Indian tamarind chutney
A sweet and spicy smooth chutney made with tamarind paste, cumin, ginger, fennel seeds and garam masala. Spoon on top of cooked chicken breasts or simply use as a dip for poppadoms or warm naan bread.
Ingredients
Serves: 10
- 1 tablespoon vegetable or olive oil
- 1 teaspoon cumin seeds
- 1 teaspoon ground ginger
- 1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper
- 1/2 teaspoon fennel seeds
- 1/2 teaspoon asafoetida or garlic powder
- 1/2 teaspoon garam masala
- 475ml (16 fl oz) water
- 225g (8 oz) caster sugar
- 40g (about 3 tablespoons) tamarind paste
Method
Prep:10min ›
Cook:30min ›
Ready in:40min
- Heat the oil in a saucepan over medium heat. Add the cumin seeds, ginger, cayenne pepper, fennel seeds, asafoetida and garam masala; cook and stir for about 2 minutes to release the flavours.
- Stir the water into the pan with the spices along with the sugar and tamarind paste. Bring to the boil, then simmer over low heat until the mixture turns a deep chocolaty brown and is thick enough to coat the back of a metal spoon. This should take 20 to 30 minutes. The sauce will be thin, but it will thicken upon cooling.
Note
Asafoetida is used a lot in Indian cooking. It has a strong onion-garlic flavour but a little goes a long way. If you can't find it use garlic powder.
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Reviews & ratings
Average global rating:
(40)
Reviews in English (34)
Surprised there are no reviews of this yet! I regularly visit the Mughli restaurant in Manchester and they often serve an incredible small pot of a tangy sauce with some of their starters. I knew it had tamarind in because of the tang and the colour and it also has great aromatic flavours so I wanted to find a recipe which seemed similar. Just made this and added some fresh coriander and finely chopped red chilli and it has turned out superb - sweet, tangy and spicy. Great recipe for accompanying starters such as samosas / onion bhajis or poppadoms. - 28 Mar 2015
Tasted delicious but after simmering for over an hour ended up having to thicken it with cornflour as it was just a delicious tasting pan of brown water. Will make again but using much less water than suggested. - 29 Aug 2017
This was EXCELLENT, just perfect. Really easy to make and tasted delicious. I used jaggery instead of caster sugar... - 18 Jul 2017