Green coriander (cilantro) chutney?

I stopped in at Garden Fresh yesterday, and they have cilantro on sale at five bunches for $1. I couldn't resist.

I thought I would grind it most of it up and freeze it, but then I thought I'd make chutney, which I could freeze, too. The simplest recipe I've come across contains just cilantro, lime juice, chilies, garlic, sugar, salt and pepper.

But there are a wide variety of recipes with a lot of other ingredients. Anyone think any of the following is essential?

Mint, coconut, lentils, peanuts, peanut butter, onions, ginger, galangal, apple, allspice, coriander seed, mustard seeds, curry leaves, walnuts, almonds, lemon juice, vinegar, oil, tamarind, cumin, mango powder or asafoetida?

Also, how carefully must I de-stem?

LAZ wrote:I stopped in at Garden Fresh yesterday, and they have cilantro on sale at five bunches for $1. I couldn't resist.

I thought I would grind it most of it up and freeze it, but then I thought I'd make chutney, which I could freeze, too. The simplest recipe I've come across contains just cilantro, lime juice, chilies, garlic, sugar, salt and pepper.

But there are a wide variety of recipes with a lot of other ingredients. Anyone think any of the following is essential?

Mint, coconut, lentils, peanuts, peanut butter, onions, ginger, galangal, apple, allspice, coriander seed, mustard seeds, curry leaves, walnuts, almonds, lemon juice, vinegar, oil, tamarind, cumin, mango powder or asafoetida?

Also, how carefully must I de-stem?

De stem? I'd probably use everything an inch above the bottom of the cut stems of your bunches. I'm also assuming you are making a blender chutney like that which is sold at Indian grocers. I buy the Nirav brand, and another brand that looks pretty much the same. Comes in a slender-ish "Polaner All Fruit" type looking clear jar, and it's bright green.

I would include along with your initial list:

asefoetida (or a few spoons full of a pickle - which would probably add the asefoetida which has been cooked, and some other flavors including a salt and sour note.)

Coconut
Onion
Ginger
Vinegar
and depending how sour you wanted it to be, then I'd consider mango powder and tamarind. Mint (for me) would be a nice add in for a smallish side batch. The other things I would not consider, but that's me. I like my cilantro chutney kinda straightforward.

P.s. a few spoons of it w/ some sour cream, and some form of a "pickle" + a little garam masala in the blender makes one of my favorite potato chip dips ever!

If you're going to freeze it, the simpler the mix the better. You can always add other items to change the flavor later according to what you are serving the chutney with (IMO adding nuts in particular is a bad idea) . I happen to like a mint/cilantro mix, & coconut is a good addition (without the mint) for south indian dishes, the rest IMO isn't necessary. One thing missing from your list is the addition of green mango (or green apple as a substitute) - that's quite nice & also changes the flavor & consistency, plus it freezes well. Asafoetida isn't a great addition as it can overpower the flavor if you aren't careful (plus a lot of people hate the flavor) & the addition if tamarind strikes me as odd - IMO that's a very strange flavor combination.

Re de-stemming, I tend to throw out pretty much all the stems - you get a finer consistency chutney plus a more delicate flavor (taste the stems, they can be very strong). Plus that's how my mother taught me.

I just chop off the bottom end of the stems. Incidentally, the blender makes a finer chutney than the food processor.

Chutney in my mother's home was primarily cilantro, mint, chilies, a little onion and lemon juice. Lime juice, in my opinion, imparts a taste that is quite different than the taste of Indian lemons. The closest subsititute would be the smaller key limes you see in Hispanic grocery stores.
Different Indian communities have different additions. As stated in the previous post, coconut and toasted daals are found in South Indian versions. I agree that definitely no asafoetida and, I would add no oil.

I have never frozen green chutney, but my experiences with freezing mint have not been positive. You might want to make two batches for freezing - with and without mint.

Jyoti

Chutney in my mother's home was primarily cilantro, mint, chilies, a little onion and lemon juice.

This is a great core recipe. Note the chilis should (in my experience) be fresh green ones, not red (or dried).

ITA re no oil.

Also, mint alone doesn't freeze well in my hands; cilantro on the other hand does seem to, but I do limit the added mint to a small proportion.