Mint/Pudina Pulao

Dear Foodies,

Pudina is one of the those herbs that I think take time to get to the favorites list. As a kid I was definitely not a fan. My mother would make a fabulous chutney with it or add it to rasam but I just could not get myself to appreciate its strong flavor. I think the only way to get some of the pudina into me was in my dad's sandwich, which is still the best sandwich ever. But over the last few years I've gradually been adding it to recipes, initially just a few leaves sneaked in which did not really exert their presence. But later my love for chaat forced to make large batches of pudina chutney to use in bhel puri & sandwiches. I have even driven 40 mins to the Indian store to stock up on pudina, the measly sprigs sold at the regular stores just don't cut it for me.

Sprouted bean salad

Dear foodies,

Close on the heels of the sweet & savory chickpea and sweet potato salad, I have another salad recipe for you. This one uses a different set of beans and fresh veggies in it. I've been trying to add more protein in my diet. For a vegetarian, beans and legumes are an excellent source of protein, apart from soy and dairy products. Instead of using canned beans - which are more expensive, may contain high amounts of sodium, and not always the right texture for your recipe - re-hydrating dried beans at home is a far better option. You also get the added advantage of sprouting them when you do this and can control the texture of the final product.

I bought some garbanzo beans, kala chana, yellow and green split peas, kidney beans and some black eyed peas to kick start the dried bean collection in my pantry. The bulk bins at the store are a great boon here. I can pick 3-4 varieties and buy just a cup or two of each instead of investing on a whole bag of them. When I get into the mood of prepping the beans, I almost always over do it :D So on the same evening I'll have numerous odd sized bowls sprawled across the counter-tops, each holding a different kind of bean for soaking. And then for the next few days, I'll pressure cook them batch after batch, storing a few bowls of soaking beans in the fridge to stop them from spoilage after day 1. Changing the water every 10-12 hrs helps too. Once pressure cooked, I portion them out into plastic bags and send them into the freezer to await their cooking turn. I cannot tell you how convenient having a bag of these pre-cooked beans are when it comes to making a quickie meal.

I leave out a few handfuls of each bean to sprout so I can snack on them or to even use in stir fry's. (Sprouting guide from the Bee & Jai). Here is a quick salad that I made with a few of them.

Mixed Sprouted Beans Salad

(serves 4)

Ingredients:

• 2 cups - mixed sprouts (here I used yellow split peas, kala channa/black chickpeas)
• 3/4 cup - English cucumber, diced
• 1/2 cup - Red bell pepper, diced
• 1/2 cup - Carrots, diced
• 1/2 tsp - Mustard seeds
• 1/4 tsp - Cumin seeds
• 1/2 tsp - Urad dal
• 1/4 tsp - Ginger, finely minced
• 1/4 tsp - Red chilli powder or to taste
• a pinch of turmeric
• 1/2 Tbsp - Olive oil
  
• 4-5 Mint leaves
• Salt to taste
• Squeeze of lemon juice

Method:

1. Heat oil in a pan, splutter the mustard and cumin seeds, add the urad dal and allow it to turn a slight orange color.
   
2. Add turmeric and ginger, saute for a few seconds. The diced peppers & carrots go in next, cook just for a couple of minutes to get rid of their rawness.
3. Next add the sprouts, cover and saute about 2-3 mins.
4. Take off the heat, allow it to cool a bit and add diced cucumber, mint leaves, lemon juice, salt and chilli powder. Taste and adjust for seasonings. This salad can be served warm or at room temperature.

This is a nice crunchy salad with a tangy, fresh feel to it, and its mighty filling too. A pinch of roasted cumin powder or chaat masala would also be great here. I had found some fresh colored carrot tops at the store which were put to good use here. I am really looking forward to the fresh spring produce to get to the groceries stores here. Tired of looking at everything being shipped from Mexico or Peru or some place far far away, walking through the aisles feels more like a travel expedition now.

Sweet Potato and Chickpea Salad

Dear Foodies,

Spring is almost here at our doorstep and with the longer brighter days I almost forget grabbing my winter coat on the way out :D And with that, I've begun counting down to the D-day too, just a month away from today!! Its exciting but I'm also restless, since there's hardly anything I can get done from here :(

A few weeks back I decided I was going to have hearty soups to tide me through the snowy winter, so I brought out the huge soup books that I bought when I first moved to this winterland. I had fun trying out many different soup recipes and also added in a bunch of salads in between. This sweet potato salad was one of them, and its the best form of salad I have ever eaten.

