Apple thokku/chutney/relish; a spicy, tangy lip-smacking south Indian relish or chutney made with apples! With this gorgeous fruit in full season, this thokku is the perfect spicy way to enjoy fall flavors!
Infused with turmeric and aromatic Indian spices, this mouth-watering apple chutney/thokku with it’s sweet, fruity flavor, makes for a lovely condiment to enjoy with bread, dosas, idlis, Indian flat breads etc. As mentioned in my earlier posts, during my recent visit to a local apple orchard, I came back with a large basket of freshly picked variety of apples like Honeycrisp, Golden Delicious, McIntosh Red and Gala varieties! We ended up eating many of them while they were fresh, but then the whole family was like “Really? More apple to eat?”!!! So, to keep them happy as well as to use up all those juicy apples while they were still fresh, I ended up making a Fresh Apple Pie Tart, some super delicious Apple Pockets and a gorgeous Upside Down Caramelized Apple Cake!! More to come! NOW, WHAT IS “THOKKU”? It is basically a pickle or condiment which is a cooked down version of Indian pickles (which are mostly uncooked vegetables pickled in some oil and spices). Today I will be sharing a quick relish or thokku as they call it in south India, using apples. Generally, thokkus are made using tomatoes, onions, raw mangoes, coriander leaves/cilantro or sometimes, when you can get it, cranberries!
Pureed or grated vegetables (or whole in the case of cranberries) or fruits are cooked down/sauteed in oil along with some basic spices. Typically, we use turmeric, hing/asafetida powder, red chilli powder/cayenne, curry powder, mustard powder, fenugreek powder etc. The vegetable or fruit is then cooked until almost dry and you can see oil separating. Sometimes a tangy element like lemon juice or tamarind is added, but totally optional. APPLE THOKKU: This dish was just an experiment of mine (which by the way was successful!), so I used only 2 large apples. You need to grate the apples (after peeling and coring them) and then cook in lots of oil along with spices. Being from the southern part of India, we love the flavor of sambar powder, so I have used that to flavor the thokku along with a bit of garam masala powder! Of course, you need some hot, red chilli powder/cayenne powder to fire it up and make it spicy hot! That is it! Cooked in a tempering of mustard and curry leaves, it ends up as a lovely spicy, lip-smacking relish! SERVING SUGGESTIONS: Enjoy this spicy relish with rotis, parathas, dosas (rice-lentil crepes), idlis (rice-lentil steamed cakes), as a sandwich sperad or even yummy mixed up with some hot steamed rice and a dollop of ghee! Enjoy and Happy Cooking! YOU MAY ALSO LIKE THESE OTHER THOKKUS/CHUTNEYS:
Tomato Thokku Fresh Turmeric Thokku Mirchi Thecha/Green Chilli and Garlic Chutney
PIN or SHARE for later: Cook Time: 15 minutes
2 ½ cups grated apples (peeled, cored and grated big) ¼ cup oil (any cooking oil or if you like it sesame oil) 1 tbsp mustard seeds Few curry leaves ½ tsp hing/asafetida powder 4 methi/fenugreek seeds ½ tsp haldi/turmeric powder 1 tbsp red chilli powder/cayenne 1 tbsp sambar powder (or any curry powder of your choice) 1 tbsp garam masala powder Salt to taste
Instructions
Notes
You can scale up the recipe to make a larger quantity.
Store in a glass jars and use only dry spoons to serve it up.
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Angie’s FiestaFriday along with co-hosts this week Antonia @ Zoale.com and Laurena @ Life Diet Health
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