Keeping my feelings bottled up...in a delicious way!

 

Pregnant Miserable Self Pitying Loser-Pie. Bad Baby-Pie. Naughty Pumpkin-Pie. Fallin' In Love Chocolate Mousse-Pie. These are just some of the colorful pies starring in Adrienne Shelly's wonderfully quirky 2007 dramady Waitress. Background for those of you who have not had the good fortune of watching this film: Keri Russell (swoon) plays Jenna, a waitress in a Podunk town diner who finds herself miserable in a marriage with an overbearing, needy, abusive husband. He impregnates her leaving Jenna resentful of the baby growing inside of her, keeping her further connected to a man she hates. Jenna takes on a lover which punctuates her life with some goodness. However, what she truly finds emotional refuge in is making an eclectic array of pies for the diner and keeping her dream alive to one day open up her own pie shop. She pours herself into her pies, naming each one after something she grapples with or an emotion/thought that plagues her. Some of my favorite pies from the movie are:

 

I DON'T WANT EARL'S BABY-PIE: a quiche with brie cheese and a smoked ham center
I HATE MY HUSBAND-PIE: bittersweet chocolate pudding lavished with cinnamon
BABY SCREAMING IN THE MIDDLE OF THE NIGHT AND RUINING MY LIFE-PIE: brandy-brushed New York style cheesecake topped with pecans and nutmeg
EARL MURDERS ME BECAUSE I'M HAVING AN AFFAIR- PIE: blackberries and raspberries smashed into a chocolate crust

There's so many more pies in the movie. Actually there's just so much MORE to this movie in general that I haven't touched on. I'll leave that up to you to watch, something I highly recommend you do, Dear Reader.

I bring this movie up because to varying degrees, I can relate to it, more than I want to blog about right now, yet enough so that I want to use it as a reference point. Before we go further, nosey Aunties and gossip mongers alike, please note, I am not with child! Nor am I particularly in a pie making frenzy (though an eating frenzy is always a given when it comes to pies). However, as I've been experimenting with starting a chutney line and perfecting my Bou's traditional recipes and playing with new flavor profiles, I've taken to chutney as Jenna does pies. Life's events have me in the kitchen constantly blending herbs and spices with fruits and nuts as I grind, blend, and puree my way through emotions. Recent creations include:

IT'S SO HARD TO HEAR THAT MY PARENTS ARE AGING/AILING, I FEEL HELPLESS CHUTNEY: Bou's tomato recipe (found below) but with tomatillos instead.
THE ONLY GREEN MY BROKE ASS WILL EVER SEE IS PROBABLY IN THIS CHUTNEY- CHUTNEY: avocado, cilantro, garlic, tamarind concentrate, agave syrup, and dry roasted cumin and coriander seeds along with green chilies and fresh curry leaves, blended. The ironic thing about this is the end product is more brown than green so, yep, didn't even see green here, go figure.
MY FAMILY IS ALL KINDS OF NUTS/THEY DRAIN ME-CHUTNEY: you guessed it, actual nuts: pecans, almonds, and peanuts, blended with fresh curry leaves, tamarind concentrate, dry roasted coriander and mustard seeds, dry red chili, light brown sugar, and buttermilk, blended.
AH CRAP, I STILL CARE ABOUT HIM A LOT-CHUTNEY: his favorite, pomegranate seeds, fresh mint leaves, green chilies, toasted cardamon pods and cloves, tamarind concentrate, and honey, blended.
DON'T KNOW WHAT I WANNA BE WHEN I GROW UP/CRAP, I'M ALREADY GROWN-CHUTNEY: my favorite, fresh fennel bulbs and urud dal sauteed in ghee and mixed with toasted coriander and cumin seeds, fresh curry leaves, fresh green chilies, tamarind concentrate, and dark brown sugar, blended.

Oh the list could go and on and it shall, but we can save that for another post OR New Yorkers, you could take one of my chutney classes: http://sdtr.co/YZ3bYD. Hooray for shameless plugs! For now, I'll give you a blueprint for making herb-based chutneys. I will tell you what I tell my friends: it does not take a lot of time or money (or Jenna-like angst) to make a cup or two of truly fresh, tickle-your-taste-buds chutney. Herb-based chutneys are the easiest and quickest to make as there's no cooking. You just need a blender and you're set.

Don't use old or blemished herbs for your chutneys, thinking that blending it will mask a lack of freshness or make good use of lifeless herbs. The fresher the herbs, the more sprightly the taste and brighter the color.

