Home made Tamarind Chutney - Sweet Chutney - Step by step

   Sweet chutney aka tamarind chutney is a versatile chutney, which is used in most of the North Indian chaats. This chutney is prepared by cooking tamarind juice  in medium flame .Then jaggery is added along with spices. We can make variations, by adding cooked dates puree to the chutney.  This chutney is usually drizzled on top of the chaats or it is used as dipping sauce for samosas .For dipping, the sauce should be thin. So cook the chutney according to your need. If we want , the chutney for chaats, it can be little thick.Check my other chaat recipes ,where tamarind chutney is used.

* Bhel Puri Chaat

* Channa Samosa Chaat

* Moong Dhal Kachori

* Onion Samosa

* Punjabi Samosa

Preparation time : 10 mins
Cooking time : 30 mins
Yield : 1 cup

Ingredients:
1.Tamarind - 1 big lemon size
2.Water - as needed
3.Fennel seeds - 1 tsp
4.Chilli powder - 1/2 tsp
5.Jaggery - 1/2 cup (grated)
6.Salt - as needed
7.Oil - 2 tbsp
8.Cumin seeds - 1/2 tsp

 Method: 

* Soak tamarind in water for atleast 10 mins. Extract the juice out of the tamarind properly. The juice would be about 21/2 cups. * Take a pan, add oil and temper with cumin seeds. * Mean while, crush the fennel seeds. The fennel seeds has to be crushed very well. * Pour the tamarind extract to the pan.Bring it to boil. Let the juice cook in medium flame for about 20 minutes, or untill it is thick. * Now add chilli powder to the chutney. Let it cook for more 3 mins, so that the raw smell goes off. * At last add add jaggery,salt and crushed fennel seeds. Adjust the amount of jaggery according to your taste.If you run out of jaggery, we can add brown sugar or normal sugar. * Cook the chutney for more 5 mins, or untill the chutney coats the back of the spoon. When we refrigerate, the chutney will thicken . So turn off the stove ,when it is in pouring consistancy. Now the chutney would have reduced to 1 cup. * When needed, drizzle some tamarind chutney on chaats and samosa. If it is so thick, just heat it in microwave to make it pourable. If needed, we can add also little hot water. Store the chutney in refrigerator. It stays good for atleast a month, as it has tamarind in it.

 Notes:
* The taste of the tamarind chutney can be altered by our taste. We can increase the sweetness by adding the jaggery.
* The chutney has to be in running consistancy. When we refrigerate ,it will thicken .So cook it according to it.
* We can also add dry ginger powder ,to increase the flavour.
* Instead of cumin seeds, we can also add cumin powder.
* While serving the chutney, if it is less sweet, we can just add some sugar to increase the sweetness.
* We can also add some cooked dates puree to the tamarind chutney ,to make it dates tamarind chutney. But at last try to strain the chutney ,to remove any unwanted chunks.