Carrot Chutney

Carrot Chutney is a delicious and healthy Indian Chutney variety made with carrots, spices, herbs & pantry staples. It’s spicy, hot, tangy and slightly sweet with a nutty aroma. Spice up your meal, Indian Breakfasts or snacks with this carrot chutney. It goes well with Idli, Dosa, pesarattu or parathas. Smear it over toasted bread, sandwiches or over roti & tortillas, as a spread to make rolls/ wraps. Carrot Chutney is also eaten with plain rice and ghee, mixed together.

Carrot Chutney

Andhra cuisine is well known for a wide range of chutney dishes also known as pachadi. Every traditional meal consists of a spicy vegetable chutney, known as roti pachadi which is a thick chutney. Traditionally it is mixed with hot rice, topped with ghee and is eaten at the beginning of the meal.

This Andhra style Carrot Chutney is one of the many kinds of vegetable chutneys I make at home. There are a few different ways you can make it. I have shared 2 methods in this post.

The first one is an Andhra style carrot chutney made without coconut. For this you will simply fry the chilies, garlic, ginger & lentils until aromatic. Carrots are sautéed in little oil until the raw flavour has vanished. The ingredients are blended with lemon juice or tamarind. This chutney lasts in the fridge for 3 to 4 days.

The second recipe is a raw carrot chutney and this is made simply by grinding the raw carrots with fresh coconut and spices. This is similar to the Coconut Chutney but tastes completely different. Make this when you want a faster chutney to be done under 10 mins. This chutney is best consumed within a few hours.

More Chutney Recipes
Tomato Chutney
Beetroot Chutney
Capsicum Chutney

How to make Carrot Chutney (Stepwise Photos)

Prepare Ingredients

1. Wash, peel if required and chop 200 grams of carrots (1 ½ cups, 4 small). To cut down the cook time you can also use a food processer to fine chop or shred the carrots. You will also peel and slice ½ inch ginger and 2 to 3 garlic cloves. Chop 1 to 2 green chilies as per your preference. Rinse 2 sprigs curry leaves (or coriander leaves) – one for the chutney and the other for tempering.

2. To make the chutney, set aside 1 tablespoon each of chana dal and urad dal. You will also need 3 to 4 dried red chilies and ¾ teaspoon cumin seeds.

3. Prepare ingredients for tempering – optional: In another small plate, set aside ½ teaspoon cumin seeds, ¼ teaspoon mustard seeds, 1 dried red chili, 1 to 2 garlic cloves and 1 sprig curry leaves.

Make Carrot Chutney

4. Heat 1 teaspoon oil in a pan. Add chana dal, urad dal and red chilies. Fry them until light golden.

5. Add Curry leaves, ginger and garlic. Fry for another 1 to 2 mins.

6. When the lentils turn deep golden/ brown, add the cumin seeds and give a quick stir. Remove to a plate for cooling.

7. Pour another 1 to 2 tsps oil to the pan. Add carrots, 1/3 teaspoon salt and 1/8 teaspoon turmeric (optional). Stir fry for 3 to 4 mins on a high heat and then reduce the flame.

8. Cover and cook for 2 mins, until tender. Cool these.

9. Add the fried ingredients to a grinder jar – Chana dal, urad dal, ginger, garlic, red chilies and green chilies. I usually set aside some of the chilies and add them later if required. You may want to do the same. To make it kids’ friendly, set aside all of the chilies for later. Grind the chutney without chilies, set aside the kids’ portion and then add the chilies and grind again.

10. Grind the ingredients to a coarse powder.

11. Add the carrots and squeeze in some lemon juice or tamarind paste. Grind them to a thick or thin chutney, adding water as required to suit your taste. I add ¼ cup water for a thick chutney and more than ½ cup for a thin chutney (pouring consistency yet thick).

12. Thick chutney goes well with plain rice, dosa, paratha, roti, uttapams etc. Thin chutney goes well with everything except rice. If you want to preserve the chutney longer say for 2 to 3 days in the refrigerator, make thick chutney.

Temper Carrot Chutney (optional)

13. Pour 1 ½ teaspoons oil to the hot pan. When the oil is hot enough, regulate the flame to medium and add ¼ teaspoon mustard seeds, ½ teaspoon cumin seeds, 1 broken dried red chili, 1 sprig curry leaves and a pinch of hing. Fry until the leaves turn crisp (but not burnt) and begin to smell aromatic.

Turn off and pour this over the carrot chutney.

Recipe 2 – Raw Carrot Chutney

Add half cup chopped raw carrots, half cup chopped raw coconut, 2 to 3 green chilies, ½ teaspoon cumin seeds, 1 tablespoon roasted chana dal, 1/3 teaspoon salt and 1 teaspoon lemon juice. Roast 1 tablespoon chana dal until aromatic and add here or use roasted chana dal (chutney dal).

Pour water and blend until smooth. Taste test and adjust salt and green chilies. Make a tempering as shown in the previous pictures and pour it over the carrot chutney.

