Saunth/Sweet Tamarind chutney has been a permanent guest in our refrigerator for as long as I can remember. My grandmother made a killer one, and no one can come close to her version. Unfortunately she is no more and her recipe went away with her. Only because we believed like everyone else she would never leave us. So guys please always learn the recipes you adore from your loved ones as soon as possible.:) Never leave it for later. When a jar of saunth is just about to finish in our house another one is immediately made, my household is incomplete without this sweet tamarindy goodness.
We use saunth in a lot of dishes- bhel puri, dahi bada,papdri chaat and even as an accompaniment to kachoris and samosas, and trust me it tastes delicious. Chaat is incomplete without this chutney, it lends a sweet and sour flavour to the famous Indian chaat without which it is incomplete. What ketchup is to the western world, saunth is to us Indians.
Since I did not have my grandmothers recipe, I started on my culinary journey to discover a recipe which would come as close to her's as possible. I ended up trying numerous recipes posted online but everything failed, until one day I had mind blowing saunth at my aunt's place. Of course I asked her for her recipe immediately, she informed me that it had been made by the halwai she had called over to make dinner for the gathering, so I requested the halwai to explain to me how to make it step by step. So here it is, with a few masalas added by me to make it taste exactly like my grandmothers. :):)
You can make a jar and keep it in the refrigerator and use it for quite some time.
Take the following in a pan:
100 gms tamarind
+500 ml water
Boil this for 15 minutes.
Keep it aside to cool. Once cool sieve it well in another pan making sure you press the tamarind to take out all its juices. Tamarind paste is ready.
Incase using store bought tamarind paste, take 50 grams paste and mix it with 500 ml water, heat this and then follow the below steps.
Take the tamarind paste in a pan
Add
500 gms sugar
+500 ml water
Bring this mixture to a boil until the sugar dissolves stirring occasionally.
Add:
1/2 tsp heeng
+3 1/2 tsp salt
+2 tsp dry ginger powder
+4 1/2 tsp red chilli powder
+ 2 tsp Jeera powder
+ 3 tsp black salt
+ 2 tsp fennel powder
Taste the chutney and adjust the spices according to taste. We are looking at spicy, tangy and sweet chutney where the flavours of all masalas should come through.
Cool the chutney and store in a sterlised jar in the refrigerator. You sweet tamarind chutney is ready. You can add melon seeds if you wish, pomegranate seeds if you wish. This decreases the shelf life of the saunth.
Ingredients
Directions
Take the following in a pan:
100 gms tamarind
+500 ml water
Boil this for 15 minutes.
Keep it aside to cool. Once cool sieve it well in another pan making sure you press the tamarind to take out all its juices. Tamarind paste is ready.
Incase using store bought tamarind paste, take 50 grams paste and mix it with 500 ml water, heat this and then follow the below steps.
Take the tamarind paste in a pan
Add
500 gms sugar
+500 ml water
Bring this mixture to a boil until the sugar dissolves stirring occasionally.
Add:
1/2 tsp heeng
+3 1/2 tsp salt
+2 tsp dry ginger powder
+4 1/2 tsp red chilli powder
+ 2 tsp Jeera powder
+ 3 tsp black salt
+ 2 tsp fennel powder
Taste the chutney and adjust the spices according to taste. We are looking at spicy, tangy and sweet chutney where the flavours of all masalas should come through.
Cool the chutney and store in a sterlised jar in the refrigerator. You sweet tamarind chutney is ready. You can add melon seeds if you wish, pomegranate seeds if you wish. This decreases the shelf life of the saunth.