Chatani is an all-time favourite accompaniment with our food. The word chatani brings to imagination bright colours, intertwined tastes of sweet, sour, spice from chillies, making it a finger licking and yummy accompaniment to any snack or food. . We eat chatni with practically anything like batatawada, samosa, idli, dosa etc. We love to slather chatni on bread slice to make a chatani sandwich or a veggie sandwich. Famous Indian Chaat dishes also highlight the sweet and spicy chatanis used to make them tasty. Even our thali’s are not complete without some sort of chatani.
Chatani is an all-time favourite accompaniment with our food. The word chatni brings to imagination bright colours, intertwined tastes of sweet, sour, spice from chillies, making it a finger licking and yummy accompaniment to any snack or food. . We eat chatani with practically anything like batatawada, samosa, idli, dosa etc. We love to slather chatani on bread slice to make a chatni sandwich or a veggie sandwich. Famous Indian Chaat dishes also highlight the sweet and spicy chatanis used to make them tasty. Even our thali’s are not complete without some sort of chatani.
Indian Chatani is a spicy relish or a dip and not to be confused with “Chutney” which is available in few countries like England, USA, etc. Usually minimum ingredients are brought together to make finger licking, lip smacking blend. I remember my aunt grinding on grinding stone garlic, chilli powder and salt to make my uncle’s diabetic meal interesting. That was the simplest but extremely tasteful chatani I encountered in my life.
Fresh coconut chatani was a regular in our meals. This chatani appears in our plates in many variations. With addition of coriander leaves this chatani gets refreshing green colour and red chilli makes it fiery red. Fried ridgegourd skin or fried snakegourd seeds elevate the flavour levels. Apart from what we prepare at home regularly sometimes there is mint and coriander chatani. Sometimes, to maintain its consistency, roasted chana dal has to be incorporated so cleverly that its’ presence should not be felt. The same chana dal with coconut and chillies becomes chatani for idli. As youngsters, we were taught that chatanis and pickles are to be eaten in small quantities and not like main dishes. The chatanis are also prepared in minimum quantity of water and can be rolled in a ball.
The dry chatanis were usually pounded in mortar and pestle without adding any water. These had long shelf life. Main ingredients for these were dry coconut, roasted groundnuts and flax seeds. Addition of chilli powder, garlic, tamarind and jaggery completes the chatani formula. My sister in law prepares curry leaves chatani which helps her in her overseas travels.
Chatani’s will continue to be a part of our food lore for years to come. And any thali or snack is incomplete with its best friends the lip smacking “Chatani”
Visit: www.fromaajiskitchen.com for more…
More such traditional recipes available in the cookbook “From Aajis Kitchen”
Available on www.amazon.in, www.flipkart.com and www.becomeshakespeare.com
Contact : 9082291278 for further queries.