I vaguely remember eating sweet potato when I was kid, the memory is too distant. In the last couple of years since I started cooking, I always saw the tubers in the bins at the store but never really ventured into cooking with them. Sweet and savory just did not seem comfortable. A month back when we were driving through Virginia, my colleagues and I stopped at a diner to grab some lunch. They were serving baked regular/sweet potato with the buffet and I ordered the sweet potato. It came accompanied with a huge dollop of butter and a mound of brown sugar. The first few bites were divine! The warm, tender potato mixed with the butter and crunchy brown sugar melts in your mouth. But after the initial excitement the cloying sweetness takes over. The good thing though was I was now ready to start experimenting with the sweet tubers again.

While going through Molly's blog Orangette I came across this recipe for a warm butternut squash & chickpea salad. It was the savory dressing that drew me to the recipe, it was like no other vinaigrette I had seen and I finally found another use for the huge tub of tahini that I have in the pantry. So when I brought home the sweet potatoes this was the first recipe that struck me, may be it was because the diced potato resembled the butternut squash in color ?! Or I was trying to mask the sweetness of the potato under the savory tahini dressing. No matter what the reason, you guys just have to give this one a shot. I added some warm spices like coriander, cumin and five spice to the mix, and the result was out of the world.

Sweet Potato and Chickpea salad with Tahini dressing

(Serves 3-4 as a side)

Ingredients:

• 1nos - Sweet Potato, peeled and cubed into 1" pieces ~ 2 cups
• 1 cup - Chickpeas, pre-soaked and boiled (or) canned, rinse and pat dry
• 3/4 cup - Red onion, diced
• 1/4 cup - Cilantro, roughly chopped
• 4-5 nos - Mint leaves, roughly chopped
• 2-3 nos - Sun-dried tomatoes, roughly chopped
• 1Tbsp - Olive oil
• 1/4 tsp - Chinese five spice powder (or your fav spice mix)
• 1/4 tsp - Coriander powder
• 1/4 tsp - Smoked Paprika (or) regular paprika/chilli powder to taste
• Salt to taste

for the dressing:

• 3 Tbsp - Tahini
• 2-3 Tbsp - Lemon juice
• 2 Tbsp - Olive oil
• 1 nos - Garlic clove, finely minced
• 1/4 tsp - Cumin powder
• Salt to taste

Method:

1. Pre-heat the oven to 400F
2. Line a baking sheet with aluminum foil. In a bowl toss the sweet potatoes with salt and spice powders. Drizzle the olive oil and mix to coat the cubes well. Spread them on the baking sheet and let the roast for about 25-30 mins. They will shrink a little in size and get soft and tender, yummm!
3. In the mean while, heat a wide skillet, add a tsp of olive oil and toast the chickpeas. You could also do this in the oven. Make sure that the chickpeas are dry when they hit the pan. Toast them for 5-6 mins till the skin starts to crisp a little.
4. Start making the dressing in the same bowl you used to toss the sweet potato. Whisk together the tahini, lemon juice, olive oil, minced garlic and cumin powder. Adjust the amounts by tasting the dressing, some brands of tahini tend to be bitter (not good!) If the dressing is too thick, add a few spoons of warm water to loosen it.
5. Once the sweet potatoes are ready, try not to snack on them! Instead, toss them into the dressing bowl along with the toasted chickpeas, diced onions, sun dried tomatoes, cilantro and mint. (I used the sun-dried tomatoes packed in oil, if using the dry kind, reconstitute them by soaking in warm water for a few minutes.) Mix well to blend all the flavors together and check for seasonings.
6. The salad can be served warm, but I liked it even at room temperature the next afternoon.

As you may have noticed, I ran out of red onions and used white ones here. Don't let any excuse of this sort stop you from trying this recipe! The nutty tahini with the warm tones of the cumin and coriander reminded me of bagara baingan. All the flavors mingle so well together in this salad that it will have you craving for more n more. Every bite is delicious and filled with so many different notes that seem perfect together. I made this about a month ago, and just writing this post makes me want to have some right now. Lucky me, I have a sweet potato waiting in veggie basket :D Most of the other ingredients in this salad are regular/pantry ingredients. So don't waste any more time, make some for yourself asap! :) O, Happy Womens day to all you gorgeous ladies :)

ICC - Dhokla

Dear foodies,

I'm sure you guys have already seen many dhokla filled posts coming up on many blogs today, and here is another to add to that list. Srivalli initiated the Indian cooking challenge a month back and this is the first official outcome of the event. She picked Dhokla's for this round and gave us a tried and tested recipe to recreate at home, thank you! I've made Dhokla before but it was never a full-fledged effort. The right tempering on the dhokla's and the fixings on the sides add a lot to its taste. On it own it does not create the same magic for your taste buds.

