
Sarson Ki Chutney (Tandoori Home Cooking)
A thick, pungent mustard chutney sharpened with garlic and green chilli and softened with yoghurt. It tastes hot, tangy and slightly sweet, with a turmeric-infused oil poured over at the end.
Mustard base
63 gGround first and put into the serving bowl (step 1)Turmeric for the oil
1.5 gFried in the hot oil (step 5)Everything else
Method
- Grind the mustard base (63 g black mustard seed) in a blender to a coarse powder and tip it into a serving bowl.
- Put 12 g garlic, 8 g green bird's-eye chilli, 12.6 g caster sugar, salt to taste and 30 g of the 60 g greek yoghurt into the same blender; blend to a smooth paste.
- Scrape the paste into the bowl with the mustard base, add the remaining 30 g greek yoghurt and mix well.
- Heat 13.5 g vegetable oil in a frying pan over medium heat.
- Add the turmeric for the oil (1.5 g ground turmeric) and fry for a few seconds.
- Pour the flavoured oil over the chutney, stir well and serve immediately.
Don't have something?

Black mustard seed

Mustard seedsUse equal weight. Pop in hot fat until they crackle and turn greyish; yields an almost identical nutty, pungent finish.
Yellow mustard seedsUse equal weight. Fry over medium heat; delivers a milder, sweeter pop and turns bitter quickly if the oil is excessively hot.

Greek yoghurt

Hung natural yoghurtUse the same weight and whisk smooth; same thick consistency.
Full-fat natural yoghurtUse 1.25 times the weight and strain through muslin for 30 minutes; looser if not strained.
Hung yogurtUse the same weight; virtually identical.

Garlic

Garlic pasteUse equal weight. Fry gently in oil or ghee with the ginger; incorporates smoothly into curries without visible minced bits.
Garlic powderUse 15% to 20% of the weight (about 1 g for every 5 to 6 g fresh cloves). Whisk into sauces; gives a savoury, toasted garlic flavour without raw pungency.
ShallotUse 1.5 times the weight, very finely minced. Sauté until golden; provides savoury allium sweetness, though it lacks garlic's pungent sulphur bite.

Green bird's eye chilli

Bird's eye green chilliUse the same weight; heat and flavour are very close.
Green chilliUse 1.5 to 2 times the weight; deseed for less heat. Larger chillies are more watery.
Fresh green chilliUse 1.5 to 2 times the weight; chop finely and adjust heat by tasting.

Caster sugar

Granulated sugarUse the same weight. It is slightly coarser, so stir a little longer to dissolve; in baking, grind briefly if a fine texture matters.
Demerara sugarUse the same weight, but dissolve it earlier as it is coarser. It adds a light caramel note and a little colour.
Ground jaggery or soft brown sugarUse the same weight; crush or grate jaggery first. It darkens the dish and adds molasses flavour, so reduce other liquid slightly.

Vegetable oil

Peanut oilUse 1:1 by weight. Handles high-heat frying identically and introduces a very subtle, pleasant nuttiness.
GheeUse 1:1 by weight. Yields a much richer, authentic aroma and a glossy, heavier mouthfeel.
Mustard oilUse 1:1 by weight. Heat until smoking, then cool slightly before cooking to temper its intensely pungent, sharp mustard kick.

Ground turmeric

Ground gingerUse 50% of the weight. Mimics turmeric's warm, earthy, rhizome background, but provides none of the golden-yellow colour.
SaffronSteep a tiny pinch (0.1 g per 2 g turmeric) in 2 tbsp warm water; use to match the rich golden hue. Contributes an aristocratic, honeyed floral flavour rather than earthy bitterness.
Similar dishes

- Same: Burani Raita shares yoghurt, garlic, vegetable oil and salt with this dish.
- Different: Burani Raita uses far more yoghurt, adds cumin, black pepper and coriander, and lacks black mustard seed, green chilli, sugar and turmeric.

- Same: Burnt Onion Raita shares Greek yoghurt, caster sugar and salt with this dish, and both are thick yogurt-based condiments.
- Different: Burnt Onion Raita uses roasted blackened shallots as its main ingredient and lacks this dish's black mustard seed, garlic, green chilli, turmeric and vegetable oil; it is made by grinding charred shallots into yogurt, while this dish grinds mustard with yoghurt, garlic and chilli and pours turmeric oil over at the end.

- Same: Rajasthani Lehsun ka Achar shares black mustard seed, turmeric and garlic with this dish, and both are pungent mustard-forward condiments with chilli heat.
- Different: It uses mustard oil instead of vegetable oil, lime instead of yoghurt for souring, and adds kashmiri chilli powder, asafoetida, coriander, cumin, fenugreek and jaggery to whole garlic cloves, while this dish is a yoghurt-thickened chutney with green chilli and caster sugar.

- Same: Mattha/Chaas shares Greek yoghurt, green bird's-eye chilli and salt with this dish.
- Different: Mattha/Chaas adds water, cumin seed, fresh ginger and coriander, while it lacks this dish’s black mustard seed, garlic, caster sugar and turmeric-infused oil, and it is a thin whisked drink rather than a thick chutney.


















