Verkadalai, Shengdana aka Peanut chutney (dry)

I have used peanuts in many different ways in my cooking. Peanuts play an important role as an ingredient in South Indian cooking, especially cuisines from Andhra Pradesh and Maharashtra. After living in cities like Hyderabad and Pune, I have started to see how people use it in their cooking.


In Andhra, the "Gutti Vankai Koora" - Stuffed brinjal; or Bagara Baigan (Brinjal curry) (http://servantlesscooking.blogspot.in/2013/07/bagara-baingan-eggplant-dish-hyderabadi.html) is very similar to "Bharlele Karle" - Stuffed bitter gourd (http://servantlesscooking.blogspot.in/2013/06/bharlele-karle-stuffed-karela-bitter.html) in that all these recipes use peanuts as base ingredient. In Tamil Nadu, I have seen peanuts being used to make spicy powder that is used to eat with rice or as base ingredient to make wet chutneys that can be eaten with Idlis, Dosas (breakfast items). I discovered another new use for peanuts from my colleague, Vivek Bibave who started bringing this simple dry chutney from home made of peanuts that was so very tasty.

So, wanted to share with you two unique or different ways of making Spicy Peanut Chutney (dry)

Shengdana Chutney (Sukha)
Courtesy: Vivek Bibave's mom

1 cup Peanuts
4 Green /Red Chilli
Salt to taste

1 clove Garlic (optional)
1 Tbsp refined oil


If you have mortar and pestle at home, grind the raw peanuts, chilli, salt and garlic together to make a coarse ground powder/paste. The oil from the peanut and the water from the chilli will make it a little sticky. Heat oil in pan, and saute this paste/powder until it is no more sticky (2-5 min). The Sukha (dry) Chutney is ready to serve with hot Chapathi/Roti, or Rice.


Verkadalai Podi (Peanut powder)
Courtesy: Dakshin - Chandra Padmanabhan

1 cup peanut
1/4 cup sesame seeds
7 red chilli
1/2 tsp asafoetida
salt to taste

Dry fry the peanuts, sesame seeds, chilli and asafoetida. Grind it well in a powder. Ready to use with Rice or Dosa/Idli.

Peanut Powder Rice
2-3 Tbsp Peanut powder (as above)
1 Tbsp oil
1 cup cooked rice
1/2 tsp mustard
1/2 tsp black gram
1/2 tsp chana dal (yellow split pea)
1 red chilli
few curry leaves


Heat the oil, add the mustard seeds, dals and when the mustard sputters, add the red chilli and curry leaves. Add the rice salt and peanut powder and mix well. Serve hot.

The Shengdana chutney is very common in Maharashtrian cooking, and raw chilli/garlic along with peanuts brings a unique taste to the recipe. You can make this without garlic and it tastes good too. A little bit more salt than usual is typical to this recipe as it is supposed to be eaten as a chutney as is or with yogurt mixed in it with chapathi.

Health tip: Peanut is the protein bank for vegetarians, a poor man's food and an excellent meat substitute for protein. It also provides necessary fat (unsaturated) to your diet.
Eating raw or less processed garlic is a very good for heart as the functional components within it are heat labile and when we fry/saute the garlic to get the flavor, we actually kill the healthy contributors.