Dhokla - Steamed lentil cakes

Ingredients:
Batter

• Besan – 1½ cups
• Curd – ½ cup (not sour)
• Water – ½ cup
• Cooking soda – ½tsp

Seasoning for the batter:

• Oil – 1tbsp
• Turmeric – a pinch
• Green chili – 2, coarsely crushed
• Sugar – 1tsp
• Citric Acid – ¼ tsp
• Eno – 1tsp

Tempering:

• Mustard Seeds – 1tsp
• Coriander leaves – 2tbsp
• Curry leaves – 6

Method:

1. In a bowl, mix curd & water. To this add the besan and mix well to get a lump less batter, the consistency should be of idli batter, more of dropping not pouring consistency. Slowly add more water if needed. Add soda and keep it aside to rise for 1 hour.
2. Add the seasonings - citric acid, oil, salt, sugar, green chili paste and turmeric powder - and mix well. Heat water in a pressure cooker. When it comes to a boil, add eno to the batter, sprinkling some on the steaming dish & immediately transfer to the cooker. The batter should be filled to only 1/2 as it will rise up. After adding eno the batter should not rest. Amount of sugar can be increased on preference. Steam for 5-7mins.
3. After 5 -7 minutes, remove the lid and proof it using toothpick or knife. If the knife comes out clean and does not have any batter sticking, then its done. Cover back and let it remain on flame for 1 min and switch off the gas and allow it for 5 minutes. Note: Dhokla can also be steamed in kadai filled with water and a plated titled over it.
4. In a bowl, mix 3 tsp of water along with a tsp of oil. Remove the plate from the pan, pour the water and oil mix over the top.
5. For seasoning, heat a pan with oil, add curry leaves, sesame seeds, mustard seeds and finely chopped green chilies. When mustard starts popping, remove and pour over the dhokla

Green chutney

• Coriander - 1 bunch
• Mint leaves - 2-3 sprigs
• Green chili - 4-5 no
• Coconut - 4- 5 pieces
• Cumin seeds - 1/2 tsp
• juice of 1 Lime
• Salt to taste

Blend all the ingredients except coriander & lime juice in a food processor. Grind to a smooth paste. Finally add the coriander and again grind. Remove to a bowl, add the remaining lime and serve with Dhoklas.

I made a make shift arrangement for the steamer dish. I did not have one that would fit into my pressure cooker and so I wrapped two layers of heavy (thick) aluminum foil around a stainless steel lid and created a ~3" edge with it.

These came out really well, and the best part for me was the tempering. It gives it the perfect taste that you get from the good store bought ones. I also made the green chutney and had some store-bought sweet tamarind chutney. Was too eager to eat these that I forgot to get a shot of the dhokla's with the chutney's :) Go make your own now.

HHDD - Summer Salads

Dear foodies,

Lime & Mint noodle salad

A few months back Soma was playing host to the 26th edition of HHDD – Hay Hay its Donna Day. It is an event created to celebrate the wonderful recipes by Donna Hay. The recipes are simple, straight-forward and satisfying. She made a enticing roasted vegetables pasta dish and invited us to re-create a version of the dish. I sent in my pasta recipe to her event and was pleasantly surprised to be picked the winner. The event was placed on hold the past few months and that's when Denise of Chez Us stepped in and took over the reins for this lovely event from Bron. Read more about the event here & here.

I got stuck with a bad bout of cold and haven’t been able to share the event announcement with all of you earlier. It being summer, I choose salads as the theme and Donna Hay has many easy, refreshing salad recipes. I was browsing through part of her collection and the Lime & Mint noodle salad looked really good. The salad was bursting with fresh summery flavors – crisp beans and potent herbs like mint & cilantro, jazzed up with lime juice. (The overgrown mint plant in my patio did not have any influence on my selection ) I had some bean thread noodles left over from the fresh spring rolls I made earlier and the salad was ready in about 15mins!

