Coconut Chutney

My wife and I recently made some coconut chutney to go with the idlis that we made for dinner, and upon tweeting about it, I got a request for the recipe. So here it is.

Ingredients:

Grated coconut (desired quantity)*
Salt (to taste)
Chopped fresh coriander/cilantro (1 or 2 sprigs should suffice)
Black mustard seeds - 1 teaspoon
Urad dal (split, dehusked white lentils raw) - 1 tablespoon
Dry red chillies - 1 or 2 (each broken in half or into 3 pieces)
Hing - 1 pinch
Curry leaves - 5 or 6 leaves (crushed or torn into pieces)
Oil - 2 or 3 tablespoons

*We get frozen packets of grated coconut from the Indian store. We found it to be the next best thing after fresh grated coconut. If you have fresh coconuts and a coconut grater, nothing beats fresh grated coconut!

Directions:

Part I:
- If from frozen packet, thaw chosen size slab of grated coconut in microwave (1 min on high should do it).
- Add the grated coconut and salt into the blender.
- Add a little bit of water in the blender to help liquify into paste (apparently milk+water can also be used, although we never tried it).
- Add chopped coriander into the blender.
- Blend until liquified into a uniform paste.
- Add a bit more water (or milk if using milk) and repeat until satisfied with consistency of the paste.
- Transfer to a serving bowl than can handle addition of hot oil.

Part II:
- In a small wok (the smallest one you can get your hands on), heat the oil
- When oil is hot, add mustard seeds (they should pop immediately - so add a few seeds at a time to gauge heat of oil until oil is hot enough).
- Add urad dal right after. Wait until urad dal starts turning brown before adding next ingredient.
- Add the red chillies, curry leaves and hing (each needs only a few seconds)
- Turn off the heat and empty contents from wok into the coconut paste in the serving bowl (Add near the center of the bowl, but the oil will spread on surface and touch the bowl - make sure bowl won't break under sudden heat).
- Mix the contents with a spoon so that flavor of spices spreads to the entire dish.

Part III:
- Enjoy.