Learn how to make strawberry chutney with a twist. I have adapted the bajji/gojju recipe of South Canara and given a twist to the regular bajji. You can call it strawberry gojju too...
I bought 2 big boxes of strawberry during one of the trips to the supermarket. After coming home, I tasted them and it was a huge disappointment. The strawberries were too sour to my liking. I made milkshakes, lassi with them, but the amount of sugar that went in making the milkshake turned me off. So, I freezed them for later use.
Now that its been a couple of months that I freezed the strawberries, I wanted to finish them as early as possible.. So started making new and interesting experiments using the sour strawberries. I made this chutney last week. We liked the chutney so much that I made it again yesterday. Try it to believe!
Preparation Time: 5 mins
Cooking Time: 10 mins
Serves: 4-6 (Makes about 1.5 cups of chutney)
Notes:
- If the strawberries are very sour, I recommend adding only 4-6 strawberries. Adjust the number of strawberries accordingly. I used only 6 strawberries.
- If the strawberries are too sweet, you could use 8 strawberries and to make the chutney sour, you could use a Granny Smith Apple to add the tart to the chutney.
- Do not use Granny Smith apple and very sour strawberries. You get the point right? We need to add some natural sugar to this chutney.
- I use any other variety of apple (like Fuji apple, gala apples, red delicious apple etc) to make this chutney. The apple adds an extra texture and sweetness to the chutney.
- For a very mild chutney, you could add 1 jalapeno with the seeds removed. I use 2-3 Indian spicy green chilies. We like our chutney spicy.
Ingredients:
For the chutney:
Strawberries: 6-8 nos, refer notes
Apple: 1 no, refer notes
Green bell pepper: 1/2 no or 1 small
Green chilies | Jalapenos : 1-3 nos, adjust according to your spice levels.
Salt:As needed
Cilantro | Coriander leaves: 2 tbsp, roughly chopped
Curry leaves: 4 nos, torn
Asafoetida: 1/8 tsp
Jaggery | Brown Sugar: 1-2 tsp, to suit your needs
Salt: As needed
Grated coconut: 1/4 cup, fresh or frozen
Water: About 1/3 cup, more or less
For the tempering:
Oil: 1 tsp
Mustard seeds: 1/2 tsp
Curry leaves: 2-3 nos, torn
Method:
Wash the apple thoroughly. Deseed the apple and roughly chop the apple. You can keep the skin of the apple.
Wash the strawberries and roughly chop them.
In a sauce pan, add all the ingredients (except grated coconut) mentioned in the chutney section. I repeat, do not add grated coconut. Bring it to a boil on a medium heat for about 7-10 mins. Do not add too much water. The fruits need to get cooked.
Allow the cooked mixture to cool.
Once cool, add coconut to the mixer and add this cooked mixture. Use the boiled water to make the chutney/dip. The water would be very flavorful. Do not discard the water. That is the reason I asked you to add little water in the beginning, remember?
Grind it to a medium coarse paste. Do not grind it very fine. We need some texture to our chutney.
Prepare the tempering. Heat oil in a small wok, when oil is hot, add the mustard seeds and curry leaves. When leaves wilt and seeds splutter, turn off the heat. Pour the tempering over the chutney.
Serve the chutney as a side dish with rice, Indian flat breads, ragi rotti, gluten free sprouts bread or any dish of your preference.