Bright, savory Indian chutneys add burst of flavor to sandwiches and more

Hot, spicy, tangy, sweet, sour, bitter or a delightful combination of all, chutneys are robust flavor bombs that can transform a mundane meal into an extraordinary one.

The word probably comes from the Hindi word “chaatna,” which means “to lick” and which also may have been the source of the term for Indian street food, chaat. Food historian Pushpesh Pant hypothesizes that chutneys may be among the oldest known prepared foods created by ancient people who crushed berries, fruits, nuts or seeds to intensify the taste of whatever they were eating.

Chutneys seamlessly transform into dips, spreads, vinaigrettes, marinades and toppings. I love to wake up salad dressings with a dollop of cilantro-mint chutney, or swirl olive oil into peanut chutney as a dip for chunks of crusty bread.

But, to me, the absolute best use of a chutney is in a sandwich, where it is used as a flavorful spread and brings all the ingredients together. A superb example is the Bombay sandwich, which has retained its name even though the city from which it hails has been renamed to Mumbai. A street food, available in every nook and cranny of the city, it is prepared with white bread, butter, cilantro chutney and a mountain of vegetables, such as slices of boiled beets and potatoes, as well as raw cucumber, red onion and tomatoes seasoned with chaat masala.

The hot, spicy, tangy and herby cilantro chutney acts as a flavor foundation of the sandwich and pulls the whole dish together by offering a taste contrast to the crunchy, pulpy, soft, chewy vegetables.

In India, chutneys are usually are made from vegetables, fruits, herbs, seeds, lentils, dried fish, meat and even nuts, and vary in texture from smooth, to coarse, to granular, or even gooey, while nut and lentil chutneys are pounded into dry powders that get mixed with oil and are used for dipping roti.

Relished throughout India, each state, depending on local climate and vegetation, has its own chutneys. Bhaang (leaves of Indian cannabis) chutney from Uttarakhand in the north, and akhuni (fermented soybean paste) chutney from Nagaland in the east are two examples. Prepared with seasonal ingredients, many chutneys are meant for immediate consumption, though in true Indian culinary style where exceptions to the rule abound, you’ll find peanut, sesame and flax seed chutney from Maharashtra in the west, lentil chutneys called podis in the south, and fruit chutneys from West Bengal in the east that have a long shelf life.

Unlike their Indian counterparts, Western chutneys such as Major Grey squarely fall in the category of relishes and preserves. More sweet than hot, and laden with spices and dried fruits, they are typically served with meat and cheeses.

According to archaeologist and culinary anthropologist Kurush F Dalal, chutneys are characterized by pounding or crushing the ingredients together, a concept mentioned throughout the Vedas, ancient Hindu texts. With the exception of certain chutneys cooked to an extract (not unlike jams and relishes), such as fruit chutneys in eastern parts of India and tamarind chutney in the north, chutneys are ground either in a mortar and pestle or blended in mixies (a popular name for blenders in India).

Vikram Doctor, a food writer, told me he prefers the grainier texture of chutneys made in a mortar and pestle.

In her book “World on a Plate,” author Mina Holland writes that Indian food is essentially driven by home cooks, and with each household using slightly different ingredients, there is no one recipe for dishes such as dal or palak paneer. Like other cuisines with rich oral traditions and where cooking is learned by spending time in the kitchen, Indian food is more of an approach rather than a prescription, and chutney is no different.

Cooks in the state of Maharashtra have a chutney template: a star ingredient, an herb or vegetable; a heat source such as dry red or fresh green chile or red chile powder; a tart agent in the form of lime or lemon juice or tamarind; and a homogenizing agent such as peanut sesame or pepita powder or stir-fried lentils that thicken and enrich. Ginger and/or garlic are optional and lend extra flavor. Depending on the star ingredient, chutneys are prepared fresh or are cooked: In a cilantro-mint chutney, the ingredients are pounded raw, but a tomato or squash chutney must have its main ingredient cooked before pounding. My aunt likes to say that if you follow this template, you can make chutney even out of grass.

Chutneys have enriched the Indian street food landscape and are consumed either as a snappy component of a meal or as a sidekick to street food. My friends from Telangana and Andhra Pradesh — the southern Indian states that convert anything and everything into a chutney — rave about steamed white rice topped with ghee and mixed with tangy, hot gongura pachadi (sorrel chutney).

Like maple syrup to pancakes, chutneys complement the dishes they’re served with. And though chutney often plays a supporting role, without it, Indian street food is unimaginable.

Photos by Scott Suchman / For the Washington Post These Indian chutneys, clockwise from top left, are Lettuce and Jalapeño Chutney, Parsley Burnt Lemon Chutney and Red Bell Pepper Chutney.