Date - Tamarind Chutney

A generous swirl of date and tamarind chutney on my chaat, and I'm a happy camper. This sweet-tangy and slightly spicy chutney lends a great flavour and I cannot imagine chaat minus this.
Different restaurants have different tasting date-tamarind chutneys and street vendors seem to get it just perfect. This is my attempt at making this chutney -

Ingredients:
3/4 cup pitted dates
2 to 3 tbsp jaggery
2 tbsp tamarind
1/2 tsp chilli powder
3/4 tsp cumin (jeera) powder
Salt to taste

The measures are approximate. Jaggery usually comes in blocks and it's a pain to try and fit it into a tablespoon, so just eyeball it. I used a large piece of tamarind, again approximately 2 tbsp, but you can increase or decrease it depending on how tangy you like the chutney.

Method:
Bring about 1 1/2 cups of water to boil. Add dates, jaggery and tamarind. Boil for 10 to15 minutes, stirring a few times in between. Add chilli powder, cumin powder and salt. Allow to cool. Blend [You can add some water when blending if you want a runny chutney. I added about 1/2 cup water]. Strain if required.

Relish with samosas or pakodas, in combination with Mint Chutney.

Pudina Chutney / Mint - Coriander Chutney

Hot pakodas on a cold rainy day serve as an excellent snack. And what better way to have them than to dip them in a bowl of delicious mint chutney! I made these fritters yesterday for a Diwali party hosted by our dear friends Rajesh and Bhargavi. Luckily it wasn't raining last night and Rajesh's fireplace kept us warm, but we enjoyed the bajjis nevertheless!

Ingredients:

1 1/2 cups mint (pudina) leaves

2 cups coriander leaves

1 tbsp grated coconut (optional, for thickness)

2 tsp chopped ginger

2 tsp chaat masala

1 tsp amchur powder (optional)

1 tsp garam masala powder

2 tbsp olive oil (or water)

2 to 3 green chillies

1 tbsp juice of lemon 

2 tbsp curd (yogurt)

Salt

Blend all the ingredients (without water), into a smooth paste. You could add water instead of oil, the flavour will be slightly different. Add more water / oil if required and blend well.

Relish with hot pakoras or succulent kebabs. You can even use this chutney as a marinade to make hariyali kebabs (use oil though and not water to grind). Idlis, dosas and samosas dipped in pudina chutney taste great too!

Here are a couple of recipes using pudina chutney as the marinade. I have made a few changes here and there. 

Tawa-roasted Paneer Pudina Tikka

Chicken Pudina Roast

Loshne / Garlic Chutney

'Loson' in Konkani means garlic. Loshne (garlicky) chutney is among my favourite chutneys. My husband loves it too, so we make it quite often.

As a kid I loved having garlic chutney with pudde nonche (a pickle - maybe  a post on that some day) and pej (congee).

When I posted Easy Rice Flour Dosa, a couple of people asked me for the recipe of loshne chutney so I thought I'll post it right away. I did not take any pictures when I made it the last time though, so I'm just going to borrow a picture from the previous post.

Ingredients :
10 to 12 medium garlic cloves
1 to 2 tsp ghee
1 cup grated coconut
1 marble sized tamarind
2 to 3 roasted red chillies
Salt

Method :
Crush garlic, discard the peel.
In a pan heat ghee, throw in the crushed garlic and roast till the garlic turns golden brown. Sprinkle salt and allow to cool.

Grind coconut, tamarind, red chillies and salt with very little water, just a few spoons, into a coarse paste. Add the roasted garlic and grind further. Remember, this is a dry chutney, so add as little water as possible, but make sure it is properly ground.

This comes with practice I guess. A couple of times when my chutney turned slightly damp, I just refrigerated it overnight and the next day it looked dry.