Onion Tomato Chutney Recipe (for Idli, Dosa)

Learn how to make a red chutney with Onion and Tomatoes using no coconut. This Onion Tomato Chutney is spicy, mildly sweet, and is a great side dish for Idli, especially Rava Idli, and Dosa.

I love my chutneys be it the chutneys using coconut or the ones without. This Onion Tomato Chutney Recipe is usually my quick-fix chutney that uses no coconut which means it doesn't require me to defrost the coconut and it goes especially well with idli and dosa. The chutney is mildly sweet because of the roasted onions and you can turn up the heat as much as you want or keep it low and mild, entirely up to you.

This chutney does require a little bit of sauteeing and roasting but it's more of the passive kind so you can go about steaming your idlis or making your dosas while the onions and tomatoes do their thing and get to know each other.

You can also try a bunch of variations of the same recipe, like omit the tomatoes and make it a 100% Onion Chutney. While this tastes great too, it means you need to peel and chop more onions to serve the same number of people and let's face it, chopping a tomato is way easier. And anyway, this chutney is as tasty, if not more, than the plain Onion Chutney.

Onion Tomato Chutney Recipe

Preparation time: 2 minutes
Cooking time: 10 minutes
Serves 4

Ingredients:
2 large onions, sliced
1 tomato, cubed
4-5 dry red chillies (adjust to taste)
2 cloves of garlic, chopped
1/2 tsp of hing (perungaayam, asafoetida)
1 tsp of salt (adjust to taste)
2 tsp of oil

How to Make Onion Tomato Chutney:

1. Heat the oil and add the sliced onions. Fry until light golden brown and soft. Add the red chillies, garlic, and hing and fry for a while longer until the garlic doesn't smell raw anymore.

2. Add the chopped tomato and salt. Mix well and cook until the tomatoes turn soft and the mixture is moist. Remove from the stove and set aside to cool.

3. Grind without adding water to a smooth paste.

Done! Your Onion Tomato Chutney is now ready to serve. You can temper it in some oil+mustard seeds but why bother. This chutney tastes delicious as it is without any spices or extra oil. Once you've tried this chutney with rava idli, there's really no going back to other chutneys.

Onion Tomato Chutney with Soft Idlis

Notes:

- You can use shallots (chinna vengaayam, ulli) instead of the onions. You can also omit the tomato if you prefer but add some tamarind paste for sourness

- The chutney keeps well in refrigerator for up to three days

- You can use chilli powder instead of whole chillies if you prefer