Here is the recipe I used. I used regular cucumber instead of the Lebanese ones and used low-sodium Tamari instead of the fish sauce (make sure to taste and add more salt). I also was generous in adding the crushed peanuts, love them :D The salad can be served cold or at room temperature and is ready to be eaten immediately. I made it for dinner last night and had the leftovers for lunch today and it tasted even better with the noodles soaking up all the flavorful dressing.The mint, lime and cilantro create magic for your tastebuds. It’s a really flavorful salad and the bean noodles make it filling. Its a perfect vehicle to savor the fresh vegetables in the market, and did I say it has no oil! And if you use the microwave to cook the beans and warm water for the noodles, you don't have to turn on the stove.

So now it’s your turn to toss up a Summer salad, here are a few rules for you - slightly modified from what Denise has on her page.

Hay Hay it’s Donna Day is open to all food and wine bloggers.

1. Entries submitted for HHDD must be made specifically for the current round of this event, although photos may be submitted to photo competitions such as “Does My Blog Look Good In This.”
2. I've chosen Summer Salads as the theme this month. Participants may make that exact same recipe as is, or put their own spin on the recipe by altering the ingredients whilst remaining with the theme. Or if they prefer participants may share a well loved recipe within the same theme.
3. Entrants must include a link to this announcement page and to Denise, the facilitator in their entry post.
4. Entries can be made at any time once the event has been announced, but must be posted and emailed to the host by the closing date - August 15th, 2009.

At the end of the event, I will create a round up of the recipes and they will be open for VOTING. The winner will get to host the next edition of HHDD on their blog :)

A few more pointers:

• Use a salad recipe given by Donna Hay, you will find some very good ones HERE. Try to stay close to the basic recipe, but feel free to add you own twist and personalize it.
• It needs to be a light salad using fresh seasonal produce - could be vegetables or fruits. Even better if you can use something you grow in your garden.
• I’d prefer if you make it a vegetarian dish (no-meat), but if you have to, it would be nice if you could suggest a vegetarian alternative :)
  

So there, I'm done with the rules, now have fun with salads in the next few weeks and come back to share them with me. I'll be waiting to hear from you :)

Breakfast time

Dear foodies,

Divya asked us all to show her what we have for breakfast. Breakfast is my undoing, I know I've said it before, but no matter how hard I try, things haven't changed. Weekdays I try to squeeze in a bowl of oatmeal or cereals or toasted bread with jam (which I eat in the car :D) From my trip to the farmers market last week, I got some freshly baked whole wheat bread, cucumbers, tomatoes and a lot of cilantro. I had the green chutney I made for the ragda patties

This is my dad's recipe, he uses the soft milk bread we get in India, but any soft bread will do. Slather each slice with softened butter, and then a layer of green chutney. Add slices of cucumber and juicy tomatoes on one and top with the other piece of bread. Thats it...thats all you need for the perfect breakfast ( or lunch or dinner :-P) For an Italian twist, skip the cucumber and top the tomatoes with fresh basil leaves instead.

This is the real deal, made by dad with mom's special pudina chutney.

Other breakfast options that I've cooked in the past are here. What are your quick weekday breakfast options ?

Ragda Patties

Dear foodies,

Isn't chaat the best form of food ? They should make it one of the essential food groups. One bhel puri or ragda or one plate pani puri everyday :) That will be a diet plan I'll religiously stick too :D Specially in the summers, a spicy bhel or golgappa cooled down by a dahi poori or sugarcane juice is pure bliss. It's the best way to get your mind off the blistering sun of the Indian summer. Which brings up a very interesting question. Ever wondered why the hottest peppers come from the countries close to the equator. The cuisines of these countries (India, Thailand, Malaysia etc) also tend to be really spicy. You would think that people freezing in the cold would appreciate a hot pepper, but no, they are happy gulping down scotch/whiskey, and its the ones living in the tropics biting into hot chilli peppers.

Eating local and using what the land gives could be one reason. Most of the spices like chilli peppers, peppercorn, cloves etc prefer the hot humid climate and thrive is these regions. But that might still not answer why you would torture yourself by eating something that makes you feel hotter. Most chilli peppers have a chemical called Capsaicin which is an irritant and also gives them the spicy punch. It is known to act on the central nervous system and pump up the blood circulation, bringing more of the warm blood to the skin's surface causing us to sweat profusely. And since sweating is our body's natural way to cool us down, the spice aids this process. So though you might feel like your skin is burning up and you need a fire extinguisher asap, your body might actually be cooling itself! But this is good only as long as the level of Capsaicin is bareable, too high and you might really need a Doc. I also read in an article that your appetite tends to weaken as the mercury level rises. All you want is a light fruit salad or fruit juice or that cool, tall glass of buttermilk to cool you down. But that's surely not enough fodder for the body and so eating spicy food helps to bring back the appetite. (as long as you continue chomping down that spicy hot pav bhaji, you won't feel the heat :D)

