It’s not technically a chutney because there’s no vinegar, but many people
call this tamarind chutney, and if sweetened with date, date chutney.
Tamarind “paste” normally comes in a bag, and has the consistency of dates.
Basic recipe with paste :
- 200 g (1 2/3 cups) paste
- 1.5 cups boiling water
Soaked in just simmering water, stirred a bit, massaged or broken apart a little bit, but not squeezed. Pass through a strainer, and then squish it with the back of a spoon to get every bit of juice out of it. Discard the dregs.
Return to the pot, add
- 1 tsp ground cumin
- 1/2 tsp ginger powder
- 1/2 tsp red chili powder
- 1 tbsp sugar (to taste – expect to use a LOT more, 1 cup is what was used the last time).
- 1/4 tsp salt (to taste)
- optional 1/2 tsp chaat masala
- optional 1/2 tsp ground fennel seeds
Bring tamarind juice to a light simmer, stir in the ingredients until sugar is dissolved (about 3 minutes), and then simmer until desired thickness (thin pancake syrup is where you want to be).
Traditional sugar is “jaggery”, can substitute extra dark brown sugar, turbinado sugar, or regualr sugar.
Traditional salt is black, can substitute pink, kosher, or regular table salt.
Easier is if you get some concentrate:
- 2 cups water
- 2 tbsp concentrate
- sugar to taste, start with 1/4 cup, expect to use 1 cup
- 1/2 each black or pink or kosher salt, cayenne pepper, ground cumin, ginger powder
- optional 1/2 tsp fennel,
- optional 1/2 tsp chaat masala
Bring water to just boiling.
Add concentrate and stir until fully incorporated
Add in everything else, stir until everything is completely dissolved, reduce to simmer and keep cooking until desired thickness is reached – thinner than pancake syrup.
The optional Chaat Masala is really neat stuff, and since some of the ingredients are on the rare side, I’ll recommend you just buy some mix instead of making your own.
Black salt, dry mango powder, dried pomegranate seeds, black peppercorns, sugar, red chili powder, toasted cumin seeds.