I have heard of this chutney so many times, but I have never really been interested in making it, let alone trying it out.

When I think tamarind, I think the sour blob that goes into puli curry and my mum always shouts at me if I leave puli curry to long in her pots that the tamarind will eat away at her pot… so you see I never hear any good things about tamarind.

While I was cleaning out the fridge the other day, I came across some medjool dates that were coming up to its expiry dates. There were only 8 left and I felt bad throwing them out. That is when I remembered that tamarind chutney has dates in as well.

A sign from Julie Child if you ask me to give it a try.

To tell you the truth, I am not 100% sure where my mental block in with this chutney, because once I made it and I tasted it, I refused to share the dish.

It was so simple to make and I had all the ingredients in the pantry which was a shocker. The only time consuming part was to rehydrate the dates which took 30 minutes.

Ingredients:

• 8 x larger medjool dates, pitted and soaked in boiling water for 30 minutes.
• 1 x Tbsp tamarind paste.
• ½ x cup hot water.
• ¼ x tsp cumin seeds.
• ¼ x tsp cumin powder.
• ¼ x tsp salt.
• ¼ x tsp cayenne powder.
• Pinch of Indian Salt.
• Pinch of black pepper.
• ¼ x cup coconut sugar.

Method:

• Drain the dates and place in a blender with the tamarind paste and the boiling water.
• Blitz till nice and smooth.
• Pour into a bowl and whisk together with the remaining ingredients till well combined.
• Heat a pan and pour the mixture into the pan.
• Stirring continuously, allow the mixture to come to the boil.
• Cook for 5 – 10 minutes until the mixture starts to thicken.