5 quick & easy chutney recipes for dosa, idli. A perfect accompaniment for South Indian Breakfast.
Chutney is a popular spicy or savory condiment or a dip from Indian cuisine that can be served from breakfast to lunch, snack, or dinner as an accompaniment with almost anything.
In India, chutneys are served with dosa, idli, vada, buns, chapati, puri, upma, pongal, poha, etc., for breakfast. These can also be served as a dip with snacks like pakora (bhaji or fritters). It can also be used as a spread for sandwiches, vada pav, chapati rolls, kati rolls, etc. Some chutneys used for preparing chaats are sweet.
Some chutneys are also used as a side dish along with steamed rice.
The texture of chutney varies from smooth to coarse or chunky, thick to watery. Some chutneys are cooked, while others are blended raw with fresh herbs.
In the olden days, chutneys were made using mortar and pestle or in large stone grinders. Nowadays, we use a mixie or mixer grinder or blender to make chutneys.
I can go on with a list of various chutney recipes and their variations prepared across India, but that would require a dedicated series of blog posts – therefore, I will defer. To those who are new to chutneys, these can be prepared with any of the following ingredients or their combinations – coconut, lentils, nuts, whole spices, coriander leaves, mint leaves (pudina), spinach, eggplant, cranberry, apple, dosakaayaa, ginger, garlic, tamarind, dates, mango, pear, tomato, onion, etc. The list is endless. Some also use cured meat and dried fish to make non-vegetarian chutneys.
Today’s post is about some of the simple, easy-to-make popular South Indian chutney recipes with coconut (thengai or nariyal) being the key ingredient. The best part about making chutney is it is ready in less than 5 minutes.
The chutneys below can be served with any South Indian Breakfast recipes from dosa to idli or with snacks like bhaji (bonda or pakora) or even as a spread with vada pav. And yes, these are also perfect accompaniments for jolada rotti, ragi rotti, chapati, puris, etc.
To be very honest, while making chutney, we don’t measure or follow a standard recipe. According to taste buds and ingredients available in the pantry, we end up doing some variety of chutney. The consistency can also be varied as desired. Once you learn to make traditional coconut chutney, you can add additional ingredients and make your own variations. Almost on a daily basis, we try new recipes for chutney to serve with dosa and idli (our comfort food).
You can take this post as a guide for making some chutneys. I am sharing these as I got multiple requests after trying my SAMBAR POWDER & EASY SAMBAR RECIPE and MOMS SAMBAR RECIPE to share chutney for dosa and idli.
Beginner & bachelor (bachelorette) cooks can easily make this recipe if you have a mixer or blender.
Grating coconut is easy for us as we have been doing it from our childhood. If you do not know how to grate coconuts, you can even chop them into pieces. Now, if you have no access to fresh coconut, use frozen or store-bought shredded or grated coconut to make chutney. You can also use desiccated coconut or coconut powder to prepare chutneys.
Chutney I
Ingredients for Coconut Chutney or Thengai Chutney
2/3 cup Coconut, grated
2 Green chilies
4 sprigs Cilantro or Coriander leaves
1/2 cup Water
1/4 tsp Salt
How to make Coconut Chutney or Thengai Chutney
In a mixie jar, add all the ingredients and blend to a smooth paste. You can adjust water and salt as desired. Transfer this to a bowl and temper it with the ingredients given below in the tempering.
Chutney II
Ingredients for Green Chutney or Cilantro Chutney
2/3 cup Coconut, grated
2 Green chilies
20 sprigs Coriander leaves or Cilantro
1/4 tsp Salt
1/2 tsp Tamarind (or small ball)
1/2 cup Water
How to make Green Chutney or Cilantro Chutney
In a mixie jar, add all the ingredients and blend it to smooth paste. Transfer this to a bowl, and add the tempering and mix. The ingredients may look similar for chutney I and chutney II, but the difference in taste lies in the amount of ingredients for each chutney.
Chutney III
Ingredients for Red Chutney or Coriander Seeds Chutney
2/3 cup Grated coconut
1 tbsp Coriander seeds
4 Dry red chilies
1/2 tsp Tamarind (or small ball)
1/4 tsp Salt
1/2 cup Water
How to make Red Chutney or Coriander Seeds Chutney
In a mixer, add all the ingredients given in the list and blend to a smooth paste. Add the tempering. Transfer to a serving bowl.
