In India, women get to learn a lot of cooking techniques and recipes from the time they spend with their mothers and mother-in-laws in the kitchen. And if both of them–that is, your mother and mother-in-law–belong to different corners of the country, you have some amazing kitchen stories to be discovered. That’s certainly my case.

One fine, crisp morning, I curiously spotted my mother-in-law pounding something in one corner of the kitchen. Her name is Rajbala and she resides in Haryana. She was adding a few ingredients in the mortar and pestle, and later, emptied the paste in a steel box. When I ate it with my paratha, I tasted the world’s best raw chutney.

I have had the usual coriander chutney umpteen number of times, but a fenugreek one totally blew my mind away. I love the taste of garlic and I like curd in every form. My MIL picked up some fresh leaves from her kitchen garden and transformed the simple food ingredient into a powerful punch that pleased my taste buds like never before.

My lesson? Have this healthy chutney for breakfast and stay away from cereal packets and cold-pressed juice bottles. We Indians use fenugreek in various dishes. Personally, I use it in theplas, my roti batter and curries, but using it in my chutney is a sure hit. Its tangy flavour and smell is cheer magic.

Often, I get tired of the heavy, creamy curries and crave for something raw and simple to eat. Be it a freshly cut salad or a fruit chat, raw dishes touch my soul and are good for the body too. I have always had a craze for such recipes and dive right into the raw dish first, that is served on my plate.

I guarantee, you will be ready to eat this chutney for your breakfast, lunch and dinnertime. Here you go:

Recipe: Methi ki chutney or fenugreek chutney

Pound a handful of fenugreek leaves and 4-5 cloves of garlic. Now add salt and 2 tablespoons of fresh curd. Pound for some more time. As soon as you see the ingredients have blended well, remove the coarse chutney into a glass or steel bowl. Eat it with a paratha or roti, or have it with your tikkis or pakoras.

Notes

Pounding is an enjoyable yet tough job. You don’t want to pound so much so that you faint. So keep the chutneys grainy. That’s the beauty of it.