Alma Bax Do you love the spicy taste of Indian food and are you looking for a recipe to make for your next meal? Do you like a spicy chutney or a curry? Then Allam Pachadi is a perfect recipe for you. Allam Pachadi, also known as Ginger Chutney, is a popular Indian condiment. Allam Pachadi is a type of curry made with the main ingredient of Indian food – ginger. Allam Pachadi is usually used as a dip for Indian snacks. Allam Pachadi is also eaten as an accompaniment with Indian breads, such as roti.
I have been in love with Allam Pachadi / Ginger (chutney) since I was a kid. My mother would prepare it for festivals and special occasions and it was always on the table when we had a meal with friends. My sister still makes it for us and we don’t eat our own allam pachadi. It is a bit of a secret family recipe but we just cannot keep it to ourselves.
So as a kid I used to love those frozen pouches of allam pachadi and as I became an adult I started making it myself to take to festivals and when I got married I made it for the bride and groom. I started to try different flavours of allam pachadi and this one is the one that I have been making most recently. It is one of the most common allam pachadi and it is also the most universal. I have made this allam pachadi using black Chinese ginger but if you are not able to get black Chinese ginger you could substitute it with regular ginger.
Allam Pachadi/Ginger Chutney, Andhra Pradesh’s most renowned chutney, is a spicy and popular breakfast condiment that mixes well with Idli, Vada, Dosa, and Pesarattu. In Telugu, allam signifies ginger and pachadi means chutney. Allam pachadi is served with Pesarattu, Andhra Pradesh’s traditional and popular breakfast.
Because ginger is prominent and spicy, tamarind for sourness and jaggery (gud) for sweetness are added, among other ingredients, to balance the chutney. I added a few Kashmiri chilies for color since they aren’t as spicy as other dried chillies. Ginger chutney isn’t for everyone since it’s bitter, sour, sweet, and spicy all at once. Even if you don’t like the flavor at first, you will gradually come to like it. Apart from its medicinal benefits, if you like ginger, you may make this chutney to your liking and test it.
Time to prepare: 5 minutes
Time to cook: 10 minutes
Andhra Pradesh, India’s cuisine
Spiciness: Very spicy
3–4 servings
Ingredients
Roasting
-
- 2 tsp. oil
- 1/8 teaspoon mustard seeds
- 2 tsp chana dal
- 2 teaspoons urad dal
- 3 dried chilies
- 3 Kashmiri chilies
- 30 to 33 gms ginger
- Tamarind — the size of a tiny lemon
Ingredients not listed
-
- 30 gms jaggery
- 1/3 cup (100 ml) water
- a pinch of salt (to taste)
adjusting (tadka)
- 1 to 2 tsp oil
- 1/2 teaspoon mustard seeds
- 2 dry chillies
- 10 curry leaves
Method
-
- Peel the ginger skin, rinse it with water, and set it aside. Set aside the ginger, which should be cut into 1 inch pieces.
- If you’re roasting the tamarind in oil, remove any seeds.
Roasting
-
- In a small kadai or pan, heat the oil. Roast for 1 to 2 minutes, until mustard seeds, urad dal, and chana dal are brown in color. Remove the item and set it away.
- In the same pan, toast the dried chilies and tamarind until the chiles expand and the color changes. On a medium heat, this will take anything from a few seconds to a minute. The tamarind will soften. Remove the item and set it away.
- In the same pan, add the remaining oil and sauté the ginger until it becomes a light brown color. It will take approximately 2 to 3 minutes to complete this task. Set aside for now.
Grinding
- To begin, coarsely crush mustard, chana dal, urad dal, and dried chilies.
- Then, with 1/3 cup of water, grind all of the remaining ingredients to a smooth paste.
- Season with salt to taste and re-grind.
- adjusting (tadka)
- In the same kadai or a separate pan, heat the oil and add the mustard seeds, dried chilies, and curry leaves. Cook for a few seconds, or until mustard seeds burst and curry leaves become crispy.
- Toss in the ginger chutney and stir thoroughly. Turn off the heat or cook for 2 to 3 minutes on a low temperature before turning it off. The color shifts from light to dark.
- Place the chutney in a serving dish and set aside. My chutney is thick and black in color at this point.
- I added another 1/3 cup of water and stirred it in to soften it up and achieve the consistency I wanted. In the photos, you can notice the difference.
- Serve with dosa, vada, idli, or pesarattu, if desired.
Notes
- While grinding, you may use tamarind pulp or thick paste – approximately 2 tsp or more, depending on flavor.
- If you don’t want to roast the tamarind, you may just put it in the grinder when creating the paste.
- Adjust the chilies to your preference and taste.
Ginger is one of the most commonly used spices in Indian cuisine. It has a sweet and spicy aroma, and is used to add taste to various dishes. Ginger can be used in pickles, in curries, and also in fruit salad. Pickled Ginger Chutney is one of the most commonly used pickle in Indian cuisine. This is a very easy to make recipe.. Read more about ginger chutney with coconut and let us know what you think.
About Author
Ben Austin 