A spicy and lip-smackingly delicious chow chow or chayote squash chutney without any lentils. Easy vegetable chutney – a perfect accompaniment for rice and tiffin.
Just last week, I posted peanut chutney, and now I back with another chutney, but this time it is with my favorite vegetable – chow chow or chayote squash. I have explained what chayote squash is and how to cook it in my kootu post. So let me get into the recipe details right away.
Vegetable-based chutneys-
I love vegetable-based chutney, and they come in handy when you are looking for a quick food fix. I serve this chutney with hot steamed rice with a dollop of ghee or gingelly oil and with papad. Give it a try, and I am sure your family will love it too.
While kootu is very common with this vegetable in Tamil Nadu, chayote chutney is quite popular in the neighboring states. This chutney is very similar to my ivy gourd chutney, which I adapted from Chef Revathy Shanmugam. This chutney is very similar to it but with subtle differences.
These chutneys are quite popular in Andhra, and it is a great rice accompaniment. You can make this chutney with vegetables like ivy gourd, snake gourd, butternut squash, purple and green cabbage. As we are serving this with rice, it is more like thuvaiyal or thogayal.
What’s so special about this chow chow chutney-
- It is naturally vegan and gluten-free. Make sure to serve this with rice and gingelly oil for a fully vegan meal.
- An amazing chutney for all spice-lovers.
- No lentils are required for this recipe. It is light.
- Very versatile. If you are going to serve this only with rice, then grind it coarsely if not grind it smooth and you can smear it on your bread and make a yummy chutney sandwich and also on your dosa and whatnot. I always grind it smooth
- This chutney has the goodness of all the herbs – curry leaves, cilantro, and mint. Even though the original recipe doesn’t call for it, I love adding all these three herbs. It enhances the flavors amazingly.
Chayote Squash Chutney Recipe Video-
Step-wise details-
- In a pan heat the oil and when the oil is hot, add the chopped chayote squash along with the peel. Saute for about 3 to 4 minutes.
- Now add the onion, broken dried red chilies, green chilies, garlic cloves, and salt. Mix thoroughly and saute again for 5 minutes or until the raw smell of the onion and garlic goes off.
- Now add in the cilantro, mint leaves, curry leaves followed by the dry coconut. Mix and cook again for 2 minutes. The overall cooking time is 10 to 12 minutes. If your chayote squash is not tender, you might have to saute for a long time. Cook till the chayote squash is tender and al dente. You don’t need to cook until it turns very soft and mushy.
- Let it cool completely and grind it by adding 1 tsp of tamarind paste and very little water. 2 to 3 tbsps of water should be sufficient.
- That’s it; the chutney is ready. Serve it with rice. We don’t need to temper this chutney.
Recipe Notes-
- If using tamarind pulp/flesh – you can use small marble-sized tamarind. You can saute it along with chow chow. Add it while adding the onion so that it softens.
- Adjust the salt and spice, but this chutney is slightly on the spicier side. So add the chilies accordingly. You can add either 4 to 5 dried red chilies or 4 to 5 green chilies. I went with a combination of both, but that’s not mandatory.
- If you are planning to serve it only with rice, then grind this chutney coarsely. I usually use my chutney as a sandwich spread and also for idli and dosai. So I went with a smooth consistency.
- Do not add more water while grind. 2 to 3 tbsps of water is more than sufficient.
- You can replace chow chow with ivy gourd, snake gourd, cabbage, and make similar chutney.
- I used dry unsweetened coconut for this recipe. But you can use fresh ones as well.
- If you can’t source curry leaves, please skip and increase the amount of cilantro and mint. Too much of mint will make it more like mint chutney. So keep mint leaves at bay.
Other chutney recipes for rice-
If you like this chayote squash chutney and looking for other chutney recipes, then check these out,
- Ginger Chutney
- Ridgegourd Chutney
- Kabocha squash gut chutney
- Green mango chamanthi / Kerala style raw mango chutney
- Ivy gourd chutney
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📖 Recipe
Chayote Squash Chutney | Chow - Chow Chutney
Equipment
- Sauce pan or kadai
- Blender like Blendtec or Indian mixer jar
Ingredients
Measurement Details: 1 cup=240ml; 1 tbsp=15ml; 1tsp=5ml;
- 1 tbsp oil
- 1 chayote squash approx 300 grams seeds removed and chopped roughly if the peels are tender include the skin as well
- 1 cup onion chopped approx 150 grams
- 3 dried red chilies broken into small pieces
- 2 green chilies break into small pieces
- 2 garlic cloves cut into halves
- ½ tbsp salt or to taste
- ¼ cup cilantro chopped
- 5 mint leaves
- 15 to 20 curry leaves or 1 strand
- ¼ cup unsweetened dry coconut
- 1 tsp tamarind paste
- 2 to 3 tbsps of water
Instructions
- In a pan heat the oil and when the oil is hot, add the chopped chayote squash along with the peel. Saute for about 3 to 4 minutes.
