A glossy, spoon-coating Indian sweet-and-sour sauce made with tamarind pulp, jaggery, roasted cumin, and black salt. It traditionally accompanies chaats, samosas, pakoras, and fried snacks.
Ingredients
- 120 g block tamarind pulp
- 450 ml water
- 140 g Indian jaggery
- 25 g brown sugar
- 2 tsp cumin seeds
- 1 tsp dried ginger powder
- 1/2 tsp ground Indian red chili
- 1 tsp Indian black salt kala namak
- 1/2 tsp fine salt
- 1/2 tsp garam masala
Method
- Break the tamarind pulp into small pieces with your fingers. Place it in a heatproof bowl, cover with water brought just below a boil, and soak until the pulp is soft, dark, and easy to crush.
- Work the tamarind in its soaking water with your hand or a spoon, pressing the pulp firmly against the fibers and seeds. The liquid should become dark brown, thick, and tangy, with the texture of a fluid purée.
- Pass the mixture through a fine-mesh sieve over a saucepan. Press firmly with the back of a spoon to extract as much pulp as possible. Discard the tough fibers and seeds left in the sieve.
- Dry-roast the cumin seeds in a small skillet over medium heat, stirring often, until they darken slightly and smell warm and nutty. Crush them in a mortar or grind them coarsely.
- Add the jaggery and brown sugar to the tamarind saucepan. Heat over medium-low heat, stirring until completely dissolved. The mixture should become smooth, glossy, and free of visible sugar grains.
- Stir in the ground roasted cumin, dried ginger, ground red chili, black salt, fine salt, and garam masala. Mix thoroughly so the spices are evenly distributed without forming clumps.
- Simmer gently, uncovered, stirring regularly along the bottom of the saucepan. The chutney is ready when it coats the spoon, falls in a thick ribbon, and leaves a brief mark on the bottom of the pan before closing.
- Taste off the heat. The balance should be distinctly sweet-and-sour, salty, slightly spicy, and strongly scented with cumin. If the acidity is too dominant, continue cooking gently with a little more jaggery; if the sauce feels heavy, loosen it with a splash of hot water.
- Let cool slightly before transferring to a clean jar. As it cools, the chutney will thicken further: it should remain pourable but dense enough to sit on a spoon and coat a samosa or chaat without disappearing immediately.
Nutrition
Per serving
- Energy
- 218.4 kcal
- Protein
- 1.12 g
- Carbohydrate
- 53.35 g
- Fat
- 0.42 g
- Fibre
- 1.9 g
- Calcium
- 30.39 mg
- Iron
- 2.07 mg
- Magnesium
- 13.13 mg
