Has there been something that you never got, something so hyped that you didn’t see what the deal was, until one day, all of a sudden you went, ohhhhhhh!
I must’ve been a prissy child growing up, because I thought I preferred apples over mangoes. Don’t get me wrong, I still love apples. The subtle tart sweetness, the crunch, the colour… but mangoes – the magic of Banganpalle, the glorious cream of Himayat – were only revealed to me later.
Same thing with this ‘hari chutney’ business. South Indian prejudice about a North Indian favourite. Then one day, with a generous slather of mayonnaise and thin cucumber slices, I had hari chutney in a sandwich. The flavours had me closing my eyes in worship.
Somehow I have always had trouble making it though. The coconut chutney we make almost every other day has the volume-providing coconut and roasted gram, which makes it wholesome. But the ingredients in green chutney grind themselves into an insubstantial paste. Make too much, it turns black and spoils before you can use it all, make too little and there’s hardly enough for the mini mixie jar to get its teeth into. Occasionally, I’ve even taken mortar and pestle to it, so that I can make just as much as I want. I made a decent sized batch today and I foresee sandwiches, samosa and pani-puri-at-home in the near future.
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