If you want to make the ever popular mint chutney (same recipe for cilantro), use two bunches, leaves only, and place in the blender. To that, I add 3 tablespoons tamarind concentrate, 2 tablespoons sugar, 4 green chilies (reduce to 2 or 3 if you're getting your kicks elsewhere in life), 3 teaspoons salt, and a little water to get my blender going and viola! I have 1.5 to 2 cups of fresh chutney!

I always have this on hand. I dip my veggies in it and even merrynade shrimp, chicken, or pork in it and bake for a meal full of zing. My favorite chutney is using basil instead of mint in this same recipe along with freshly grated lemon zest. As a snack, I'll drizzle it on rounds of tomato and fresh mozzarella. Or I'll use these chutneys as salad dressings. Gone are the days where chutneys are only paired with Indian fritters or dosas. There are numerous ways to use chutney! If you want to experiment with different flavors and combos, I recommend you start with a very basic base. Go to your closest Asian market and stock up on fresh curry leaves, tamarind concentrate, green chilies, salt, and sugar and BOOM! Be creative and blend with it what you want, be it green mango, tomatillos, pears, apples, papaya, or whatever is in season or available and you'll have yourself something yummy in no time! You'll never want to buy those lame ass jars of lackluster chutneys found in your local supermarket after you see how quick and easy it is to make a fresh batch at home.

Experimenting with new flavors and perfecting traditional chutneys have made for interesting times for me. It seems all those thoughts crowding my head now crowd the fridge in mason jars, with an array of colorful chutneys staring back at me. Some of them will surely be added to my chutney repertoire. Other chutneys were simply edible journal entries. No matter what flavors I find myself exploring, I seem to always go back to my Bou's tomato chutney. Its comfort food for me. Actually, its not only comfort food, but comfort cooking. I not only enjoy eating it, but I get pleasure in making it and sharing it with my loved ones.

I love the aromas that rise into the air, the sumptuousness of chili, cumin, and mustard filling up my lungs. I love toasting the dal. I love frying the tomatoes and watching the skin darken in anticipation of being mixed with tamarind. All of this reminds me of home and of Bou, of good memories and, as dramatic folk say, "of better times." This is the chutney she is famed for. This is the chutney that will have my daddy and I eating spoonfuls in competition with one another, while Bou yells that eating too much, too fast will surely leave our bellies aching. Secretly she loves it though. She loves that we can't get enough. This is the chutney that I know I'll never be able to fully recreate to taste like Bou's yet, it no longer bugs me because I love that she has a culinary alchemy that I strive to one day possess. There's something oddly, deliciously comforting about that.

I want to share it with you because something this good and jammed with love and tradition should be shared and spread, literally and figuratively. It's not an easy chutney like the herb ones in the sense that its not a blend and go kinda thang. Her tomato chutney is one that takes a little more time. The process has steps, but steps well worth taking if it means having jars of goodness ready for the taking.

So without further ado, here you go, Loves!

BOU'S TOMATO CHUTNEY

Yield = 2 cups

What you need to throw down

• 5 tablespoons canola oil
• 4 tomatoes, halved
• 1/4  cup chana dal
• 1 tablespoon cumin seeds
• 1 tablespoon mustard seeds
• 4 dry red chili
• ½ teaspoon asafoetida powder
• 5 big sprigs curry leaves
• 1 ½  tablespoons tamarind concentrate
• 1 ½  teaspoon brown sugar
• 1 ½  teaspoons kosher salt
• 1/4 cup tap water

How to throw down

1. Heat 4 tablespoons oil in a pan over high heat.  Allow oil to heat at least 2 minutes. Reduce heat to medium and add tomato halves to pan.
2. Return heat to high and cook tomatoes. Fry for 10 minutes, flipping halfway through.  Remove tomatoes from heat. Reserve in bowl.
3. Heat remaining 1 tablespoon oil in small, heavy bottom pot over medium heat. Add chana dal, cumin seeds, mustard seeds, dry red chili, asafoetida powder, and curry leaves. Saute for 2 minutes.
4. Remove dal and spices from heat and transfer to separate bowl. Reserve.
5. The cooked tomatoes will sweat juice. Do NOT discard. Add tomato juice, along with tamarind concentrate, sugar, and salt to dal-spice mixture. Set aside.
6. Puree tomatoes in blender. Once pureed, add dal-spice-juice mixture along with water to blender. Puree until smooth.
7. Store chutney in air tight container or glass jar. Keeps in fridge for up to 2 weeks. I find that this chutney taste best a day or two after I've made it.

Tune in for more chutney recipes in the coming weeks. Eat, drink, and MAKE CHUTNEY!