Chutney IV
Ingredients for Hotel-style Chutney or Restaurant-style Chutney
2/3 cup Coconut, grated
4 to 5 sprigs Coriander leaves
6 Mint leaves
2 Green chilies
2 Garlic cloves
1 inch Ginger slice
1/2 cup Water
1/4 tsp Salt
How to make Hotel-style Chutney or Restaurant-style Chutney
Add all the ingredients mentioned above to your mixer jar and blend it to a smooth paste. Transfer this to a bowl and add the tempering.
Serve with idli, dosa, and enjoy.
Chutney V
Ingredients for Tomato Peanut Chutney
1 tbsp Oil
1/2 tsp Cumin seeds
5 Dry red chilies
6 Garlic cloves, chopped roughly
1 tbsp Dalia or Hurigadale or Puttani
1/4 cup Peanuts or Groundnut
1/4 cup Coconut, grated or chopped
1 Tomato cut into cubes
1/2 cup Water
1/4 tsp Garam masala powder
1/4 tsp Salt
How to make Tomato Peanut Chutney
In a pan on medium heat, add oil. To this, add cumin seeds. When they splutter, add dry red chilies, garlic and saute for a few seconds.
Next, add dalia, peanuts, and saute until roasted on medium flame.
Add this to the mixer jar along with coconut, tomato, water, salt, and grind it to a smooth paste. Transfer it to a bowl. Add tempering and mix. Serve as needed.
Tempering for all chutney is the same (it is optional). But the addition of tempering will enhance the taste of the chutney.
1 tbsp Oil (I prefer coconut oil)
1 tsp Mustard seeds
5 Curry leaves
1 Dry red chile, broken
In a pan on medium heat, add oil. Once hot, add mustard seeds. When they start to splutter, add red chilies, curry leaves, and saute for a few seconds. Switch off the flame. Add it to the chutney and mix.
Tips that are worth reading 🙂
- Fresh coconut tastes the best. But if you can’t find fresh coconut, you can use frozen or dry shredded coconut, and it still tastes great.
- To make the chutney rich and creamy, you can use dalia (hurigadale or roasted gram or putani) or cashews in all the chutney recipes.
- Adjust water to get the desired consistency. Little watery is best to be served with idli and thick ones with dosa.
- I have mentioned 1/4 tsp salt, and it was perfect for the amount here. If you increase the amount of water, you may have to adjust salt.
- You can add a pinch of hing (asafoetida) for all the chutney tempering for additional flavor.
How to store coconut-based South Indian chutney?
Chutney tastes the best when prepared fresh and served. But if you have any leftovers, keep them in the refrigerator and use them in a day or 2. I would not recommend storing it beyond two days.
Another way to increase the shelf life of coconut-based chutney is to cook them. After the chutney is ground to a smooth paste, add it to a pan and bring it to a boil on medium flame. Then, add the tempering. Cooking ground coconut-based chutney will improve the shelf life of chutneys significantly.
What do you eat or serve with coconut-based chutney?
I can go on with the accompaniments for South Indian chutneys. These are some of my favorite.
Video recipe for 5 quick & easy chutney recipes for South Indian Breakfast in 10 minutes
Detailed step-by-step recipe for South Indian chutney recipes for Idli, Dosa, Buns, Pongal, etc.

Chutney is a popular spicy or savory condiment or a dip from Indian cuisine that can be served from breakfast to lunch, snack, or dinner as an accompaniment with almost anything.
In India, chutneys are served with dosa, idli, vada, buns, chapati, puri, upma, pongal, poha, etc., for breakfast. These can also be served as a dip with snacks like pakora (bhaji or fritters). It can also be used as a spread for sandwiches, vada pav, chapati rolls, kati rolls, etc. Some chutneys used for preparing chaats are sweet.
