Lentil Chutney / Paruppu Thogayal

Chutney or Thogayal is a condiment / accompaniment to steamed rice with curry. Chutney is made of roasted lentils and spices. This chutney goes well with hot steamed rice and rasam or dosa. Few prepare thogayal without coconut. However I used fresh coconut in this chutney.

We use toor dal (yellow pigeon peas) and urad dal as a main ingredient for this chutney. Lentils, red chillies , coconut and garlic are roasted together in oil. Then they are ground together to coarse thick paste. I like thogayal not very thick , hence I added little water while grinding ingredients. But, thogayal should be ground with no water or very less water and it should be a thick chutney.

Ingredients

•  1/4 Cup Toor Dal
• 1 Tablespoon Urad Dal
• 2 Garlic Cloves
• 3 Red Chillies ( adjust according to your taste)
• 3 Tablespoon Coconut pieces
• 1/2 Teaspoon Oil
• a pinch of Hing / Asafoetida
• Salt as required 

Tempering (optional)

• 1/2 Teaspoon Oil
• 1/2 Teaspoon Mustard Seeds 

Directions 

1. In a pan, heat oil. Add garlic cloves and red chillies. Fry for few seconds
2. Then add urad dal and toor dal and fry until dal turns light golden
3. Add Coconut pieces and fry for 2 minutes
4. Add asafoetida and switch off the flame
5. Let the ingredients cool completely.
6. Grind them together with salt in a spice jar with 1 or 2 teaspoon water (just enough water required to grind). Do not grind it to fine paste. Let it be little bit coarse. Transfer the content to a serving dish
7. In the same pan, add 1/2 teaspoon oil for tempering. When the oil is hot, add mustard seeds. When they splutter switch of the flame
8. Add tempering over the ground chutney / thogayal