Hi friends!!…I’m here today to share with you Quick Dates Tamarind Chutney Dip, which I have used in the last few posts on sandwiches – Summer Vegetable Cheese Baguette Sandwich and Chaat Style Mashed Potato Toast Sandwich.
Any chaat is incomplete without sweet & sour chutney and green chutney, which play a key role in elevating the taste of the chaat. Quick Dates tamarind Chutney Dip is a very healthy one considering the ingredients that goes into it. Dates are power house of essential vitamins and minerals and are a fantastic natural sweetener. Tamarind is called Indian date. In today’s recipe, I have not used any additional sweetener, the sweetness from the dates is sufficient. This chutney is also known Khajur(Dates) Imli (Tamarind) ki Chutney or Meetha Chutney.
This sweet and savoury chutney is like a dipping sauce and very much a must accompaniment with chaat items like pani puri, bhel puri, Capsicum aloo paneer tikki, aloo tikki, ragada samosa, samosa, pakodas and many more chaat items. You can also serve it with nachos as a dip. If you have left over rotis or parathas, slather a liberal dose of this chutney, sprinkle some finely chopped veggies, season to your taste and serve as Wraps. The ideas are endless, just be creative to use it as a one stop chutney recipe solution to jazz up any dish.
Making Quick Dates Tamarind Chutney Dip at home it simple, quick and hygienic. Of Course it will taste much better than store bought one which might have preservatives in it. So make this in your kitchen and let me know how you like it!!
Off to the recipe for Quick Dates Tamarind Chutney Dip!!
Step-by-Step process in making Quick Dates Tamarind Chutney Dip :
- Soak tamarind in ¼ cup of water and microwave for a minute.
- Squeeze and extract the juice and discard the pulp. Transfer the juice to the blender.
- Deseed the dates, chop them, soak in half a cup of water and microwave for a minute.
- Once the microwaved dates cools down, drain and transfer date pieces to the blender with tamarind extract.
- To this add roasted cumin powder, coriander powder, dry ginger powder, red chilli powder and black salt.
- Grind everything to a smooth paste. Add a little water if required.
- Transfer the ground paste to a sauce pan and add ½ cup of water (depending on how thick the mixture is).
- Bring the mixture to a boil over medium heat.
- Once it starts to boil, simmer and cook on low heat for 10 to 15 minutes or until the mix becomes thick and pulpy. The consistency should be thicker than what you started with but you should still be able to pour it out.
- Turn off the heat and let it cool. Adjust salt if required.
Always cover the pan just 3/4th as the mixture will keep bubbling after certain stage and makes the kitchen counter messy and also be careful while stirring it as It might cause blisters if it falls on the skin.
- Store the dates tamarind chutney in an airtight bowl or container in the refrigerator and use it when you make chaat at home.
- You can store it refrigerated for 2 to 3 weeks when used with care. Do not bring in contact with water. and use a dry spoon always.
- This tamarind date chutney can be served as dipping sauce for pakodas, tikki, samosa and many other fried foods. It is also used as a topping in many chaat recipes like sev puri, bhel puri, aloo tikki chole, ragda patties, dahi vada ……the list can go on!!
Quick Dates Tamarind Chutney Dip
Ingredients
- ¼ cup seedless tamarind soaked in ¼ cup water and microwaved for a minute
- 1 cup seedless dates or pitted dates chopped, soaked in ½ cup water and microwaved for a minute
- ½ cup water add according to required consistency
- ¼ teaspoon roasted cumin powder
- ¼ teaspoon coriander powder
- ¼ teaspoon dry ginger powder
- ½ teaspoon red chilli powder
- Black salt or rock salt as required
Instructions
- Transfer the extracted tamarind juice to a blender.
- Once the microwaved dates cools down, drain and transfer date pieces to a blender and add roasted cumin powder, coriander powder, dry ginger powder, red chilli powder and black salt.
- Grind everything to a smooth paste. Add water if required.
- Transfer the ground paste to a sauce pan and add ½ cup of water (depending on how thick the mixture is).
- Bring the mixture to a boil over medium heat.
- Once it starts to boil, simmer and cook on low heat for 10 to 15 minutes or until the mix becomes thick and pulpy.
- Turn off the heat and let it cool. Adjust salt if required.
- Store the date tamarind chutney in an airtight bowl or container in the refrigerator and use it when you make chaat at home.
Notes
2. Please adjust amounts to suit your taste, some like it more tangy than sweet or vice versa. Some like it with more spices, while others have almost no spice. Some make it with the pulp, while the others prefer a smooth texture. So it really depends on what kind you want.
3. I have not used any additional sweetener. You can add ¼ cup of powdered jiggery if you wish to but for me the sweetness from the dates is more than sufficient.
4. I like to have my chutney a bit coarse, so grind according to your choice.
5. As I let the ingredients to soak in well, it gets ground smooth and I never pass the chutney through a sieve.
6. If you do not have black salt, replace with chaat masala powder.
7. The kind of tamarind you use (pulp, dry or concentrated) will also make a difference as the sourness of each varies considerably.
8. Please note you can have the consistency of the sweet chutney as per your choice. simply alter the amount of water and make the chutney thin or thick as per your requirements.
9. You can also include ¼ teaspoon of fennel (soanf) powder, if you like its taste.
You may want to check out other popular posts related to the quick dates tamarind chutney dip-
- Sweet, Sour and Spicy Tomato Sauce
- Green Chutney
- Capsicum Aloo Paneer Tikki
- Summer Vegetable Cheese Baguette Sandwich
- Chaat Style Mashed Potato Toast Sandwich
And many more to come!!……Stay Tuned!!
Happy Cooking 🙂
Cheers!!
Padma
