Onion Chutney

Ah, onion chutney, you are my favorite Indian condiment. Most people will add a dainty spoonful of onion chutney to their plates. I like to slap a generous shovel-ful onto my plate. It's crazy delicious and adds a bright pickled element to every bite of food. Growing up on spicy, pickled kimchi has given me the type of palate that craves that brightness with every meal. Without it, food tastes heavy and bland and boring. I mention this little factoid every time I share something slightly pickly. I apologize for my redundancy.

I shared a red onion chutney recipe previously but I've since changed up my recipe a bit. Plus, the original post was created in the days before I started making recipe pages so I figured I should share a new post.
Ingredients [yields approximately ½ cup chutney]:
½ vidalia onion, diced
½ teaspoon grated ginger
1½ tablespoons brown sugar
1½ tablespoons red wine vinegar
½ teaspoon garam masala
¼ teaspoon salt
¼ teaspoon ground mustard
½ teaspoon cayenne pepper (add more or less depending on your spice preference)

In the past, I used red onion because it's called "red onion chutney," after all. However, a quick chat with the owner of my new favorite Indian restaurant revealed that the red onion isn't a necessary ingredient. She said that the chef at her place uses sweet onion because it's less breath-killing and yummier. So, I decided to follow suit. I abandoned my red onions for the sugary vidalia and let me say, it is a vastly delicious improvement.

Grab your half onion, make cuts in one direction and then make cuts in the opposite direction to dice the onion.
Add all of the ingredients into a bowl and mix everything up.
Leave the chutney to hang out for an hour (in the fridge) to allow the flavors to meld. The onion will absorb the flavors of the spices and become really delicious.
The longer the onions sit, the more they'll soak up the flavor. So, if you've gone a little overboard with your cayenne pepper, your tongue will pay for it.

The onions are sweet and spicy - spicy in both a peppery heat way and an aromatic flavorful way - and punchy.
Here's the recipe page:

Comments