a green chutney with sesame and its multiple uses

Sometimes we do everyday discoveries just because we are driven by necessity. This green chutney with sesame seeds is one such serendipity that happened out of compulsion of eating sesame everyday. After the Chik-V sickness that we suffered last year in August we have been eating sesame, flax seeds, nuts and loads of healing foods everyday without fail, it has helped too but it is a slow process of healing. More about that later, I wanted to share this green chutney that proved to be a real pleasure to stock in the fridge.

So I had loads of green garlic and green coriander growing in the garden and I asked the cook to grind a coarse chutney combining these with some sesame seeds. The good thing is that she (the new cook) comes from a region known for sesame cultivation and she took great interest in this green chutney along with all things sesame I have been doing. My motive was to use this chutney for the everyday raitas and sprout salads but it turned out so good that it was made twice again, the only grudge is that I couldn't take pictures of all the things we did with it.

green chutney with sesame seeds 

ingredients
100 gm green garlic with all leaves and bulbs, cleaned
200 gm green coriander with the stems, cleaned 
4-6 green chilies or as per taste
200 gm sesame seeds preferably raw or lightly roasted
1 tbsp lime juice
1 tsp sesame oil (optional)

procedure 

Chop the green garlic and green coriander roughly, mix with other ingredients and pulse in a food processor or mixie jar to make a coarse paste. This chutney is great as it is, served with an Indian meal or used like a pesto.

Store in a glass jar and refrigerate for 3-4 days.

The best use we found for this chutney was a twist to the everyday alu matar (new potatoes and fresh peas) stir fry that makes a great lunch box meal.

Boiled new potatoes are stir fried with fresh peas in a tempering of cumin seeds in mustard oil, a generous amount of this green chutney with sesame is the only seasoning added. The taste is so good that it gave way to more potato combinations with this chutney.

Check out the lunch box series and the giveaway that is up for you. This picture was clicked for that purpose luckily but I am sharing more ways to use this chutney for you.  

Here are some ways we loved this green chutney with sesame..

1. Smear this chutney liberally over crisp toast to make a filling breakfast. A smear of this chutney and a few thin slices of paneer or cooked chicken makes a great grilled sandwich too.
2. One heaped tbsp of this chutney mixed with 1/2 cup of sprouts and 2 tbsp crisp puffed rice makes a great evening snack with tea. Try that sometime.
3. Two heaped tbsp of this chutney mashed up with 2 medium sized boiled potatoes makes a great stuffing for alu paratha. Have it with plain dahi and see how great it is.
4. Add 2 tbsp of this chutney to steamed chopped cabbage to make a delicious salad, a drizzle of olive oil on top helps make it even more delicious. 
5. Mixing this chutney with rice makes a great quick meal. About 1/4 cup of this chutney with 1/2 cup of rice makes a filling meal for one. 
6. I loved this green chutney in the roasted eggplant and yogurt dip that I make with added tahini sometimes. The herbs in this chutney transformed this dip completely. For 1/2 cup of roasted, peeled, mashed brinjal, 3/4 cup of hung yogurt you need 1/4 cup of this green chutney to make a delicious dip.

This dip was also used for one of the lunch boxes being shot and hence I have a picture incidentally. I packed this dip along with avocado and roasted tomato mash to be relished with bajra roti in lunch box.

I will be sharing more ideas about how to pack millet based lunch box meals. There is a lot to be shared, time has been a great constraint but I am trying to overcome that and bring some more useful recipes and ideas for you in the new year. The new lunch box series is worth following and keep an eye on the giveaways too.

There are many more blogposts in the series and hopefully you all will like it this time too. The last lunch box series got a tremendous response and I kept getting more requests and more queries, hopefully I will be able to answer most of the queries this time.

Stay tuned friends.