Coconut Chutney @ Busayo Trunk Show

Coconut chutney is the chutney I grew up eating.  My recipe is a variation on the South Indian one that my mom would make usually to go with breakfast foods like idli, dosa, rice roti, etc.

Lately, I've really gotten into making different types of chutneys, but this one is still my favorite. You just blend up fresh frozen coconut, cilantro, green chilis, roasted chana dal, red onion, ginger, lime, tamarind extract (I use Tamcon brand), yogurt and then top with fried spices.

In case you're not familiar with chana dal, there are two kinds at the Indian shop. The one here on the left is unroasted chana dal, which I use in rice and vegetable stir fries to give a nutty flavor and crunchy texture. The one on the right is roasted chana dal which you use in this chutney for a thickener.  It has a lighter coloring and a softer, more chalky texture compared to the unroasted dal.



I made this chutney for my friend Busayo's first fashion trunk show.  Her designs use all Nigerian fabric and prints and come in all different cuts - dresses, skirts, onesies, scarves, shorts, etc.  This is Busayo on the right with her sisters and mother. What a cute family!

I am so proud of Busayo as she recently left her law job to strike out on her own with her new fashion line. I've known Busayo since we were freshman at Berkeley and I have to say she has really come into her own after launching this line.  And the girl obviously knows what's going on because whenever I wear one of her designs, people immediately want to know where I got it.

Busayo has always been so supportive of me in all of my food endeavors so I jumped at the chance when she asked me to prepare some eats for her event. The trunk show was a major success and I know it's only the beginning of some great things to come for Busayo's brand. You can check out her latest here and these are some shots from the trunk show:

Coconut Chutney

Ingredients
2 cups of frozen fresh coconut (can also use desiccated)
half a bunch of cilantro (can include some of the stem with the leaves)
2 tablespoons roasted chana dal
3 small green chilis (to taste and can use jalapeno)
1 teaspoon of tamarind extract
juice of 1 lime
1 inch ginger, grated
1/2 small red onion, chopped
2 tablespoons yogurt
salt to taste

For tempering:
1 teaspoon oil
1/2 teaspoon black mustard seed
pinch of hing (asafoetida)
1/2 teaspoon urad dal (optional)
3 curry leaves
1 dried red chili (optional)

urad dal

Method
Blend all of the ingredients, except for the yogurt and tempering items.  You will have to add some water a little at a time though. You want to add as little water as possible to get it blended. Once all blended, mix in the yogurt.

In a small pan, heat the oil at medium heat and toss in mustard seeds, hing and urad dal. Once the mustard seeds start popping and urad dal starts to brown, add the curry leaves and coat with oil.  Immediately pour over the chutney.

If you refrigerate, the chutney will become kind of solid so you may have to add a little water to bring it back to the right consistency.

ABCDs at Occupy Wall Street

Last Sunday, my cousin, Sumanth and I decided that we'd like to make a contribution to the protesters at Occupy Wall Street so I made a vat of yellow peanut rice

and Sumanth made a huge pot of his special masala chai.

I have to say I'm not a political person at all but for some reason this movement has struck a chord.    I do believe in the main sentiment that the distribution of wealth is out of whack and something needs to change.  I'm also fascinated by the structure or somewhat lack of structure really that is defining this occupation.  And although it gets criticized for lack of direction, there is something that is resonating with others as the movement spreads to other cities in the US, Asia and Europe.



When we arrived at Wall Street, it took us a little time to figure out where we could serve our rice and chai, but everyone we encountered there was really helpful. In the canteen, there was space made so that we could serve our food alongside the other workers.  It felt good to give back to people that are really devoting themselves to what they believe in (don't get me wrong, there were definitely some freeloaders in the mix, but the majority of the people we served were protesters).

In the canteen, everyone was just kind of pitching in and fell into their roles of serving, refilling, etc.



Working there made me think about how the undefined nature of this protest works.  The answer I think is really collaboration in its finest form.  When I think about the projects I work on outside and at work nowadays, there is not really a defined leader per se, but each person on the project comes with a certain expertise that they contribute to bring it all to fruition.  I don't know if that is really the case for Occupy Wall Street, but working at the site made me feel that maybe the structure reflects a more modern way of collaboration that we all are actually pretty familiar with but never have seen applied to a protest or an occupation.

Anyway, that is my two cents but I'm curious to see what happens next and I will most likely go back and serve food there again ... Thanks Sumanth for cousin collaborating:) and to Sheng and Ben for helping!