Asparagus, Onion and Tomato Chutney

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Asparagus is quite a commonly used vegetable in our household when in season.  My typical Indian preparations have been dry sauteed curry to go along with rice or rotis.  My mother, however, has tried making kootu or poricha kootu with it while she visited us many years back.  Today, I came up with this chutney recipe using the leftover asparagus sitting in my fridge.

Asparagus is low in calories, low in sodium apart from being a good source of dietary fiber, vitamins and minerals.  I have always thought of it to have a nutty flavor similar to that of peanuts.  Even though the chutney had the distinct smell of the asparagus, to me it tasted like a coconut or peanut chutney.  To bring about more flavor I added some onions and used tomatoes to keep off the tamarind.

Chutney is one of the dishes where you can try to play with the ingredients according to your taste buds..... including what you add on with the main ingredient and the kind of spices or seasonings you decide to use.
The next time I will be trying with some peanuts or coconut or use some garlic with it.......




8-10 asparagus trimmed
1/3 cup chopped onions
1 small tomato
1/8 tsp mustard seeds
1/4 tsp cumin seeds
1 tsp urad dal
2 tsp chana dal
1and a half red chilies long variety
salt to taste
tamarind if needed


Heat up two tea spoons of oil and start with the seasonings followed by the dal.  Once they turn golden brown, add the broken red chilies and then the onion.  Saute the onion for a minute and add the tomatoes cooking them for about 2 minutes.  Add a pinch of salt when the onion and tomatoes are cooking to help with their cooking.  Let it cool

Grind this to a paste.  I used a couple of table spoons of olive oil while grinding to preserve it for a longer time avoiding the water completely.  This gives a nice thicker consistency which can be used as a spread also.  If you are using water, add a very little quantity....a little thicker the chutney better the taste!!!




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