Why Restaurant Tamarind Chutney Tastes Better Than Homemade

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Make the perfect tamarind chutney at home in minutes. This quick, easy Indian dip is bold, tangy, and ideal for pani puri, samosas, and all your favorite snacks.

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About Sweet & Sour Tamarind Chutney

I’ve never had this Sweet & Sour Tamarind Chutney at home till I made it myself! Imli, or tamarind, chutney is going to enhance your favourite snacks to an entirely new level! Unlike the Mint & Cilantro Chutney, which my mom made at home quite often, this chutney sure was a special one. I loved it so much when I enjoyed lots of street dishes such as aloo chaat, but no one ever made it at home, which is too bad!

As with many restaurant delights, such as Butter Chicken and Paneer Makhani, that I loved replicating at home, I decided to make this street-side favourite at home to enjoy with my samosas!

Sweet & Sour Tamarind Chutney is perfect not only for samosas, but basically any Indian snack, such as chaats and pakoras. In fact, you could even serve this with your McAloo Tikki Burger as a nice dipping sauce!

I find this tamarind chutney totally underrated. Admittedly, I don’t make it often enough, but I really should make it more frequently because it is one of my favourite chutneys for sure! Perhaps it’s just a little bit messy, but you’ll see that the mess here is totally worth it!

Tips for Making a Great Chutney

To avoid wasting any tamarind, use your hands to squeeze any remaining pulp through the sieve.
Refrigerate the chutney before serving for the best texture and flavor.
If you are able to find any Jaggery, that would be the best sweetener you can use for this chutney.

Ingredients for Tamarind Chutney

1 block of dried tamarind, soaked in water for 5 hours to 24 hours. Naturally this is the most important ingredient in our chutney recipe! If you cannot find dried tamarind, use tamarind paste or tamarind concentrate. You may have to adjust the amount of brown sugar and spices based on
Brown sugar: This makes our chutney sweet!
Spices: Hing, ginger powder, and red chili powder. Red chili powder adds the little bit of spice and reddens the chutney slightly.
Cumin seeds
Oil, for cooking.
Black salt

How to Make Tamarind Chutney

Squeeze the pulp of the tamarind in the bowl in which it was soaking in.
Strain the mixture to obtain a smooth paste. Transfer it onto a strainer and using the back of a spoon, extract the pulp into another bowl.
Heat a pan on medium heat and add oil and the cumin seeds. Let the cumin seeds crackle and add the hing.
Add the ground ginger and red chilli powder and mix. Give the tamarind mixture a nice stir and add it into the pan. Cook for 2-3 minutes. As you cook it, the chutney will gradually become thicker.
Add in brown sugar, adjusting to your taste. It is recommended to start with less and add more if you want it to be sweeter. Then add black salt and let the mixture continue to cook for 4-5 minutes.

Storing Sweet & Sour Tamarind Chutney

Transfer the tamarind chutney into a glass jar or an airtight container and store in the refrigerator for up to a week. If you want to save the chutney for longer than that, you can transfer 2 to 3 tablespoons at a time in ice cube trays and freeze the chutney that way. Remove the ice cubes when needed and thaw in the refrigerator or at room temperature. Use the thawed chutney in 1 or 2 days.

Serving Suggestions for Tamarind Chutney

Sweet & Sour Tamarind Chutney is perfect for pretty much any Indian appetizer, snack or chaat! You can also use it as a dipping sauce. Check out these recipes that would pair perfectly with this tamarind chutney:

Frequently Asked Questions

What is tamarind chutney?▼

Also called imli or saunth chutney, it's a sweet-and-sour Indian condiment made from tamarind pulp simmered with brown sugar and warm spices. It's the tangy drizzle you'll recognise from chaat, samosas and pakoras.

How long do I soak the tamarind?▼

Soak the dried tamarind block in water for anywhere from 5 to 24 hours, until it's soft enough to squeeze. Then work the pulp out with your hands and strain it to get a smooth paste, leaving the seeds and fibres behind.

How do I balance the sweet and sour?▼

The tamarind brings the sourness, and brown sugar balances it. Start with less sugar (the recipe uses about 3 tablespoons) and add more to taste — it's much easier to sweeten gradually than to fix a chutney that's gone too sweet.

What do the black salt and hing add?▼

Black salt (kala namak) and a pinch of hing (asafoetida) give the chutney its distinctive tangy, savoury, slightly funky depth. They're what make it taste like the chutney from your favourite chaat stall rather than just sweet-sour syrup.

Let me know what you think of this recipe in the comments! If you’ve tried this recipe, be sure to post it on social media and tag it with #cookingwithanadi and mention me @cooking.with.anadi. Thank you!

Recipe by Anadi Misra

Elevate Your Indian Snacks with This Tamarind Chutney Recipe

Make the perfect tamarind chutney at home in minutes. This quick, easy Indian dip is bold, tangy, and ideal for pani puri, samosas, and all your favorite snacks.

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5 min

Prep

8 min

Cook

5 hr

Rest

5 hr 13 min

Total

servings

makes 1 cup

easy

Level

Ingredients

Tap any quantity to scale

dried tamarind(About 3” × 3” (7.5 × 7.5 cm), soaked in water for 5–24 hours)Shop →
(41 g) brown sugarShop →
hingShop →
(1 g) ginger powderShop →
(1 g) red chilli powderShop →
(3 g) cumin seedsShop →
(5 ml) oilShop →
Black saltShop →

Instructions

1
Squeeze the pulp of the tamarind in the bowl in which it was soaking in.
Squeeze the pulp of the tamarind in the bowl in which it was soaking in.
2
Strain the mixture to obtain a smooth paste. Transfer it onto a strainer and using the back of a spoon, extract the pulp into another bowl.
Strain the mixture to obtain a smooth paste. Transfer it onto a strainer and using the back of a spoon, extract the pulp into another bowl.
3
Heat a pan on medium heat and add oil and the cumin seeds. Let the cumin seeds crackle and add the hing.
Heat a pan on medium heat and add oil and the cumin seeds. Let the cumin seeds crackle and add the hing.
4
Add the ground ginger and red chilli powder and mix. Give the tamarind mixture a nice stir and add the it into the pan. Cook for 2-3 minutes. As you cook it, the chutney will gradually become thicker.
Add the ground ginger and red chilli powder and mix. Give the tamarind mixture a nice stir and add the it into the pan. Cook for 2-3 minutes. As you cook it, the chutney will gradually become thicker.
5
Add in brown sugar, adjusting to your taste. It is recommended to start with less and add more if you want it to be sweeter. Then add black salt and let the mixture continue to cook for 4-5 minutes.
Add in brown sugar, adjusting to your taste. It is recommended to start with less and add more if you want it to be sweeter. Then add black salt and let the mixture continue to cook for 4-5 minutes.

Nutrition per serving

Calories

Protein

Carbs

Fat

Fiber

Sugar

149mg

Sodium

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Tested & written in Anadi’s kitchen