Wood Apple Chutney | Kaitha - Bel Chutney

Many of you must have heard about the wood apple fruit which is known as "kaitha", "kabit", or "Bel" fruit in the Hindi language. 

It is known as "Velaga Pandu" in Telugu.

The chutney of this fruit gives you a wonderful taste which you need to enjoy occasionally in your life. It will give a taste of hotness mixed with a tangy and light sweet odor.

Three different styles of Wood Apple Chutney

1. Plain hot chutney
2. Curd chutney
3. Sweet chutney

Ingredients for Velaga/ Kaitha Chutney (Hot/Normal)

1. Kaitha/ Kabit/ Velaga 2 nos
2. Green Chili 2 or 3 (depends on size and hotness) 
3. Salt 
4. Turmeric Powder
5. Tamarind (a very small bit of the pulp)
6. Topping Ingredients (see below)

Topping Ingredients

• Dry red chili (2 to 3 nos) 
• mustard seeds ½  spoon
• cumin seeds ¼ spoon
• fenugreek seeds ½  spoon
• white lentils (one spoon)
• Oil to fry (two spoons)

Preparation Tips for Wood Apple Chutney Hot

1. Break the wood apples and separate the pulp from them into a plate or bowl.
2. Light the stove and put a frying pan on the flame (a very small frying pan or bowl that is used for topping purposes).
3. Add oil to the pan as measured above.
4. Put the topping ingredients one by one into the heated pan. White lentils, Red Dry Chilies, fenugreek, mustard, cumin- in that order. 
5. After frying, add the pulp of wood apple also to it and mix it well. Then, turn off the flame immediately and let it cool.
6. Take the grinding jar and transfer all those ingredients to it. Add the green chilies, tamarind, turmeric, and salt also to it. 
7. Grind the ingredients to become a paste.
8. Now, your wood apple chutney is ready. You may add finely cut coriander leaves to it for a good flavor before serving.

This Kaitha or Kabit chutney is very good when eaten by mixing it with plain cooked rice. It can be used with any breakfast or even with Paratha or Roti as a side dish.

Wood Apple Chutney With Curd

When you prepare the kaitha / Velaga chutney by adding curd, you need not add tamarind to it. Instead of tamarind, you will be adding the Curd here.

You can either mix the ground chutney with the curd separately in a bowl or add the curd also while grinding the chutney in the grinder. It is up to you, at your convenience.

Sweet Chutney With Wood Apple

If you like the sweet chutneys, you can prepare wood apple sweet chutney. For this purpose also, no need to add the tamarind. You will be adding Jaggery in place of tamarind or curd.

Grate or peel the jaggery at first, as per your requirement, and add it to the ingredients before grinding. Your sweet chutney will be ready.

All three varieties of this Kaitha / Velaga chutney are good with either plain rice, chapati/roti, or with paratha.