Protein-rich Chutney with seeds and nuts

 Our body needs a lot of protein and it can fulfilled by including protein-rich food into our diet. Even kids do need some amount of protein for their body depending on their body weight. For fussy-eaters, parents may find it difficult to fulfill their nutrition required for their well being. Including well balanced food diet, which contains protein in the food what they loves to eat is very important. 

The recipe that I have shared here is made by my own, and usually I serve for my loving kid in her morning breakfast recipes like idlis and dosas. The chutney contains different nuts and seeds, coconut, and I also included dried curry leaves powder as an added advantage. 

So why I make this chutney which includes lot of ingredients because toddlers cannot chew the nuts properly and they usually swallow if we offer the whole nuts. Same thing happened with my 2 year old kid. So for their better absorption capacity, this Chutney idea came out from me. This chutney is also good for the adults too.

Now lets go through the recipe details.

INGREDIENTS:

Pumpkin seeds - 1/2 cup (2 tablespoons)

Sunflower seeds - 1/2 cup

Sesame seeds - 1/2 cup

Flax seeds - 1/2 cup

Roasted Bengal gram / Chana Dal - 1/2 cup

Groundnuts - 1/2 cup

Coconut pieces - 1/2 cup (or you can use half shell part of the coconut)

Oil - 1 teaspoon

Green chillies - 6 to 8 (or depending on level of spiciness)

Garlic - 4 to 6 cloves

Jeera/Cumin seeds - 1 teaspoon

Salt - 1 teaspoon (or as per taste)

Moringa powder (optional) - 1 and 1/2 tablespoons

For tadka(optional):

Oil - 1 teaspoon

Urad dal- 2 teaspoons

Mustard seeds - 1 teaspoon

Dry red chilies - 1

Curry leaves -1 sprig (6 to 8)

PREPARATION:

1. Heat a pan and dry roast groundnuts first in a low flame by mixing them with a wooden spatula continuously until they become crunchy and after that keep them aside. It probably might take 5 to 6 minutes.

Next dry roast pumpkin seeds in the same pan. It takes just 2 to 3 minutes to fry them.

Now dry roast sunflower seeds in the same pan and keep them aside.

Then add sesame seeds and flax seeds and dry roast them, they will start to splutter in a minute and transfer to a plate immediately.

Now switch off the flame and add roasted bengal gram. The heat in the pan is sufficient to fry them,  otherwise they may turn black.

Transfer all the dry roasted ingredients to a plate and let them cool down for sometime. Mean while you can do the next step.

2. Chop the chilies as shown below and keep the Garlic cloves ready. Now switch on the flame and oil in a pan and add green chilies and fry them for about 2 minutes.

After the chilies get fried for 2 minutes you can add cumin seeds and garlic cloves and fry them for 30 seconds and switch off the flame.

3. Now take chutney jar and add the dry roasted nuts and seeds and blend into a fine powder using a mixer grinder. It takes two batches for me to make powder. Transfer the powder into a air tight container that you want to store the chutney.

4. Next add in the coconut pieces and chilies mixture (as shown in step 2) and make into a smooth paste using a mixer grinder. Add enough salt as per your taste. If required add water to blend the mixture and transfer it to the same container that you added roasted powder.

5. Add moringa powder and enough water into the container and mix it using a spoon. Adjust water and mix it until you get desired consistency. 

6. Now to prepare tadka for the chutney, heat oil in the pan add Urad dal, mustard seeds. Once the mustard seeds starts to splutter add dry red chilly and curry leaves and swich off the flame. Pour the tadka on the top of the chutney and mix it.

Now our healthy and tasty chutney is ready to be served. You can serve this along with any breakfast along with your choice.

Recipe Notes:

• Dry roast all the ingredients in a low flame with some patience and never put in a high flame, because they seems to be cooked outside and doesn't cooks inside. The taste of the chutney depends on how to roasted the ingredients.
• As always said in my previous blog posts use a stainless steel or an iron pan to dry roast the nuts and seeds.
• You can dry roast the seeds and nuts and store them. So that you can prepare this chutney in less time.
• In traditional chutney making we generally use tamarind to get the sourness. But I didn't use in this recipe, if you want you can include. You can also substitute with lemon juice also.
• You can store the leftover chutney in an airtight container for 2 days in the refrigerator.

"Thanks for reading. Let me know your feedback in the comment section below."