Bombay Chutney Recipe Andhra Style – Besan Chutney | Bombay Besan Chutney | How to make Bombay Chutney – This is a gravy dish served as a side with breakfast items like Idli, Dosa, Puri, Chapati, Paratha & Roti. It’s extremely versatile, easy to make, quick & so flavourful.
What is Bombay Chutney?
Bombay Chutney is filled with the goodness of gram flour and is a low calorie simple recipe that is vegan. Skip the asafoetida, and it becomes a gluten-free dish as well. Also known as Besan Chutney or Senaga Pindi Chutney or Kadalai Maavu Chutney, it’s very popular down South especially in Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu. Most road side tiffin centres in any small town or city are sure to have ‘Bombay Chutney’ on their menu. I am not sure why it was named as chutney. I am guessing it is because of the similarities this chutney has to the Maharashtrian Pitla, a runny side dish also made using gram flour. The recipe for pitla somehow trickled down south, and has been modified slightly to suit the South Indian Palate.
If you have sudden guests, run out of vegetables, run out of time, run out of ideas on what to cook or have no mood to cook something elaborate…Then, this Bombay Chutney Recipe Andhra Style comes to your rescue.
Variations to Bombay Chutney
There are a few variations to the basic Bombay Chutney Recipe and just a slight change in tempering or addition of either onion, tomato or potato changes the flavour profile. Add in a little mango while cooking or squeeze in some lemon just before serving. This elevates the flavour of the dish and also adds a little zing. Add yogurt to this Besan Chutney and serve it along with hot Puris.
To make Karnataka style popular Bombay Sagu, add boiled and crumbled potatoes at the end along with coriander. Sagu and poori is a very popular and most loved breakfast dish in Karnataka households. You can just skip adding onions to this recipe. This Besan Chutney tastes great without onions too. You can also include veggies like carrot, beans, peas to make this chutney more nutritious.
Besan – Besan is the main ingredient which gives a nice texture and adds to the taste. So, the Quality of Besan is very important to make a good chutney. Make sure the Besan is fresh and not stale. Dry roasting Besan makes this chutney even more flavourful.
Steps to follow for
Bombay Chutney Recipe Andhra Style
Prep Work:
- Thinly slice two large onions, slit 4 to 5 green chillies & mince a little ginger. Finely chop one large tomato
- Dry roast gram flour & set aside. Dry roasting is optional though. It gives a good flavour to the dish.
- Add in the gram flour to a large bowl. To this add 2 cups water. Whisk well or mix with your hand, ensuring there are no lumps. Keep aside. Instead of water, you can also use sour buttermilk. This also gives a different flavour to the dish.
Let’s make Bombay Chutney:
- Heat oil in a pan over medium heat. Add mustard seeds, urad dal & chana dal. Once the mustard seeds splutter & the lentils turn golden, add in slit green chillies, minced ginger & curry leaves.
- Sauté for a minute & then add in thinly sliced onions. Add a little salt to soften the onions. Add in the turmeric powder Sauté till the onion become soft & translucent But, do not brown them.
- Now, add the chopped tomatoes to the pan. Cook till the tomatoes turn mushy.
- Add the gram flour slurry to the pan. Mix immediately to avoid lumps. Add in 1 cup water & a little coriander at this stage, it gives a nice flavour. Adjust water to get the desired consistency.
- Cook on medium heat for 3-4 minutes or till the chutney starts to boil & thickens. Stir intermittently.
- Add in asafoetida & just cook for a minute or two and turn off the heat. The Bombay Chutney will thicken. You can cook to get the desired consistency. But, it should still be quite runny. Remember that it will thicken further on cooling.
- Finally garnish with some coriander and squeeze in half a lemon.
- Serve immediately with idli, dosa, puri, paratha or roti, garnished with finely chopped fresh coriander & a dash of lemon if you wish.
