Peanut Chutney

Super easy and delicious Peanut or Groundnut Chutney. This is a great accompaniment to idli, dosa or upma. Peanut Chutney is easy to prepare with tempering some ingredients, blending them together with peanuts and it is ready to be served. Accompanying your meal with this chutney can add flavor, variety and many healthy nutrients to your diet.

Being a North Indian, I had never eaten this chutney until about five years back. My mom is a great cook and was an expert at making dosas and soft idli’s. However in Mumbai in restaurants, the typical thing to eat with dosa or idli used to be coconut chutney. So we had never gotten a chance to taste it or to even try to replicate it at home. After moving to US and having such wonderful south indian friends, I have had this so many times and was craving to learn it myself.

I make idli/dosa every other week now and our go to chutney is this Peanut Chutney. I personally think it is so much more nutritious and flavorful than only coconut chutney. So here is what I have learnt about making this wonderful chutney.

Variations of Peanut Chutney

There are many variations of peanut chutney – you can make it just with peanut or add some coconut or cilantro (coriander) to it.  This recipe makes chutney with just peanuts. I have seen some recipes where you are roasting different things separately and also grinding multiple times. I want to make food delicious and fast, so here is my simplified version of this chutney.

Peanut Benefits

Did you know peanuts are technically not nuts? They actually belong to the legume family and are therefore related to beans, lentils, and soy. Doesn’t matter to me, I love to eat them either way – Not only do peanuts taste good, they are also rich in protein, fat, and various healthy nutrients.

For a plant food, peanuts are an exceptionally good source of protein with protein content ranging from 22-30%. Peanuts are high in fat with the fat content ranging from 44-56%. Peanuts are low in carbs. A great choice for a low carb diet and for diabetics. They are an excellent source of various vitamins and minerals.

Do note that peanut is also an allergenic food, and many people have life threatening allergies to it. So be careful when serving this chutney to guests.

How to make Peanut Chutney?

I use roasted peanuts without the skin. You can use salted or unsalted one’s, just adjust the additional salt accordingly. If you don’t have roasted peanuts, roast peanuts in microwave for about 2 mins, checking and stirring at 1/2 minute intervals.

The first step is tempering the mustard seeds, cumin seeds, garlic, asafoetida, urad dal and curry leaves. Curry leaves could be fresh or dried.  I prefer fresh if they are available.

Then we will grind the peanuts, along with the tempered ingredients and tamarind paste. If you don’t have tamarind paste, soak seedless tamarind in 1/4 cup water and microwave for 30 seconds.  It will become soft enough to use.

Isn’t that easy?  Just 2 steps. I use my Vitamix to blend the chutney. I save a little tempering, to garnish the blended peanut chutney to get a little crunch while eating.

If you like this recipe, check out other Indian chutneys or dips – Cilantro Coconut Chutney and Mint Cilantro Chutney.

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Peanut Chutney

Super easy Peanut Chutney or Groundnut Chutney. A delicious and nutritious accompaniment to south indian favorites - idli and dosa. 

Course Side Dish

Cuisine Indian

Keyword easy, groundnut, south indian

Diet Gluten-free, Low Carb, Vegan

Method Blender/Food Processor

Prep Time 5 minutes

Cook Time 10 minutes

Total Time 15 minutes

Servings 10

Calories 174kcal

Author Meeta Arora

Equipment

• Blender

Ingredients

• 1 1/2 cup Peanuts Roasted, about 200 gms
• 2 tbsp Tamarind paste
• 2 tbsp Ghee or Oil
• 8 Curry Leaves (Kadi Patta)
• 1/2 tsp Cumin seeds (Jeera)
• 1 tsp Mustard Seeds (Rai)
• 6 cloves Garlic
• 1 pinch Asafoetida (Hing) (optional)
• 2 tbsp Split Skinned Black Gram Lentils (Urad dal)
• 1 tsp Cayenne or Red chili powder adjust to taste
• 1/2 tsp Salt adjust to taste
• 1 cup Water

US Customary - Metric

Instructions

Prepare tempering

• Heat oil in a pan. Add mustard seeds and cumin seeds to the oil.
• When the seeds start to splutter, add garlic, urad dal, asafoetida and curry leaves. Saute until the garlic and urad dal are lightly browned.
• Take off the heat and add red chili powder.

Blend Chutney

• Add roasted peanuts, tamarind paste, salt and water to the blender. Save 1 tbsp of tempering (except the garlic) and add the rest of the prepared tempering to the blender.
• Blend to a smooth paste. Remove in a bowl. Garnish with the saved tempering. Peanut Chutney is ready to be enjoyed.

Notes

• You can use salted or unsalted peanuts, just adjust the additional salt accordingly. If you don’t have roasted peanuts, roast peanuts in microwave for about 2 mins, checking and stirring at 1/2 minute intervals.
• Curry leaves could be fresh or dried.  I prefer fresh if they are available.
• If you don’t have tamarind paste, you can soak seedless tamarind in 1/4 cup water and microwave for 30 seconds.  It will become soft enough to use.
• Vegan Variation: Use your favorite plant based oil for tempering.

Note: Nutrition values are my best estimates. If you rely on them for your diet, use your preferred nutrition calculator.

Nutrition

Calories: 174kcal | Carbohydrates: 8g | Protein: 7g | Fat: 14g | Saturated Fat: 4g | Cholesterol: 8mg | Sodium: 127mg | Potassium: 194mg | Fiber: 3g | Sugar: 2g | Vitamin A: 90IU | Vitamin C: 17mg | Calcium: 34mg | Iron: 1mg

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