Tamarind Dates Chutney For Chatt

Ingredients

• Tamarind Pods - 1/2 cup or Tamarind paste (store bought) - 1 tspn
• Dates - 1/2 cup
• Chatt Masala - 1 tspn
• Chilli powder - 1/2 tspn
• Jaggery - 2 tspn
• Salt - 1/4 tspn

Tamarind Dates Chutney

method

1. Soak the tamarind pods in 1/2 cup of hot water for 20 minutes and squeeze out as much pulp as possible. Thick pulp is needed for this recipe. To get the consistency soaked tamarind can be blended in a blender and the pulp can be extracted by running it through a sieve. If using tamarind paste, dilute it with 1/4 cup of water.
2. Soak the dates in another bowl and grind it to fine paste
3. Mix tamarind and dates pulp together along with other listed ingredients. Add some water if needed. Taste the chutney and adjust the ingredients to your preference.
4. Cook the chutney in stove top or in microwave till the chutney starts to boil.
   
5. This chutney can be stored in fridge for 2 weeks.
For longer shelf life store the chutney in freezer. It is easy to scoop out using an ice cream scooper.

Red Pepper Chutney

Ingredients

• Red Pepper - 1
• Medium Onion - 1
• Tomato - 1
• Red chilli - 1
• Ginger - 1/4 inch(optional)
• Hing - pinch
• Tamarind - 1 inch piece
• Sesame oil - 3tspn
• Mustard & Urad dhal for seasoning

health tip

Tomato & red pepper are rich in Vitamin C. An anti-oxidant in tomato called lycopene gets concentrated after cooking the tomato. Anti-oxidant helps to prevent cancer.

Red Pepper Chutney

method

Red pepper chutney is a slight twist to tomato chutney. Red pepper adds unique flavor, color & sweetness to the chutney. The flavor & color gets intense when the pepper is roasted in the oven. Halve the pepper & remove the seeds. Place the halved peppers skin side up in a baking sheet & broil them till the skin gets blisters & charred. Put it in a bowl and cover it with a lid till the roasted pepper gets warm to handle. When it is warm remove the skin & dice it to make chutney. Since I had lot of red pepper sitting in my fridge, I wanted to adopt easier version & used fresh ones instead of roasting them. Though the color and flavor was little lighter, it tasted equally good as the roasted version. This chutney can be used as a spread, dip or as a side dish for dosai & idli. I usually freeze the extra chutney for later use.

1. Remove the seeds from the pepper and dice the pepper(if not using roasted ones), onion and tomato.
2. Heat some oil in a pan (reduce the oil if planning to freeze) & season it with mustard, urad dal & hing.
3. Add the diced veggies along with red chilli, ginger & tamarind. Saute the mixture till the veggies get tender. Let it cool.
4. Grind to a fine paste when cooled. Add salt to taste and the chutney is ready to serve.
5. This recipe is little milder. You may want to adjust the number of chilli to suit your taste.

Tomato chutney

Ingredients

• Chopped Onion - 2 cups
• Chopped Tomato -2 cups
• Red chillies - 4
• Tamarind paste - 1/4 tspn
• Jaggery - 1/4 tspn
• Sesame oil - 7 tspn
• Asafoetida (aka Hing, Perungayam), curry leaves, mustard and urad dal for seasoning
• Salt to taste or 1/2 tspn approx

Method

1. Saute onion, tomato and red chillies with sesame oil until onions become soft. Let it cool for few minutes.
2. Grind the above mix to a fine paste.
3. Heat oil in a pan and add the seasoning mix & let it splutter.
4. Mix the ground paste along with tamarind, jaggery and salt & continue heating for few more minutes till the oil separates.
5. You may add or remove a chilli to make the recipe little bit hotter or mild.