Made with delicious ingredients like tamarind (imli) , dates and jaggery, Imli ki chutney is a sweet tangy condiment which can be acompanied with various savoury snacks like samosa, kachori, pakode, drizzled over chaat, bhel or mixed with plain curd. Imli ki Chutney is very versatile and the recipe is also customizable to suit one’s own pallete.
Imli chutney recipe is fairly simple and does not require any elaborate process or fancy ingredients. The amount of sweetness via jaggery or dates can be controlled as per one’s desire or taste. Also, it can be stored in the refrigerator for at least a month without adding any preservatives.
Ingredients used in Imli Chutney
Imli/ Tamarind Chutney
- Prep Time: 30 minutes
- Cook Time: 30 minutes
- Total Time: 1 hour
- Yield: 1 cup 1x
- Category: Condiment
- Method: Stovetop
- Cuisine: Indian
- Diet: Vegan
Description
Made using tamarind (imli), dates, and jaggery, Imli/Tamarind chutney is a sweet tangy condiment/dip eaten with Indian savoury snacks.
Ingredients
- 1 cup seedless tamarind (imli)
- 1 cup dates (khajur)
- ⅓ cup jaggery (gud)
- 1-inch ginger, grated (or ½ tsp ginger powder )
- Salt as per taste
- 1 tsp red chilli powder (or as per taste)
- 1 tbsp fennel (saunf) seed
- 1 tsp cumin (jeera) seed (or jeera powder)
- ½ tsp of coriander (dhaniya) powder
- 5–6 cups of water
Instructions
Pre-Cooking
- Boil 4 cups of water. Soak seedless tamarind (imli) and deseeded dates in separate bowls in 2 cups of hot water each for at least 30 minutes. Alternatively, you can soak tamarind and dates in room temperature water for 4-5 hours or overnight. Once done, drain the water.
- Remove the fibres from tamarind so that only the soft pulp remains. If some small fibres remain, that is okay as we are going to sieve or strain the chutney later.
Cooking
- In a shallow pan, add 2-3 cups of water and add soft tamarind (imli) pulp, soft deseeded dates (khajur) and jaggery (gud).
- Cook on low to medium heat for 10-15 minutes until all ingredients are soft. Keep stirring after every 4-5 minutes. Mash a little when the dates and tamarind become soft.
- Add salt, red chilli powder, cumin (jeera) seeds or powder, fennel (saunf) seeds, coriander powder, grated ginger (or powder). Depending on how you want the consistency, you can add more water at this point.
- Mix everything together and cook for another 3-4 minutes. Then, take the mixture off the heat and let it cool completely.
- In a blender, grind into a smooth puree. Then, using a big strainer, sieve the blended puree so that the extra fibres are filtered and the puree comes out smooth.
- Store the imli chutney in an airtight container in the refrigerator. Imli chutney should last for a month if stored properly.
