Guest Post ~ Saravana's wood apple chutney

My Soul bro is back :). I had featured Saravana's Arati poovu fry / vepudu earlier. And now he is back with a yummy chutney. I have fond memories associated with this chutney ..Amma made them when these fruits were in season...i also love the juice she made...all organic and naturally sweet!!!!:). 


Over to Saravana

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Wood Apple Chutney:  VELAGAPANDU CHUTNEY

Wood Apple, also called as Velaga Pandu (వెలగ పండు) in Telugu and Vilam Palam (விளாம் பழம்) in Tamil.   We know this fruit as it forms a part of ornamentation in vinayaka chavithi, to tie fruits for palavelli.

Both ripened and unripe wood apple is used in savories. For the current purpose, we use a ripened wood apple. Wood apple has a thick shell and has to be broken. A ripened wood apple can be spotted from long from its ripe, sweet and a woody smell.  Take a wood apple (200 gm), break it and scoop the inside paste from it.  Add 3 green chilies, sufficient salt and tamarind and blend the paste so that the ingredients mix well.

Place a pan on the stove and add 1 tsp of oil / ghee.  Add the wood apple paste in it and fry it with a lid covered for 5 min on a low flame.

For Chutney

Wood Apple: 200 gm

Tamarind

Salt

For seasoning:

Mustard seeds: 1 tbsp

Methi seeds: 1/2 tsp

Red chillies: 1 or 2

Asafoetida: Pinch

Turmeric: Pinch

Green chillies 3 to 4

Oil/Ghee 3 tbsp

Method:
Add 1 tsp of oil/ghee. Add Red chillies, Methi, Mustard seeds. After they splutter, add Turmeric and Asafoetida. Let it cool

Add the seasoning to the wood apple paste. Do not add water. Very tasty with hot steamed rice with ghee..

Medicinal Detail#:

Wood apple in Sanskrit is called as Kapittha (should have been named owing to phlegmatic quality, ‘kapha’) and is highly acclaimed in Ayurveda. The saying goes, ‘kapitham sarvada pathyam’ meaning wood apple is ‘always a part of post medicinal diet regime’.  The ripe fruit is rich in beta-carotene, a precursor of Vitamin A; it also contains significant quantities of the B vitamins - thiamine and riboflavin, and small amounts of Vitamin C. Asthmatics should take care while eating wood apple in large quantities as it may aggravate the phlegm and respiratory problems

Culinary Detail#:

The fruit is eaten plain, blended into an assortment of drinks and sweets, or well-preserved as jam. The scooped-out pulp from its fruits is eaten uncooked with or without sugar, or is combined with coconut milk and palm-sugar syrup and drunk as a beverage, or frozen as an ice cream. It is also used in chutneys and for making Fruit preserves jelly and jam.

Indonesians beat the pulp of the ripe fruit with palm sugar and eat the mixture at breakfast. The sugared pulp is a foundation of sherbet in the subcontinent. Jam, pickle, marmalade, syrup, jelly, squash and toffee are some of the foods of this multipurpose fruit. Young bael leaves are a salad green in Thailand. Indians eat the pulp of the ripe fruit with sugar or jaggery. The ripe pulp is also used to make chutney. The raw pulp is varied with yoghurt and make into raita. The raw pulp is bitter in taste, while the ripe pulp would be having a smell and taste that's a mixture of sourness and sweet.

Take 2 tbsp chutney in to a cup and add 1/2 cup fresh curds, use this one for dosas.

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thanks S..loved write up..thanks for sending in a traditional chutney which took me back in time