Manjula's Tamarind Chutney

I promised Lowell my favourite recipe for Tamarind Chutney. This is from Manjula’s Kitchen. Manjula is a YouTube star and I love her. Especially her way of referring to tablespoons as tabley-spoons. This chutney is amazing and by far the best of all the recipes I’ve road tested. I assume she lives in the US as the measurements are American.

½ pound seedless tamarind, in a compacted block

2 cups sugar

2 cups hot water

2 tsp cumin powder

2 tsp chilli powder

1 tsp black salt

1 tsp salt

½ tsp ground ginger (powder)

½ tsp black pepper

I’ve reduced the sugar by ½ a cup and increased the chilli powder by 1 tsp to reflect my own preferences but feel free to adjust it back. If you can’t find seedless tamarind, don’t worry- it all has to be sieved anyway. As I said in the last recipe, it’s called Imli in Indian grocers.  And the magic ingredient is black salt – it’s available from Asian stores so pick it up with the tamarind.  It’s actually a greyish pink and has a distinctive sulphur odour. It’s great to have in the cupboard if you cook a lot of Indian food and it really lifts this recipe to the sublime. I love this so much -especially with a very dry vegetable curry.

Break the tamarind up into a bowl and pour on the hot water. Leave to soak for half an hour. Pour it all through a sieve, mashing with a wooden spoon, so a thick paste goes through and just the seeds and tough fibre get left behind. Washing the sieve up is always fun.

Add half the sugar and taste. You may well not need all of it. Make a judgement how much more you use. The sweetness is meant to temper the sour but not dominate. Add the spices and mix well.

Adjust the sugar, chilli and sea salt to taste. When it cools completely, taste and adjust again. Keep in the fridge. Nyom!