Tastes of India: Mama Raj's Delights

As promised, this week I’m going to share Mama Raj’s wonderful Indian recipes. This chutney is my absolute favorite! I’ll eat it with anything I can get me hands on! Mama Raj once made what she called a “Indian Club Sandwich” with mint chutney and ever since I fell in love with it. She spreads the chutney on one side of the bread, the other has margarine (optional) and she then add slices of tomatoes. Oh it’s delightful! Whenever I make this chutney, I eat many many club sandwiches all day long! Maybe it’s nostalgic for me…but I think it’s more than just that. It’s a very unique flavor which may take getting used to, but I know you’ll enjoy it. My husband wasn’t sure about this at the very first bite, but the more bites he took, the more it grew on him and now we eat it often. I remember picking tons of mint leaves in our backyard garden for this chutney. Of course, nothing beats the flavor of fresh picked herbs! Mint is really easy to grow in the summer, but in colder weather there’s always the grocery store. Here are all the basic ingredients you need: 1 tomato 1/8-1/4 red onion 1 lemon, juiced 1 apple 1 bunch mint 1 handful of cilantro (optional) 4-5 chunks of mango (optional) salt and pepper (to taste) So all I do is blend everything in a blender with just a tiny bit of water. I have a very powerful blender, so I don’t need much water, but feel free to add more to make the ingredients blend better. Now you don’t need to follow my recipe, I never do! This chutney is always in a state of flux for me! I add different fruits for different flavors. (I usually like adding kiwi) Please experiment with this recipe and make it your own. That’s it, its done! You can eat this on the side with any Indian food as it always enhances the flavor for me…or you can make Indian Club Sandwiches from it as well…mmmmmm!