Unakka Chemmeen Chammanthi Podi/Dry Shrimp Chutney powder

It takes days for me to compose a post these days. I have almost stopped writing anything in my posts as well, and rather go straight onto recipe. Its just because of lack of time: office, summer activities with kids and in-laws and the normal home chores takes most of my time. I still do a lot of cooking but clicking pictures have come down a lot. I try to hop on to all my blogger buddies post but that also have come down a bit. I still try to saty connected with my blogger friends and visit everyone as much as I can. I feel happy hoping onto fellow bloggers post and I enjoy seeing all the delicious posts. Thanks to all my blogger friends and readers for all the love and support you guys shower on me. Please stay tuned for more wonderful recipes from Cook-Ezee.

Moving onto today's recipe, it is something every Keralite's just love - Unakka Chemmeen Chammanthi/Dry Shrimp Chutney powder. My kids absolutely love them too. Give them rice with yogurt and a teaspoon(more tsps maybe) of this chutney powder, I don't hear any complaints like spicy, yucky, I don't want rice kinda stuff. Me and my hubby relish it equally with Rice/Idli/Dosa. Now let's check out the recipe for the very delicious 'Dry Shrimp Chutney Powder/Unakka Chemmeen Chammanthi Podi'.

Ingredients:-

1. Dry Shrimp ~ 2 Cups(good quality white dry shrimp)
2. Freshly Grated Coconut  ~ 4 Cups
3. Sour Raw Mango ~ 4(use according to the sourness needed, we used sour mango)
4. Curry leaves ~ 5 sprigs (generous amount)
5. Dry Red Chilly ~ 10 nos(adjust according to the spice level, we made it medium spicy)
6. Urad Dal-  2 Cups
7. Coconut Oil - 2 tbsp

How We Made It:-

• Add oil in a pan, roast the shrimp in medium heat till light brown and crispy. Move to a plate.
• Remove any dirt. Remove head and tail part as well. Rinse them two times. Sundry them till crisp for a day or two and set aside.'
• Wash, peel and slice the mangoes. Sundry the mango slices as well till moisture is fully gone and becomes crisp. Set aside. 
• Add coconut in a deep kadai/pan, add curry leaves and stir for a minute or two. Add grated coconut to the same pan roast very well till they turn golden brown and crisp(don't over roast and burn the coconut). Move to a serving plate and set aside.
• Add red chilies to the same pan and roast well till they change to deep red color making sure not to burn. Move to plate and set aside.
• Add Urad Dal to the same pan and dry roast it till golden brown. Set set aside.
• Now next procedure is to grind all the ingredients separately and combine all of them.
• Start with Urad dal, grind the ural dal to coarse powder(not too smooth). Put into a deep vessel. 
• Grind roast coconut-curry leaves mix with needed salt. Add to the ground ural dal. 
• Grind the roasted red chilies and add to the url dal, coconut mix. 
• Now grind the sun-dried raw mango to powder it well. Add to the ground coconut mix. 
• Lastly grind the dried shrimp to powder, add to the coconut mix.
• Use a spatula or spoon and mix everything well till they combine. Let it sit for an hour or two to cool down as any ingredient can be but warm while grinding. 
• Move to an air-tight container and store

Notes:-

1.  Shelve life of the chutney powder depends on how well the powder was prepared. If you roast all the ingredients well enough without any moisture this can be stored outside for more than 3 weeks

2. But if you feel there is even a tiny bit of moisture refrigerate it. It stays fresh for months if refrigerated. 

Unakka Chemmeen Chammanthi(Dry Shrimp Chutney/Chammanthi)

Chammanthi or Chutneys are inevitable part of Indian Kitchen. My mom used to make different kinds of chutneys and we used to love them. I can still memorize that taste, each kind of chutney she used to make was very unique. This was my favorite, but never got a chance to making it here as I hardly find them in Indian stores.

I bought this small dry shrimp from Korean market sometime back and totally forgot about it. So this was on a long weekend in August, when we had a beach trip with our friends to Virginia beach. Heavy rain made our return drive hectic and all were very tired after five hours if drive. We didn't feel like to eat anything from outside and nobody wanted to eat anything heavy as well. So I thought of making 'Kanjhi'(Rice soup/Rice Gruel) which is quick to make and easy to digest for kids. So I just put par-boiled rice to make 'Kanjhi' in a cooker and 'Cherupayar Puzhukku'(Semi Dry Whole Moong) in another one. I wanted to serve some condiments with it, and was browsing for the pickles in the kitchen shelf and found this dry shrimp. I made this Dry shrimp chutney in a jiffy and to my surprise my son loved it having with 'Kanjhi'. I was really satisfied seeing him eating so well. I once again told to myself nothing is as healthy and as tasty as home made food, especially when it comes to  kids. So try it out friends and Enjoy!!!

Ingredients:-

1. Dry s hrimp/Unakka Chemmeen - 3/4 cup
2. Grated Coconut - 1 1/2 cups
3. Shallots/Kunjulli - 3 small(1 big or a small piece of onion)
4. Tamarind - small cherry size( or 1/2 tsp tamarind paste)
5. Curry leaves a sprig
6. Dry red chilly - 3(or to level up your spice level)
7. Salt to taste

Preparation Method:-

• Soak the dry shrimp in water for 5 mins. Wash and clean the shrimp to remove any extra salt. Drain off maximum water and set aside
• Heat up a pan or kadai and dry roast the shrimp till crisp(don't get to to dark brown). Set aside and let it cool.
• Coarse grind(Chathakkuka) together all the ingredients and roasted shrimp without adding any water.
• Move to a serving bowl and serve with boiled rice/Rice Gruel/Kanjhi. Enjoy!!!!!

                                  

Note:- You can just crush all the ingredients with roasted dry shrimp in a mortar with a pestle and serve, that tastes better if compared . I coarse ground it in a mixer since my daughter is not even two, so was worried it might stuck in her throat.