Home · Recipes · Tamarind Chutney

Tamarind Chutney

Soak 20 min · Cook 15 min · Makes 1 jar

You know, you can store tamarind chutney in a jar and keep it in the refrigerator for more than a week.

For me, it never waited for a festival. Some days, it went with dahi vada. Some days, it went with hot aloo tikki. And on rainy days, I used it with fritters (pakodas). It made everything taste complete.

I still make it the same way. Nothing fancy—just tamarind, jaggery, a little sonth (ginger powder), jeera, chilli, and salt. Cook it until it looks shiny, then store it in a jar.

Whenever tikki, pakora, dahi vada, or anything fried comes out, this chutney comes out too.

That’s it. One thought of chutney, many small, happy plates.

Thoughtsout
Make a jar on Sunday. The rest of the week, dahi vada, tikki, pakora — all wait for the same spoon.

Ingredients

• 1 cup seedless tamarind (imli)
• 2 cups warm water
• ¾ cup grated jaggery (add a little more if you like it sweeter)
• 1 teaspoon dry ginger powder (sonth)
• 1 teaspoon roasted cumin powder (bhuna jeera)
• ½ teaspoon red chilli powder
• ½ teaspoon salt, or to taste
• A pinch of black salt (optional)

Instructions

1. Put the tamarind in a bowl and pour the warm water over it. Leave it for 20 minutes, until it is soft enough to mash with your fingers.
2. Mash well. Pour the mix through a strainer into another bowl, pressing the pulp with a spoon so the thick brown liquid comes through. Throw away the fibre and seeds. This strained liquid is your chutney base.
3. Pour it into a pan. Add the jaggery. Keep the flame medium. Stir now and then so the jaggery melts and does not stick.
4. Let it bubble gently for 8–10 minutes. It will look thin at first. Keep going until it turns glossy and coats the back of a spoon. Do not cook it till it is sticky like jam — it thickens more as it cools.
5. Add sonth, roasted cumin, red chilli powder, salt, and black salt if you are using it. Stir for one minute. Taste. It should be sweet first, then tangy, with a little heat at the end. Add a pinch more chilli or jaggery if it needs it.
6. Switch off the heat. Let it cool completely in the pan. Then spoon it into a clean, dry glass jar. Close the lid and keep it in the refrigerator.

How to use it

• On dahi vada — a thin drizzle over the yogurt, not a flood.
• With hot aloo tikki, or next to a plate of pakoras on a rainy evening.
• If it sets too thick in the fridge, stir in a spoon of warm water before serving.

Tips

• A dry, clean jar is what keeps it for more than a week. Wet spoon, wet jar — it spoils faster.
• Always use a dry spoon. Don’t dip a wet one from the dahi vada bowl back into the jar.
• If you only have tamarind paste, use ½ cup paste mixed with 1½ cups water and skip the soaking.
• This is the same chutney I pour on dahi vada. One jar, many plates.

Open the Dahi Vada recipe →  ·  Back to home