then add the turmeric, imli paste and fry a little more.
To season, you can fry dry red chillies, curry leaves and mustard in a little oil and then pour it over the chutney.