Storing Suggestions
It tastes best when served hot right out of the pan. So, I would suggest you make it fresh and serve. If you store it, it will become too thick and lumpy due to the use of Besan or gram flour. But for any reason you have leftovers and you need to store, refrigerate it and add some water just before heating as it thickens on cooling down. .
Serving Suggestions
This is a very versatile chutney to pair along with South Indian Breakfast items such as idli, dosa, puri, paratha, roti, Ghee Roast Dosa, Masala Dosa, Neer Dosa, Uppu Huli Dosa etc.
Bombay Chutney Recipe Andhra Style - Besan Chutney | Bombay Besan Chutney
Ingredients
- 1/4 Cup Gram Flour Besan (Dry roasted)
- 3 Cups Water Divided
- 2 tbsp Oil
- 1 tsp Mustard Seeds
- 1 tsp Urad Dal
- 1 tbsp Chana Dal
- 5 Green Chillies Slit (Adjust spice levels to your taste)
- 1 inch Ginger Minced
- A sprig of Curry Leaves
- 2 Large Onions Thinly Sliced
- 1 Tomato Finely Chopped
- 2 tbsp Coriander Finely Chopped, Divided
- 1/2 tsp Turmeric Powder
- Salt to taste
- 1/2 tsp Asafoetida
Garnish
- Fresh Coriander
- 1/2 Lemon
Instructions
- Add in the gram flour to a large bowl. To this add 2 cups water. Whisk well or mix with your hand, ensuring there are no lumps. Keep aside.
- Heat oil in a pan over medium heat. Add mustard seeds, urad dal & chana dal. Once the mustard seeds splutter & the lentils turn golden, add in slit green chillies, minced ginger & curry leaves.
- Sauté for a minute & then add in thinly sliced onions. Add a little salt to soften the onions. Add in the turmeric powder Sauté till the onion become soft & translucent But, do not brown them.
- Now, add the chopped tomatoes to the pan. Cook till the tomatoes turn mushy.
- Add the gram flour slurry to the pan. Mix immediately to avoid lumps. Add in 1 cup water & a little coriander at this stage, it gives a nice flavour. Adjust water to get the desired consistency.
- Cook on medium heat for 3-4 minutes or till the chutney starts to boil & thickens. Stir intermittently.
- Add in asafoetida & just cook for a minute or two and turn off the heat. The Bombay Chutney will thicken. Cook until you get the desired consistency. But, it should still be quite runny. Remember that it will thicken further on cooling.
- Finally garnish with some coriander and squeeze in half a lemon.
- Serve immediately with idli, dosas, puri, chapati or roti. Garnished with finely chopped fresh coriander & a dash of lemon if you wish.
Recipe Video
Notes
- For best results, use good-quality gram flour that is free of any odour or insects.
- To make a lump free batter, add little water to Besan first and mix it well until smooth. Then add the rest of the water.
- You can add buttermilk instead of water to make it more flavourful. In that case, you might want to skip the tomato.
- Adjust spice levels with chillies to suit your taste.
- Do not skip turmeric as it imparts the lovely colour to the dish.
- Cooking time may vary based on your required consistency.
- This Bombay Chutney thickens quite a bit when it cools down. So, it is best to keep it runny. Also, for this very reason, this chutney is best served immediately right out of the pan.
- If for any reason you have to store it, add some water before heating it as it thickens on cooling.
Do check out other Vegetarian Side Dishes and Chutney Recipes from blog!!
Also check out other Traditional Andhra Recipes from blog.
Many more to come!!…..STAY TUNED!!
Hungry for more? Never miss a recipe!!…Subscribe to MasalaKorb and have posts delivered straight to your inbox! And connect with me on Facebook, Google, Twitter, Instagram and Pinterest for all of the latest updates.
Do subscribe to my YouTube Channel for latest video alerts!!
If you cook this dish, be sure to tag your photo with this hashtag: #masalakorb
Happy Cooking 
Cheers!!
Padma.
Leave a Reply