EcrosTechWiki | Recipes / Date and Tamarind Chutney

Adapted from an original recipe by Shruti Mehta. Shruti describes this as a "sweet and sour dipping sauce". The main use that I have made of it is to serve it with spinach pakora, also from a recipe by Shruti.

6	.....	Medjool dates
1 cup	.....	Water, boiling
2 teaspoons	.....	Tamarind concentrate
½ teaspoon	.....	Salt
¼ teaspoon	.....	Red chili powder
1 teaspoon	.....	Jeera (cumin) seeds
Pinch	.....	Hing (asafoetida)

Basic Instructions

Pit the dates and roughly cut them into a few pieces each. In a small bowl, pour over the dates just enough boiling water to cover them. Leave this to cool, then transfer the dates into a small food processor or blender, reserving the water. Add the tamarind, salt, chili powder, jeera and hing. Add about ½ cup of the water in which the dates were soaked. Process until completely smooth, adding more water until you have the consistency you desire. Scrape it out of the food processor into a glass jar with a tight fitting lid for storage in the refrigerator, where it will be fine for up to a month (according to Shruti) or several years (according to my experience). It also keeps well frozen. Warm to room temperature to serve.

Notes and Variations

Ordinary dates will do just as well as Medjool dates, but because they are smaller you'll have to use a larger quantity, maybe twelve. The only change I've made to Shruti's original recipe is to double the amount of tamarind paste. With only one teaspoon, it balanced the sweetness of the dates, but left little flavor. With two teaspoons, there is a rich and complex "bite" which my guests complemented. I've also made a small change to the method as Shruti starts with the dates soaking in cold water for ten minutes and then microwaves them for two minutes. The point is to make them soft enough to grind into a smooth paste.