- Now add the onion, broken dried red chilies, green chilies, garlic cloves, and salt. Mix thoroughly and saute again for 5 minutes or until the raw smell of the onion and garlic goes off.
- Now add in the cilantro, mint leaves, curry leaves followed by the dry coconut. Mix and cook again for 2 minutes. The overall cooking time is 10 to 12 minutes. If your chayote squash is not tender, you might have to saute for a long time. Cook till the chayote squash is tender and al dente. You don't need to cook until it turns very soft and mushy.
- Let it cool completely and grind it by adding 1 tsp of tamarind paste and very little water. 2 to 3 tbsps of water should be sufficient.
- That's it; the chutney is ready. Serve it with rice. We don't need to temper this chutney.
Video
Notes
- If using tamarind pulp/flesh - you can use small marble-sized tamarind. You can saute it along with chow chow. Add it while adding the onion so that it softens.
- Adjust the salt and spice, but this chutney is slightly on the spicier side. So add the chilies accordingly.
- You can add either 4 to 5 dried red chilies or 4 to 5 green chilies. I went with a combination of both, but that's not mandatory.
- If you are planning to serve it only with rice, then grind this chutney coarsely. I usually use my chutney as a sandwich spread and also for idli and dosai. So I went with a smooth consistency.
- Do not add more water while grind. 2 to 3 tbsps of water is more than sufficient.
- You can replace chow chow with ivy gourd, snake gourd, cabbage, and make similar chutney.
- I used dry unsweetened coconut for this recipe. But you can use fresh ones as well.
- If you can't source curry leaves, please skip and increase the amount of cilantro and mint. Too much of mint will make it more like mint chutney. So keep mint leaves at bay.
Nutrition
I am not a nutritionist. The nutritional information is provided as a courtesy and is an estimate only. It varies depending upon the product types or brands.
The main reason I decided to use this recipe was because it said to use the vegetable with the peel. One less work to do along with the additional health benefits. Chutney came out really good.
thanks!
Thanks a lot. Glad it came out well. :-)
O wow I thought we made vegetable out of this only. Next time I see it I will definitely try it out.
Stocking the fridge with chutneys like this is a great idea for quick meals. They are great to serve with idlis, dosas and upma. Love your chayote chutney. Will try.
Thanks Pavani. Let me know how it turned out.
Sounds good. I make chayote chutney in a different way without onion.
Oh wow. Have you posted that?
An interesting chutney.
Thogayal and rice:-) I love it..
Sri, you are awesome, how do u manage to post daily.
I have post in draft but I am lazy to sit and do..kuddos
Thanks da. My monthly blogathon is done. Now this is 3 day a week. Somehow going on. There will be a break now though :-) :-)
Lipsmacking chutney, i can have two more idlies with this chutney.
he he.. Thanks :-)
I love to make chutneys with all vegetables.
:-) :-)
Not sure what chow chow is but that bowl looks delicious.
Its the chayote. Edited the post.
Ehmm..this is something my MIL makes, agree all chutneys tastes great with rice as well..
Yeah :-)
A nice variation from the regular chutney’s!! chow chow is a bit costly here, so have never bought it!! But in chennai, amma makes it quite often!!!
It is one of the readily available veggie in chennai
I have never made chow chow chutney! I have couple of chow chow’s in the fridge, I will try the recipe. Looks wonderful!
Thanks. Let me know how it turned out
Lovely chutney, me too love chutneys with rice, but my hubby wouldn’t prefer it. So gotta prepare some sambar all the time :( I will try this the next time he has team lunch ;)
he he he ;-) ;-)
Very interesting and flavorfull chutney.
:-) :-)
The name itself is fascinating :) i bet the chutney too is
Its the Chayote.. chow chow in Tamil :-)
I never knew we could make a chutney with chow chow. Time to try something new.
:-) Let me know how it turned out.