August 17, 2006

Biryani Chammandi/ Chutney/ Coconut Pesto


Whats a biryani without the chammandi, right? For those who are used to eating the rice without this chutney, try it. The fresh herbs and the green chilies add a palate cleansing taste to the richness of the biryani. This is our nadan version of a pesto,coconut flavored with herbs and garlic, so I called it coconut pesto.

You will need:
Coconut grated- 1 cup
Green chilies- 6-7 or more
Ginger- 1 inch piece( no paste to be used)
Garlic- 1 big clove
Shallots (Red pearl onions)-2 peeled
Mint, coriander and curry leaves- a handful all together,
Lemon juice- 1 tsp (optional 1/2 tsp malt vinegar)
Salt (preferable sea salt)-1/2 tsp
Wash all the ingredients well. Grind everything except the coconut with very little water till the leaves are blended. Add the coconut grated and grind coarsely, pulsing the mixture.Do not add water. Scrap everything into a bowl and add the lemon juice or vinegar. Add more salt if needed.

10 comments:

Anonymous said...

Mint and corainder with coconut? Wow....never had this!

Btw, could you just put the comments not as a pop up please? It takes time to load acutally in this way? Just a suggn

indianadoc said...
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
indianadoc said...

hmm...biriyani kazhichu kazhinjitta chammanthi vilambunnathu?!!

We make this version of chammanthi if curds are not available...usually we add thick curd instead of the lemonjuice..

Mika said...

I make biryani with this paste. It tastes wonderful.

Anonymous said...

Hey Shaheen,

You have a beautiful blog that superbly recreates the splendour and effervescent foliage of "God's Own Country", Kerala. Fantastic file photos of the colourful yield from your farm! The biryani chammandi looks very interesting. All I knew of as accompaniments to biryani are onion pachidi, and brinjal chutney. This is indeed something new to me. Will try it out with my veg biryani on Sunday and let you know!

Meenakshi at PRITYA

Shah cooks said...

Thanks to all who visited.
Inji, followed ur suggestion.
shynee, will try out ur way too.
Meenakshi, thanks for the compliments. Please do try with veg biryani too.

Anonymous said...

Boy...I am in love with your blog.There is a lot that I want to try out everything.

asha said...

hey biriyani is incomplete without this chutney..must try !!!

Srishida Illath said...

Was indeed a lovely recipe! Thanks so much! I too have a cookery blog,Srishida's CookBook,where I post all my tried and tested recipes :)

shibi said...

vry thx bro,,,,,,,,,,nyce creation,,