Vegan Peanut Chutney Recipe

Yummy Peanut Chutney / Shenga Chutney from North Karnataka that goes with kadubu, dosa, idli, rotis and salads!

Thogayal, thuvayal or chutney is a nut-based ground preparation, served in homes across the Indian subcontinent since 500 BC. Most of them use coconut, peanut, sesame or other nuts as a base, flavoured with different herbs and spices. Some use raw vegetables as a base. This Shenga Chutney or Peanut Chutney is made from peanuts, flavoured using coriander leaves and pepper.

Chutneys today are popularly garnished with an oil tadka. This is unnecessary and does not add any health benefit to the chutney when nuts are already used. In fact, nut-based chutneys have plenty of natural oil by themselves, from the whole nut. This oil is of much better quality than any extracted oil, whether it is unrefined or refined.

This is the basic recipe. You can use it to make any number of variations, using ingredients like amla, jeera, pudina leaves etc. Have fun experimenting!

Recipe by Prathima Prashanth, Health Coach & Plant-based Cooking Expert, NutritionScience.in

Whole Food Plant Based Peanut Chutney Recipe

Course: Chutneys, Side Dish for Course 3 (Grain Dishes) at Lunch & Dinner Meals
Cuisine: North Karnataka Recipe from South India
Prep Time: 5 mins
Cook Time: 5 mins
Servings 2 people

INGREDIENTS

1/2 cup Peanuts
1 small Onion chopped
1/2 tsp Black Pepper Powder
1 stalk Coriander leaves chopped
2 tsp Miso Paste (Healthy Salt Alternative. See Nutrition Science Highlights below)
1/2 cup Water As required

INSTRUCTIONS

1. Dry roast groundnuts on a low flame, stopping when they start changing colour. Do not allow them to turn brown. See Nutrition Science Highlights below for details.
2. Peel and chop onions. Dry roast onions with little water. Do not allow it to burn.
3. Blend roasted groundnuts, onions, miso paste, coriander leaves, and black pepper powder with little water as per required consistency.
4. Serve fresh as peanut chutney with raw vegetables or shenga chutney with kadubu, dosa, idli or roti!

Plant Based Chef Pro Tips for Best Peanut Chutney Recipe

1. Use fresh green pepper if available.
2. Oil free seasoning (dry tadka) of mustard seeds, jeera, curry leaves, urad dal can be added if required.
3. Skip onion to make it satwic.

Nutrition Science Highlights for WFPB Peanut Chutney Recipe

1. What's wrong with roasting? The brown color we get on roasting whole grains, tubers, legumes, or nuts is due to the formation of carcinogenic AGE compounds. We can reduce the formation of these compounds by roasting on a low flame, adding spices and herbs, and removing browned portions of rotis / flatbread before serving and enjoying them.
2. Why not tadka? Tadka, thaaLippu, oggaraNe. Tempering spices in oil is quintessential to Indian cuisine. This practice may have started as a compromise when whole nuts were unavailable, and indeed, is more common in inland, drier areas where nuts do not grow easily, all year round. You can enjoy the taste and fragrance, though, by just dry roasting the spices you require, without the oil, or even better, mixing spice powders directly into your dish!
3. Why nuts instead of oil? Whole foods are healthier than processed foods. When nuts are pressed and oil is extracted, fiber and phytonutrients are lost, along with many other nutrients. Therefore, whole nuts are much healthier than oils, whether cold-pressed or refined. In addition, they provide the oil content we need to absorb fat-soluble phytonutrients from other whole plant foods! This may be why nuts are used to garnish nearly every traditional Indian dish!
4. Why Miso Paste? Miso paste is fermented & salted soya bean paste. American Heart Association Maximum recommended maximum daily salt intake of 3.75 grams per person to minimise risk of high blood pressure, stomach cancer and chronic kidney disease. In addition to helping us restrict salt intake, replacing salt with miso paste also helps by neutralising the negative effects of salt by soya phytonutrients. You can easily make fresh miso paste at home by mixing 100 grams of cooked soya paste with 10 grams of salt, or 10 tablespoons of cooked soya paste with 1 tablespoon of salt. If making at home, ensure to use immediately, or freeze in batches to use later. Or, simply use 3.75 grams of salt or less per day per person and add 18 to 20 grams (dry weight) of soya beans in any dishes, spread through the day!