Date -Tamarind Chutney / Khajur - Imli Chutney

When I planned to go with a "Sauce" recipe for the BM, my mind kept going towards  those that are used regularly in western cooking ranging from pesto sauce to chocolate based one. I however had to control myself as two of my refrigerator shelves are already filled with an assortment of condiments, bought by the other overzealous shopper at home. It would have been ridiculous to go with another sauce just for the sake of blogging and so kept wrecking my head until again my husband came to aid. He had gone out on some other work and as usual ended up in Indian grocery store and came home with a bag of samosas. Samosas led to this sweet chutney and the husband had rightly suggested that the Indian green chutney and sweet chutney are also sauces and I could go ahead with any one of those. And so, sweet and tangy date - tamarind chutney it is.

Nupur's date - tamarind chutney is the one I have been following in the recent years whenever I make chaats at home. I follow the recipe just as a basic guideline and prepare as my taste preferences. As she mentioned in her post, each time we end up with a unique chutney because the sweetness of the jaggery / dates or the sourness of the tamarind are never the same. The products vary with each batch / brand. Following your taste buds is the key for success here. :)

Ingredients:
2 cups water
1 cup soft pitted dates
1/4 cup tamarind
1/4 cup jaggery
Salt to taste
Cumin powder & coriander powder as preferred

Method:
* Bring the mixture to a boil and simmer for 10 minutes. Press down on the tamarind and dates using the back of a ladle or a potato masher and extract as much of the pulp as possible. Stir well to dissolve all the ingredients. Taste and adjust tamarind / jaggery or salt to get the sweet/tangy/salty balance you like best. 
* Filter the mixture through a sieve to remove the fibers. Chutney that is too thick may be difficult to strain so dilute it with filtered water if necessary. 
* This can be served with most of the chaat items.

The above method was Nupur's. I go the easy way and zap the tamarind with little water in the microwave and squeeze out the pulp thereby removing the fibre directly. Then I grind the ingredients together and sieve the mixture just in case to avoid any fibre if still present. Then I taste, adjust the ingredients and simmer the mixture. Chutney can be refrigerated for little less than a week. I actually freeze the extra chutney as it doesn't store well for longer periods even after refrigeration. Also there was no chili powder in this chutney and I am not bothered because a spicy green chutney accompanies it usually at my home.

Check here to know what other marathoners of BM#25 are cooking.

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