Spicy and Tangy Vakkaya Pachchadi / Karonda Chutney

Hello all, i am back with another awesome spicy and cannot refuse chutney! We lived in a joint family when i was young and this chutney was prepared by my aunt, she is one of the most amazing cooks i have ever known. She could cook for 20 people or 2 people with equal enthusiasm and all her spice levels perfect! I tried to match that recipe and it came quite close.  

 The fruit is rich in Vitamin C and also a high source of Iron. If you see it n the market this time please buy it and do make this awesome chutney. You can look it up on google to know more.

So this fruit is called Vakkaya, was available but not very easily. I think one of our relatives had this plant and when every visits happend exchange of Vakkaya was a must. The dishes you can make with this berry are just about endless! It is called Karonda in hindi and for the benefit of non Telugu visitors i will refer to it as Karonda.

You can make pulihogre, daal, chutney and so many other dishes with this fruit. It is a sour fruit and  have added more chilies than i usually do to make it a tad more spicy.  Today I will show you my most favourate dish taht one can make with this fruit. We'll make a spicy Chutney!!  This chutney will go well with steamed rice. I am sharing a step by step recipe for this chutney, i hope you will like it! 

What do we need to make Karonda/ Vakkaya Chutney? 

• Karonda (Vakkaya) 
• Jeera
• Broken White gram (Urad daal / Minapa papu)
• Bengal Gram (Chana daal/ senaga pappu) 
• Asafoetida (Hing)
• Mustard seeds (Rai/ Aavalu )
• Salt 
• Green chillies 
• Red Chillies (dry) 
• Curry leaves 
• Oil 

How to make the Spicy Karonda Chutney?  

Step 1: is to de seed the Kaonda and cut them into halves. You do not need to worry about the size as we will grind all of this. 

Step 2: let us make our Spicy tadka. Take a bit of oil in a pan, add Chana daal fry for a bit, then add the urad daal fry till it starts to brown add the jeera wait for it to roast then add the mustard seeds, fenugreek seeds, curry leaves, dry red chillis followed by the Green chillis and fry all this nicely. In the end add some , haldi, salt, asafoetida and switch off the gas and let it all rest.   

The order does not really matter as long as you ensure that nothing burns. please redo it if you feel any of the items in your tadka got over fried. Because a tadka that is burnt can spoil the finished dish. 

Step 3: move this tadka mixture on to a cooling plate and in the same pan with the leftover oil fry the Karonda. 

Step 4: time to grind all this, put all of this in a mixer jar and adjust the salt to taste. Grind to a nice paste. Have it with some hot hot rice with a nice generous helping of ghee!