This date – tamarind chutney / Indian style date and tamarind chutney is the perfect blend of sweet and tangy with a slight heat running through it. In the local Indian dialect, it is known as khajur – imli chutney ( khajur-dates, imli- tamarind). It is the perfect accompaniment to various Indian snacks such as samosas and pakoras to name a few. Street side food vendors have this chutney to drizzle on top of the numerous snacks that they serve and it takes the dish to an entirely new level. I vividly remember how we would request the local street side snack vendor to top it up over the savoury snacks and it increased the lip-smacking factor by many degrees.
I recently bought some black chickpeas and we have been craving for the Indian street food of chaat. It’s been ages since we had some of the zingy explosive flavours of chaat, and so I got making. I went the full hog and used homemade chutneys ( mint- coriander and date-tamarind) for the recipe. I am sharing the recipe for the date- tamarind chutney recipe in this post and will provide the links to the chaat recipe and mint chutney recipe towards the end of the post, so please keep reading.
Spices-
I roasted and ground some whole spices (fennel, cumin, coriander) before adding to the chutney. Roasting spices add to the flavour as it releases the spice’s natural oils. Although I too am guilty of using ready made ground spices for ease of use, I do prefer the flavours imparted by the freshly roasted and ground spices and try to se them as much as possible.
Storage-
This chutney has a long shelf life and will keep in an air tight container in the fridge for a month. Make sure to use a clean dry jar for storing and a clean dry spoon to take some out.
Substitutions-
I have used jaggery in this chutney. If you are unable to find any, dark brown sugar will also work well. If you are out of the whole spices used in this recipe, use ground ones.
Type-
Use seedless dates and tamarind or else it will be hard to grind and the taste will suffer too.
Soaking-
I have soaked the dates, tamarind and jaggery in hot water before cooking. This helps reduce the cooking time. Moreover, the jaggery that I had was very hard and soaking helped dilute it and made it easier to cook with.
Texture-
If you like the texture of our chutney to be thinner, dilute it with a little water just before serving.
To serve-
Along with many others, this chutney pairs perfectly with Indian snacks like samosas and pakoras. Recently, I used this chutney to make the Indian snack of ‘chaat’ and it surely perked it up. I will link to the recipe towards the end of this post.
Continue reading for the detailed and printable recipe for this lipsmackingly good date – tamarind chutney / Indian style date and tamarind chutney. Gosh, even the thought of it makes me drool!
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Recipe card-
Date – tamarind chutney / Indian style date and tamarind chutney
Ingredients
- 100 gms tamarind (seedless)
- 100 gms pitted dates
- 80 gms jaggery, preferably chopped
- ½ tsp cumin seeds
- ½ tsp fennel seeds
- 1 tsp coriander seeds
- ½ tsp ground ginger
- 1 tsp chilli powder
- ½ tsp salt
- 3 cups very hot water
Instructions
- Add the tamarind, dates and jaggery to a bowl / jug.
- Pour the hot water over it and keep aside for 15 minutes.
- Meanwhile, place the fennel, cumin and coriander seeds in a small pan over heat. Roast the spices, stirring continuously till they start to leave their aroma; take care not to burn the spices.
- Grind the roasted spices; doesn't need to be a fine powder. Keep aside for later. I used a mortar and pestle; if using an electric grinder, cool the spices before grinding.
- Place the tamarind, dates and jaggery mixture in a pan over heat.
- Bring to a boil.
- Lower the heat to medium and simmer for about 6-7 minutes. Keep stirring frequently.
- Add all the spices, including the freshly roasted and ground ones and salt.
- Cook for another 2-3 minutes over low heat; the dates and tamarind will be soft. The mixture does not have to dry out completely as it will thicken further on cooling.
- Stir well, mashing the dates and tamarind as much as possible.
- Cool completely and grind to a paste.
- Pass the ground mixture through a sieve to catch any thick or stringy bits.
- Transfer to a clean dry, airtight jar and store in the refrigerator.
Video
Other chutneys on this website can be found here.
You might like these other recipes from my blog-
Until next time,
Sunita
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