Dry roasted peanuts ground with dried red chilli, garlic and salt into a coarse, crumbly powder — the omnipresent dry condiment of Maharashtra that sits on every dining table alongside the main meal. Mixed with oil and eaten with bhakri, stirred into dal or sprinkled over poha.
Ingredients
1 cup raw peanuts (with skin)
4 dried red chilli
6 garlic cloves
1/2 tsp cumin seeds — dry roasted
salt to taste
1 tsp oil (optional — just for dry roasting the garlic)
Method
Dry roast the peanuts: Place raw peanuts with skin in a dry, heavy pan on medium heat. Roast stirring continuously for 6 to 8 minutes until the skins begin to crack and the peanuts smell deeply nutty. Remove from heat.
Dry roast the red chilli: In the same pan, dry roast the dried red chilli for 30 seconds until slightly darkened. Remove.
Roast the garlic: Add 1 tsp oil to the pan. Fry garlic cloves for 1 to 2 minutes until golden-brown. Remove.
Cool completely: Allow peanuts, chilli and garlic to cool completely before grinding. Hot ingredients produce a paste rather than a dry powder.
Remove peanut skins (optional): Rub the cooled peanuts between palms — the skins will loosen. Blow them off gently. Removing skins creates a slightly lighter-coloured chutney but is not essential.
Grind coarsely: Place peanuts, dried red chilli, fried garlic, roasted cumin and salt in a mixer. Pulse in short bursts — 5 to 6 pulses of 2 seconds each. The goal is a coarse, crumbly powder, not a smooth paste. Check between pulses.
Check texture: The finished chutney should be a dry, crumbly, slightly oily powder with visible peanut pieces. If it becomes pasty, you have ground too long.
Taste: Add more salt or dried red chilli if needed. Pulse once more to incorporate.
Store: Transfer to a dry airtight jar. Keeps at room temperature for 2 to 3 weeks.
Serve: Place a small bowl on the dining table alongside every meal. The standard way is to mix a spoonful with a few drops of oil and eat it with bhakri.
Note: Shengdana Chutney (shengdana = peanut in Marathi) is the most universally present condiment in Maharashtra — found on every table in every home, dhaba and restaurant in the state. No Maharashtrian meal is complete without it. The dry powder format allows it to be used as a condiment, a stuffing (inside bhakri), a thickening agent for curries, or a topping for poha and upma. Every Maharashtrian family has their own proportion of garlic to chilli — some prefer more garlic, some more heat.