Khajur Imli Chutney Or Tamarind Chutney

Tamarind Chutney is also known as Imli chutney (Imli is the Hindi word for tamarind). Tamarind chutney is a spiced, sweet and tangy sauce served with Indian chaat snacks or fried snacks like samosa, kachori or pakoda.

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About this Easy Tamarind Chutney

This is a family recipe of Tamarind chutney which is so good and finger-licking tasty. We also call this chutney as as saunth chutney or sonth chutney as this chutney is spiced with ground ginger powder.

Dried ginger roots or dry ginger powder is also called as ‘Saunth’ or ‘Soonth’ in Hindi. Hence the name of this condiment.

The consistency of this imli chutney is slightly thick with a smooth texture. It has the sourness of tamarind balanced with the sweetness of the jaggery (Indian unrefined sugar made from sugarcane juice) and the earthiness and mild hotness coming from the dry ginger powder, cumin and red chili powder.

This tamarind chutney is often used in North Indian chaat snacks like dahi vada, samosa chaat, aloo tikki chaat etc. It is also served with samosa, kachori, pani puri and pakora.

You can store this imli ki meethi chutney in an air-tight bottle in the fridge and it lasts well for 4 to 5 months.

We always make this chutney with dried tamarind which is easily available in India. If you live outside India, then buy the tamarind from amazon or in your asian or Indian grocery store.

You can use tamarind paste or concentrate for the chutney. Depending on the tartness of the concentrate or paste, you will have to adjust the quantity of water and jaggery.

How to make Tamarind Chutney

1. In a sauce pan take 1 cup of soft dates (khajur), 1/2 cup of imli and jaggery as per your taste. Add 2 cups of water into sauce pan.
2. Turn on the stove and let the ingredients started to boil. you can pressure cook all ingredients too or you can soak Imli and Dates for few hours and then simply blend it.
3. Add spices like red chili powder, cumin powder, coriander powder, chaat masala, black salt and salt to taste.
4. I always add dry whole spice like bay leaf and black cardamom. Add these two and it will enhance the taste.
5. Add the main two ingredients of this recipe 1 tbsp of dry ginger powder or saunth powder and 1 tsp of sauf or fennel seeds.
6. let boil this until you find the smooth texture.
7. Turn off the flame and let it cool down this.
8. When it’s cool down by using hand blender blend all these, take out bay leaf and cardamom.
9. Sieve this and store this delicious tamarind chutney into air tight container and refrigerate it.

Expert Tips

• Consistency: The consistency of the chutney can be altered easily. Simply alter the amount of water and you can make the imli chutney slightly thin or thick as per your requirements.
• Quality: Use fresh ingredients. Avoid using aged tamarind as the taste will be very different with aged tamarind and the color will be very dark.
• Scaling: This recipe can be easily halved or doubled.
• Storage: You can easily store tamarind chutney in the refrigerator for 4 to 5 months. You can even freeze it to last longer. Simply thaw before using.

Substitutions

• Jaggery: Jaggery is unrefined sugar made from sugarcane juice. If you cannot get jaggery then add sugar. The taste will be little different with sugar. You can easily add about ½ cup of sugar. If required you can always add more sugar.
• Tamarind: Dried tamarind is easily available in India. If you cannot get dried tamarind then use ½ cup of tamarind paste or concentrate. Depending on the tartness of the concentrate or paste, you will have to adjust the quantity of water and jaggery.

Serving Suggestions

1. Dipping Sauce: Serve tamarind chutney as a side condiment dip with Indian snacks like pakoda, samosa, kachori, aloo tikki. n fact even with potato wedges or french fries, this chutney pairs fabulously.
2. Topping or mixing sauce: You can even use it as a topping sauce for chaat snacks like dahi vada, sev puri, pani puri, dahi puri, katori chaat, bhel puri or any chaat snack.