Mom's fresh garlic chutney

Hi everyone, this is my very first post. I am hoping to start off this blog as a place where I write about things that I like and do in my spare time.. probably food, birds, nature, learning and travel. Here's to a good beginning!

I have been reading and using recipes from food blogs for a while now. I am a so-so cook, not particularly spectacular. So this is not an expert's "how to make.." blog. I just want to archive some of this food I am making. Maybe sometime in future I will look at these recipes and pictures and hopefully be inspired to cook more. Some of these recipes are my Mom's or Grandma's, some are from other members of the family or friends, some are from other blogs. I give thanks to them in advance! :)

The recipe I post today, my very first blog recipe, is my Mom's fresh garlic chutney.

 Fig 1. Mom's fresh garlic chutney

Ingredients: (quantities here are rough measures, taste and see if you need more or less.)
Fresh grated coconut - about 1 cup
Fried red chillies (I used red chilly powder) - about 1 teaspoon or to taste
Tamarind (I used Tamarind paste) - about 3/4 teaspoon
Garlic (peeled) - about 3-4 medium pods
Salt - to taste
Water - as needed

Procedure:
Grind fresh grated coconut + red chilly powder + peeled garlic pods.Add water as little as needed to grind. Add slightly diluted tamarind paste and salt and mix/grind once more to make sure it's all well homogenized. That's all! Its the yummiest accompaniment to dosa, idli or bhakri. For accompaniment with bhakris, add finely chopped onions to chutney.

Tip:
I make this chutney in bulk on weekends. I pour it in an ice cube tray and seal it with Press-n-Seal plastic wrap so that the freezer doesn't smell of garlic. The frozen cubes of chutney can be kept in a ziplock bag later. Then later in the week or month, when I make dosa or idli and don't have time to make chutney or fall short on sambar or other accompaniments, I take out 2 cubes of chutney per person and defrost just that much. Saves me time.

 Fig 2. After freezing chutney into cubes can store in ziplock bag.

By the way, this tip about freezing chutney is something I have heard others do and have also read generally in other blogs. Here is where I heard about making it into ice cubes: Manjula's Kitchen/Hari Chutney. Nice idea.

Well that's that. First post down. Happy cooking!