Another theory draws on the unique properties that all of the spices possess- as an antiseptic (turmeric), anthelmintic (cloves), diuretic (coriander), carminative (coriander, pepper, ginger) to name a few. Apart from these they all have anti-bacterial properties in varying extents. So by using one or a combination of these spices, you are adding preservatives, preventing food poisoning from contamination by harmful microbial. This makes sense as modern day means of refrigeration are relatively new and the methods to store cooked food were limited. Now I also read a theory that since food tends to go bad very quickly in hot climates, the hot spices masked their rotten flavors! This, I am not willing to accept, nooooo, never....eoowww. But if you ate a really hot dish and want to put out the fire, instead of reaching for the glass of water or coke, eat a piece of bread. It does a better job at soaking up the capsaicin and gives relief. Milk and alcoholic beverages also help dilute the capsaicin molecules in the mouth.

Getting right back to our lovely chaats, I made some chatpata ragda patties when my friends came over last weekend. I now have chana, kala chana, pinto beans, yellow and green vatana in my pantry that I pre-soak and use when needed. I used yellow vatana to make the ragda and the patties are very easy to put together. I used store bought tamarind chutney and sev, the rest I made at home. Each component is extremely simple, quick and uncomplicated, which is the true essence of chaat - Fresh, flavorful, simple ingredients put together with the right balance of sweet/spice/sour/tangy to entice our tastebuds.

Ragda Patties

Ingredients:

for the patties or aloo tikki - makes upto 10-12 2" round tikkis

• 4 nos - Potatoes, medium sized -cubed and boiled in salted water
• 1/2 tsp - chopped ginger
• 2-3 nos - Green chillies, minced
• 1/2 tsp - Amchur (dry mango powder)
• 2 Tbsp - Cilantro, chopped
• 2 nos - Bread slices/ 2 Tbsp - Maida/AP flour or 2 Tbsp - bread crumbs
  
• Oil for pan frying
• Salt to taste

for green chutney

• 1 cup - Mint leaves
• 3/4 cup - Coriander leaves
• 1/4 cup - Onion, roughly chopped
• 2-3 - Green chillies (adjust to taste)
  
• 1/2 tsp - Amchur
  
• Salt to taste

for ragda

• 2 cups - Yellow vatana/peas, pre-soaked for 8-10hrs
• 1/2 cup - white Onions, diced
• 1 tsp - minced ginger-garlic
• 1/2 tsp - turmeric powder
• 1 tsp - roasted Cumin/jeera powder
• 3/4 tsp - roasted Coriander/dhania powder
• 1/2 tsp - Red chilli powder (optional)
• 1/2 tsp - Garam masala
• pinch of sugar and amchur
• 1 Tbsp - Oil
• Salt to taste

Tamarind chutney, beaten curds/yogurt, coriander leaves, chopped onions and sev for garnish.

Method:

1. For the ragda - Pressure cook the vatana with salt for just 1 whistle, (any longer turned them to mush in mine :( ), if not cook them on the stove top or microwave.
2. In a pan, heat the oil on medium heat and add the minced ginger-garlic. Cook for 30secs and add the diced onions, turmeric. When the onions turn translucent add cooked vatane, a cup of water, and the spice powders. Bring to a boil and simmer for 8-10 mins. Add the sugar and amchur powder and, mash a few of the beans with the back of your spoon to slightly thicken the gravy. Taste and adjust the spices to balance the flavors, add more water as needed.
   
3. The green chutney is the easiest, toss everything into a blender and give it a blitz adding spoonfuls of water as you go along.
4. For the aloo patties, mash the potatoes (I did not peel them) and add the rest of the ingredients. If using bread slices, dip them in water for a few seconds. Give them a tight squeeze to remove excess water, crumble and add it to the potatoes. Mash everything together to form a light dough. Pinch off a key lime sized ball of the mixture, roll it into a round and press to form 1/2" thick discs. Heat a few drops of oil in a shallow pan and fry the patties until they turn golden brown with a crisp outer layer.
5. While serving, place 2-3 patties on a plate, pour a ladleful of the piping hot ragda on top, drizzle green chutney, tamarind chutney and beaten curds on top. Sprinkle some onions, cilantro and a generous amount of sev. Serve immediately.

* Swap the aloo patties with crumbled Samosa/Kachori/Papdi to make - ragda samosa, ragda kachori or ragda papdi, as the case may be.