Pro Tips

• Use young juicy carrots and not too old and fibrous ones. Carrots that have been harvested long time ago don’t go well to make this chutney.
• Ginger garlic: I love to use both. However you may skip one of them and use only one. Use the quantities precisely as mentioned in the recipe since we don’t want stronger flavors of ginger garlic in the chutney.
• Chilies: I prefer to use both dried red chilies and fresh green chilies. Dried chilies add pungent flavors and heat while the fresh green chilies add heat. You may use only one of them and do adjust the quantities as required.
• Lentils: Chana dal and urad dal are added for flavour and taste. If you do not have you may use roasted skinned peanuts and white sesame seeds. Both work well but the chutney tastes different.

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Recipe Card

Carrot Chutney

This South Indian Carrot Chutney is super delicious, aromatic and goes well with rice, breakfasts and snacks. Serve it with idli, dosa, pesarattu, roti, paratha or use it as a spread to make sandwiches, rolls and wraps. It is also eaten with rice and ghee, mixed together. I share 2 ways to make this with and without coconut.

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1x2x3x

Cook ModePrevent your screen from going dark

For best results follow the step-by-step photos above the recipe card

Prep Time10 minutes

Cook Time15 minutes

Total Time25 minutes

Servings3

AuthorSwasthi

Ingredients (US cup = 240ml )

• ▢ 1 ½ cups carrots (chopped, 200 grams)
• ▢ 1 to 2 green chilies (adjust to taste)
• ▢ 1 sprig curry leaves (or coriander leaves)
• ▢ ½ inch fresh ginger (peeled and sliced)
• ▢ 2 to 3 garlic cloves (small)
• ▢ 1 tablespoon chana dal (Bengal gram dal or roasted peanuts)
• ▢ 1 tablespoon urad dal (skinned black lentils or roasted peanuts)
• ▢ 2 to 4 dried red chilies (adjust to taste)
• ▢ ¾ teaspoon cumin seeds
• ▢ 1 tablespoon oil (divided)
• ▢ ½ teaspoon salt
• ▢ 1/8 teaspoon turmeric
• ▢ 1 to 2 teaspoons lemon juice ( or tamarind paste as required)

To Temper (optional)

• ▢ 1 ½ teaspoon oil
• ▢ ¼ teaspoon mustard seeds
• ▢ ½ teaspoon cumin seeds
• ▢ 1 sprig curry leaves
• ▢ 1 dried red chili broken
• ▢ 1 to 2 garlic cloves (small)
• ▢ 1 pinch hing

Instructions

How to Make Carrot Chutney

• ▢
  Pour 1 teaspoon oil to a hot pan. Add chana dal, urad dal and red chilies to the hot oil and fry until the dal turns light golden.
• ▢
  Add garlic, ginger, green chilies and curry leaves. Fry until the dal turns deep golden to light brown. Add cumin seeds, stir and remove all of the fried ingredients to a plate.
• ▢
  To the same pan, pour 2 teaspoons oil. Add carrots, salt and turmeric. Stir fry on a medium high heat for 3 to 4 mins until the raw smell has vanished. Covered and cook for 2 to 3 mins until tender. Turn off the heat and cool.
• ▢
  Add the cooled lentils, ginger, garlic, chilies, cumin and curry leaves to a grinder jar and make a slightly corse powder. (To make it kids’ friendly, grind the chutney without chilies, set aside their portion and then add the chilies at the last stage & grind.)
• ▢
  To this add the carrots and lemon juice. Pour ¼ cup water. Grind to a smooth or coarse chutney to suit your liking. Scrape the sides grind.
• ▢
  Taste test and add more salt if you want. Carrot chutney is thick at this stage, good to serve with rice, paratha, roti or dosa. If you want it to be runny, pour more water and grind it to the consistency you like.

Temper (optional)

• ▢
  Heat oil in a pan. Add the mustard seeds, cumin seeds, crushed garlic and dried red chilies. Fry until the leaves turn crisp. Add hing and turn off. Pour this over the carrot chutney.

Raw Carrot Chutney

• ▢
  Add chopped ½ cup chopped carrot, ½ cup chopped or grated coconut, 1 tablespoon roasted chana dal, (fried gram), 2 green chilies, ½ inch ginger or 1 garlic clove, 1/3 teaspoon salt, ½ teaspoon cumin seeds and to a blender jar.
• ▢
  Add tamarind or 1 to 2 tsp lemon juice. Blend everything well to a smooth chutney.
• ▢
  A thick pachadi goes well with rice. If making carrot chutney for rice, use little or no water. If making for breakfast, pour little water and blend. Use water as required to make a thin or thick chutney to suit your taste.

Alternative quantities provided in the recipe card are for 1x only, original recipe.

For best results follow my detailed step-by-step photo instructions and tips above the recipe card.

NUTRITION INFO (estimation only)

Nutrition Facts

Carrot Chutney

Amount Per Serving

Calories 143 Calories from Fat 72

% Daily Value*

Fat 8g12%

Saturated Fat 1g6%

Trans Fat 1g

Polyunsaturated Fat 2g

Monounsaturated Fat 4g

Sodium 493mg21%

Potassium 422mg12%

Carbohydrates 17g6%

Fiber 6g25%

Sugar 5g6%

Protein 4g8%

Vitamin A 11185IU224%

Vitamin C 71mg86%

Calcium 51mg5%

Iron 2mg11%

* Percent Daily Values are based on a 2000 calorie diet.

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© Swasthi’s Recipes

Carrot Chutney recipe first published in January 2015. Updated and Republished in June 2022.