About Bombay Chutney

Bombay chutney also known as besan chutney, is a side dish made by simmering gram flour slurry with a tempering made of whole spices, onion-tomatoes and herbs. Like many street foods that have become mainstream, no one knows about its true origins. You’ll find this Bombay chutney served by roadside tiffin sellers in small towns & in Tiffin Centers in South India. Some compare it to the Maharashtrian Pitla (thick besan gravy) served with bhakri (jowar roti). This spicy Bombay chutney recipe is made the usual way by sautéing onions and tomatoes in oil with the addition of basic spices and green chili. A besan slurry is added to the vegetables, and before long, you have a chutney with a nice consistency and great flavor and aroma.

About this recipe

In this post I have shown making the dish with besan (gram flour) but in a lot of tiffin places it is also made with roasted gram powder (sattu). My mom always made this with roasted gram powder as the chutney gets done under 5 mins without leaving a raw flavor. Besan slurry takes a little longer about 10 mins to loose the raw flavor. I have a simple and easy version of the same here – Potato sagu Bombay chutney is a versatile dish. You can add potatoes and other vegetables like peas, carrots, beans and bell peppers. Or skip the onions and tomatoes. Add curd, or alter the spices and tempering ingredients to create different versions. A thinned down chutney goes well with dosa, upma and rava idli, while roti and poori taste better with the thicker chutney.

How to make Bombay chutney (stepwise photos)

  1. Chop 1 medium onion (¾ cup) and 1 small deseeded tomato (¼ to ⅓ cup). I prefer to keep the onions larger in size, you can also slice or fine chop them. Finely chop coriander leaves, green chilies and 1 teaspoon ginger. Tempering
  2. Heat 2 tablespoons of oil to a pan on medium heat (Add less oil as per your preference). Reduce the heat to low and add these ingredients:½ teaspoon mustard seeds¾ teaspoon cumin seeds¼ teaspoon urad dal½ teaspoon chana dal1 broken dried red chilli Sauté for 30-60 seconds until the seeds splutter.
  3. Add the two chopped and deseeded green chillies (adjust the amount as per your taste and heat levels) Stir for 1-2 minutes. Sauté until the dal turns golden (be careful not to burn it). Add curry leaves (1 sprig) and sauté for a minute more. Also add 1 teaspoon of chopped ginger and fry until it turns aromatic, for about 30 seconds.
  4. Now add ¾ cup of chopped onions. Mix to combine and stir fry until onions turn transparent.
  5. Add ¼ to ⅓ cup of deseeded and chopped tomatoes along with ¼ teaspoon of turmeric and ⅓ teaspoon of salt. Adjust salt as per your preference. Stir and cook the onion-tomato mixture for a minute.
  6. Cover and cook until the tomatoes turn slightly soft for 5-8 minutes.

Make besan slurry

  1. While the tomatoes are cooking, make the besan paste. Add 3 tablespoons of besan or gram flour to a bowl. Pour half cup of water and mix well to form a slurry.
  2. Whisk well to make sure there are no lumps left.
  3. Add the rest of the water (2½ cups) and mix well to a smooth consistency.
  4. It should look something as shown in the picture.
  5. When the tomatoes are well cooked and soft, add the gram flour (besan) mixture to the pan. Mix well to combine.
  6. Increase the heat to high and bring gravy to a rolling boil. Turn down the heat to medium-low, and cover with lid. Cook for 9-10 minutes, or until the Bombay chutney becomes thick, and yet is of pourable consistency. The cooking time will differ based on your pan and stove heat.
  7. Open the lid and taste test. It should not have raw taste. If it is still raw, pour bit more water and cook longer. Add more salt or spice (green chili), if required. Turn off the heat, cover and let it rest for a few minutes.
  8. Squeeze in 1-1 ½ tablespoons of lemon juice and mix well.
  9. Add the 2 tablespoons of finely chopped coriander leaves. Sserve this delicious Bombay chutney with dosa, rava idli, poori, chapati, roti or paratha.

Pro tips

Use fresh besan or gram flour. Stale flour will lead to lumps being formed while you’re making the slurry. It also tastes bitter and the raw flavor won’t go away soon.Mix the slurry well, else you’ll end up with uncooked bits of flour in the chutney.Adjust the amount of green chili according to your tolerance for heat.Serve the chutney when its warm. It tends to thick as it sits on the counter. Add hot water to thin it out, if required.

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