Boy O boy! this was a spectacular treat for the tastebuds. Having your mouth full with the hot peas and tikki, crunchy onions and sev, fresh cilantro, tangy chutnies and the coooool yogurt, all at the same time, is an experience you have to savor, atleast once. And after that its a perfect case of 'no one can eat just once' :D There is no rivaling the sheer genius of chaats, and your taste buds will love the rollercoaster ride. The yellow vatane have a very mild yet slightly spicy, chilli like flavor to them, unlike the ...err..bland (?) chickpeas, and so a mild gravy is enough to make a flavorful dish. All the flavors come together forming an elegant balance without any single element overpowering the rest. Since I like sev in my chaat I added that to the dish, but you can surely skip it. (can you ? will you ?)

Each one can also customize their plates with a lil more of the khatta-meeta chutney or green chutney or sev or all the above :D Its filling and its healthy. The green chutney can be made and stored in the fridge, extra peas can be frozen, a pack of sev should last you awhile. And so, once you have all the components on hand, putting the dish together is a snap.

This goes to the Sunday Snacks - Spill the beans event hosted by yours truly this month :) I took over from Pallavi this month. This being a bi-monthly event, you have time until the last Sunday of July to cook up some fabulous snacks.

Pudina/Mint chutney

Dear Foodies,

After my tryst with mint in the lovely risotto, I thought it was time I gave mint another chance. I do stock some mint in my freezer but rarely use it. Last Friday, I went grocery shopping and saw a nice fresh bunch of mint for $2. The first thing that came to my mind was the chutney my mom makes with fresh pudina. My father enjoys it mixed with plain rice, but that was too strong for me and I liked it the best as a spread in the sandwiches he makes. He made these lovely sandwiches, which had the pudina chutney spread on buttered milk bread (not toasted) and layered with cool cucumber and tomato slices. No sandwich can ever compete with the simplicity of this one.

Have you guys tried the Mediterranean veggie sandwich at Panera bread ? It tastes soo close to this sandwich and is my fav for the very same reason.

So as soon as I came home, I called my mom to ask for her recipe and made the pudina chutney. The chutney takes a little over 10 mins to make but I spent a good 15 mins washing the leaves itself. I got the mint at an organic store and there were tiny insects behind the bigger leaves...eeks, that totally scared me and I filled up the whole sink with water, let the leaves float in it for a while, and individually scrubbed each leaf! Thank God the bunch was not as big as the ones we got in Hyd :))

Ingredients:

• a bunch of pudina/mint - approx 2 loose cups
• 2 tsp - Oil
• 1 tsp - Urad dal
• 1 tsp - Channa dal
• 2 nos - dry, Red chillies (adjust to taste)
• tamarind, the size of a 25cent/50paise coin or ~1/2 tsp if using extract
• Salt to taste
• 1-2 Tbsp - water

Method:

• Wash the mint leaves and drain them on a kitchen towel. Heat a pan with oil, once hot add the dals. ( I use the broken urad dal, and so add it a little after the channa dal, else it burns)
• Once the dals turn a little golden, reduce the heat and add the tamarind and red chillies. Once the chillies change color, transfer all the ingredients to the grinder.
• To the same pan (with oil) add the mint leaves and saute for 2-3mins till they wilt. Transfer to the blender and grind to a coarse texture adding water as required. Don't overdo the water or the chutney will not hold together. (I have a tiny food processor, so I first used my spice grinder to coarsely powder the dals and then transfered them to the food processor with the pudina). Add salt to taste.
  

Thats it, you have a versatile dish in your hands now. Mix the chutney with hot plain rice along with a tiny dollop of ghee or drizzle of oil, spread it on your bread for a flavorful sandwich, add to a cup of thick yoghurt and use as a dip for chapathi's & dosa or even veggies/chips , use it in chat recipes like bhel puri, sev puri, pani puri...ohh, the list is endless.

After publishing this post I saw the chutney in the fridge and made an instant bhel with what I had at home. I mixed murmura/puffed rice with chopped onions, diluted chutney, hot n sweet ketchup, a few dashes of tobasco and mango pickle masala. Topped with some Namkeen mix and a quick snack was ready. In an ideal situation I would've added diced tomatoes, cucumber and peanuts with lots of cilantro.

To me the slight tang from the tamarind and the crunchy dals were a perfect balance for the strong mint flavor. You can also use all cilantro/coriander leaves or a mix of cilantro & mint for this recipe. Do you have a another version of this chutney you love ?