Chow chow chutney recipe (Thogayal)

Chow chow chutney recipe with onion, garlic and chillies, a spicy and tangy dish that goes well with hot steamed rice mixed with ghee or sesame oil. Step by step pictures recipe.

My mom in law saw this recipe in a cookery show and asked me to try, yet she did not share the details. Yesterday saw in this video, one of the very few youtube channels I watch. It was so simple and tempting by the way she described the chutney. So wanted to try it out as I had chow chow in hand.  Vj loves chow chow as well as thogayal. So I am sure he is going to enjoy this.

Even I am bored of my regular routine menus for past few weeks. Owing to laziness, I just make universal menu mostly (that Aj eats) 🤣. I just can this with rice as described by her with some appalam/ vadam. For us, thogayals are tangy with lots of tamarind. Salt and chilli are added to balance the tamarind. We do not temper and mom makes mostly without coconut. But since this is slightly different, I thought I will call this chutney itself.

I saw in another video, where onion is skipped and both red and green chillies we used, along with sesame seeds in the ingredients. I loved that version too, once will try it out. Thought of adding a small piece of jaggery as I do for any thogayal, but since chow chow by itself is bland and has sweetness, I skipped.

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Chow chow chutney (thogayal) recipe

Chow chow chutney recipe with onion, garlic and chillies, a spicy and tangy dish that goes well with hot steamed rice mixed with ghee or sesame oil. Step by step pictures recipe.

Course Side Dish

Cuisine Indian, South Indian

Prep Time 10 minutes

Cook Time 10 minutes

Servings 4

Cup measurements

Ingredients

• ½ chow chow/  chayote squash medium
• 4 fresh chilli I used ripe birds eye chilli - use spicy variety to balance the tamarind
• 1 tsp tamarind packed
• 5 Small onion/ shallots
• 5 Garlic cloves
• 2 tbsp Coconut grated
• 1 tbsp Coriander leaves chopped
• 1 Sprig curry leaves
• 1 tbsp Oil
• Salt as needed

To temper

• 1 tsp Oil
• ½ tsp Mustard
• 1 tsp Urad dal
• 1 Asafoetida generous pinch
• Curry leaves optional

Instructions

• Peel, chop chow chow roughly. Gather the ingredients. Heat 1 tbsp oil, add onion, garlic and green chilli and chow chow.
• Sautee for 3 minutes. Top with tamarind, curry leaves, coriander leaves and coconut.
• Fry in low flame for 2 more minutes. Remove and cool down in a plate.
• Place in a mixie and grind without water coarsely. You can first grind tamarind and chilli and then add rest of the ingredients too.
• In the same kadai, add 1 tsp oil and temper the items. Mix with the chutney. (You can do this very first step and transfer to the serving bowl. Later mix ground chutney to it)

Notes

Just sautee for 3-5 minutes total time, it is enough for the chutney.

Make sure to use spiciest variety of chilli or increase number accordingly to balance the tamarind. 

Adding salt while sauteeing ensures it gets cooked faster.

Chow chow chutney method:

1. Peel, chop chow chow roughly. Gather the ingredients. Heat 1 tbsp oil, add onion, garlic and green chilli and chow chow.
2. Sautee for 3 minutes. Top with tamarind, curry leaves, coriander leaves and coconut.
3. Fry in low flame for 2 more minutes. Remove and cool down in a plate.
4. Place in a mixie and grind without water coarsely. You can first grind tamarind and chilli and then add rest of the ingredients too.
5. In the same kadai, add 1 tsp oil and temper the items. Mix with the chutney. (You can do this very first step and transfer to the serving bowl. Later mix ground chutney to it)

Serve with rice, mix with ghee or sesame oil.