- 2/3 cup Coconut, grated
- 2 Green chilies
- 4 sprigs Cilantro or Coriander leaves
- 1/2 cup Water
- 1/4 tsp Salt
- 2/3 cup Coconut, grated
- 2 Green chilies
- 20 sprigs Coriander leaves or Cilantro
- 1/4 tsp Salt
- 1/2 tsp Tamarind (or small ball)
- 1/2 cup Water
- 2/3 cup Coconut, grated
- 1 tbsp Coriander seeds
- 4 Dry red chillies
- 1/2 tsp Tamarind (or small ball)
- 1/4 tsp Salt
- 1/2 cup Water
- 2/3 cup Coconut, grated
- 4 to 5 sprigs Coriander leaves
- 6 Mint leaves
- 2 Green chilies
- 2 Garlic cloves
- 1 inch Ginger slice
- 1/2 cup Water
- 1/4 tsp Salt
- 1 tbsp Oil
- 1/2 tsp Cumin seeds
- 5 Dry red chilies
- 6 Garlic cloves, chopped roughly
- 1 tbsp Dalia or Hurigadale or Putani
- 1/4 cup Peanuts or Groundnut
- 1/4 cup Coconut , grated or chopped
- 1 Tomato, cut into cubes
- 1/2 cup Water
- 1/4 tsp Garam masala powder
- 1/4 tsp Salt
- 1 tbsp Oil (I prefer coconut oil)
- 1 tsp Mustard seeds
- 5 Curry leaves
- 1 Dry red chile, broken
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In a mixie jar, add all the ingredients and blend to a smooth paste. You can adjust water and salt as desired. Transfer this to a bowl and temper it with the ingredients given below in the tempering.
-
In a pan on medium heat, add oil. To this, add cumin seeds. When they splutter, add dry red chilies, garlic and saute for a few seconds.
-
Next, add dalia, peanuts, and saute until roasted on medium flame.
-
Add this to the mixer jar along with coconut, tomato, water, salt, and grind it to a smooth paste. Transfer it to a bowl. Add tempering and mix. Serve as needed.
-
In a pan on medium heat, add oil. Once hot, add mustard seeds. When they start to splutter, add red chilies, curry leaves, and saute for a few seconds. Switch off the flame. Add it to the chutney and mix.
- Fresh coconut tastes the best. But if you can’t find fresh coconut, you can use frozen or dry shredded coconut, and it still tastes great.
- To make the chutney rich and creamy, you can use dalia (hurigadale or roasted gram or putani) or cashews in all the chutney recipes.
- Adjust water to get the desired consistency. Little watery is best to be served with idli and thick ones with dosa.
- I have mentioned 1/4 tsp salt, and it was perfect for the amount here. If you increase the amount of water, you may have to adjust salt.
- You can add a pinch of hing (asafoetida) for all the chutney tempering for additional flavor.
Wow, what a great list! I had no idea there were so many varieties of chutney to make. I need to get to the store to get some of these ingredients so I can try them all!!
Love all of these! just need some naan to dip it in!
What a great post! Love how you included all the different chutneys! Definitely saving this for my Indian food nights!
I’ve never had chutney made with coconut but these all look so good. Am planning an Indian meal for next weekend and am going to give some of these a go. Not sure if I can make them all but hope to!
Amazing! Great collection of chutney. I love coconut chutney! Can’t wait to try these. Thanks for sharing!
chutneys drive me nuts! Thanks for this compilation of chutneys, I want to make them all!
Wow! What a variety of chutney! This will be the perfect dish to share at a get together with friends!
Such a fantastic variety of chutney recipes! I especially love all that color and flavor. They come together so easily too!
Idli and chutney are two of my favorite things to eat! I can’t wait to try your tomato peanut chutney – that looks amazing!
The chutneys are as mouth watering as they look. It was hard to pick a favorite. Totally restaurant quality.
These all look amazing; I can practically smell them through the screen! Looking forward to giving these a try, indeed!
This wide variety of chutney recipes adds so much flavor to any dish! I love how they can be mixed and matched with different dishes.
This chutneys look amazing, I definitely can’t wait to try them all out.
I love all of these chutney flavors. My favorites are the cilantro and the tomato peanut ones. They’re great to dip and good with chicken.
We tried the green and the tomato peanut one, and the latter is our absolute favourite (although we do like the green one a lot too!) Cannot wait to make the other 3!
We love chutney and the flavour in these is amazing.
These chutneys all look delicious! I am planning to try them all.
These all look delicious! Chutneys are great to have on hand to add that extra burst of flavor to so many dishes.