The very fact that you could make a chutney from flowers was fascinating for me and to top it all the sour taste of roselle made it all the more fun because a little tang is what we need don’t we?
For me roselle flower chutney would always be laal phool ki chutney because that’s what we all called it when we were really young owing to its deep pinkish red color and they were my first connect to the edible variety.
I would keep on licking the chutney every few moments or so or even eat it with leftover rotis and would get sudden burst of memories every few months wherein I would ask my mom about the laal phool she would say they are known as ambadiche phool and are derived from the gongura/roselle plant, the leaves of gongura are specially used during mahalaxmi by Maharashtrians to make ambaadichi bhaaji which I would listen to nicely but being focused on the fact that I need to ask her to make this yum chutney.
I would do so while she would tell me that she has always seen this flowers around winters in the market and would prepare so during that time and I would wait with anticipation.
It would be great to know If anyone of you knows the exact harvesting cycle of the gongura flowers
I haven’t seen much of roselle flowers in Mumbai but in my village in Vidarbha they are found in an abundant quantity citing the fact that may be arni is really close to the Andhra border and roselle leaves and flowers are consumed in Andhra Pradesh in plentitude where they are used to make pachadis, dals and various curries.
The roselle plant is rich in many nutrients and have great antibacterial and antioxidant properties, is high in iron as it is grown in iron rich soils and the high amount of calcium also helps to avoid osteoporosis in the body
Hope you all try this recipe at home while winters are still going on.
Correction–In the original blog post published Nov. 10 2018. I have mistakenly referred to the roselle flower as sorrel due to lack of information on right English words for local languages. I have updated the correct information on June 16 2022. I apologize for the honest mistake. Hope you all continue reading and enjoying the blog posts.
Lal phool ki chutney (Roselle flower chutney)
Ingredients
- 250 gram Roselle petals
- 8 cloves Garlic cloves
- 1 tsp Cumin seeds
- 1 tsp Red chili powder
- 1 tbsp Jaggery
- to taste Salt
Instructions
- Wash and separate the petals from the calyx.
- Add the cumin seeds, red chilli powder, jaggery, garlic cloves and salt.
- Blend together, only add water if required.
- What we need is a thick chutney.