Jugnu's Coriander Chutney
Jugnu’s Coriander Chutney
Coriander, Dhania, Cilantro, Chinese Parsley, Coriandrum Sativum. A *herb by any name would smell just as sweet *and taste just as delicious.
Consumed root to tip, the herb is known to date as far back as 5000 bc. I would describe the taste as citrus and pepper. There is a part of society who claim coriander tastes like soap, apparently due to a rare gene that detects aldehyde chemicals. Catering for said people is hard for me seeing as Pakistanis use the seed and root as a spice in many dishes. The fresh leaf and stem is stirred through many daals, garnishes practically everything and is the primary ingredient of Pakistan’s national condiment: Coriander chutney.
Here is some science if you want to read up more about Coriander.
My nani says recipes, like food, are for sharing. She also says this is a secret family recipe!
INGREDIENTS
450g coriander chutney (3 bunches)
200g mint (1 bunch)
1 lemon
1 tsp brown sugar
1 tbs cumin seeds
1 tsp salt
10-15 green chillis (remove the seeds or add less if that way inclined!)
8 garlic cloves
1/4 cup cold water
UNSOLICITED ADVICE: Fresh Herbs
I suggest buying the large bunches of fresh herbs from the supermarket or better yet, local green grocer. The small packets of herbs are more expensive and have been picked off from most of the coriander where a lot of the flavour is!
Do give the herbs a good three rinses under cold water to wash away grit and air pollution.
Make sure the water is cold, otherwise it will wilt the leaves!
METHOD
Roughly chop coriander, keeping the stem. A rough chop at this stage will prevent the stem from getting tangled in the blender blade later.
Juice the lemon, roughly chop the chilli and give the garlic a rough crush!
Pick the mint leaves off the stem. The mint stem has a bitter taste, we don’t want that!
Combine all ingredients except coriander in the blender. Start in pulses and then blitz until smooth.
Add the coriander in batches until mixture is a smooth paste.
taste for seasoning and spice.
This should make 1L of chutney. It freezes pretty well, otherwise, keep it refrigerated consume it within 5 days.