Chutney with Plums

Season (May through October) for fresh plums started and we have a lot of plum trees around our house. The sour taste of unripe plums tempted me to make this novel chutney. These plums are similar in taste to Gooseberries/Amla/Usirikaya. This sweet and sour chutney makes a delicious side dish with dosas/rotis/rice (it goes very well with curd rice).

Plums are rich in antioxidants and offer a high level of defence against free radicals. They are also a good source of both iron and potassium and also contain vitamin E.


Ingredients:

1. Unripe Plums - 1 cup (remove seeds and cut into pieces)
2. Salt - as required
3. Dry red chillies - 4 no. (as required)
4. Sugar - 1 tsp (optional)
5. Oil - 2 tsp
6. Chana dal - 1 tsp
7. Urad dal - 1 tsp
8. Popu mix (Chana dal + Urad dal + Mustard seeds + Cumin seeds) - 2 tsp
9. Curry leaves - 1 stem (optional)

Instructions:

1. Heat 1 tsp of oil in a pan. Add dry red chillies, chana dal ( 1tsp), urad dal (1 tsp) and fry till dal turns brown in color.
2. Add the plums and salt to the above mix and fry till plums become tender. Keep it aside and grind after it's completely cooled.
3. In parallel, heat 1 tsp of oil in a pan, add the popu mix, curry leaves and fry for 2 mins.
4. Add this fried popu mix to the grounded plum chutney. Adjust the salt.
5. Add sugar to counter the sour taste of the plums, but is optional.