Tag Archives: Streetfood

Tamarind Chutney

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Also known as tamarind chutney or saunth this tart, spicy and slightly sweet sauce is an essential ingredient to spoon over various street chaats or to serve as a dipping sauce for pakoras or samosas. The tamarind sauce will keep refrigerated for several weeks in a well sealed glass jar.

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Tamarind Chutney
Serves: makes about 2 cups
 
Ingredients
  • 7 oz tamarind block
  • 2 cups hot water
  • 5 tablespoons jaggery (or brown sugar)
  • 1 ½ teaspoons ground ginger
  • 1 teaspoon cumin, roasted then ground
  • ½ teaspoon fennel seeds, roasted then ground
  • ¾ teaspoon cayenne powder
  • ¼ teaspoon black pepper
  • 2 ½ teaspoon salt
Instructions
Making Tamarind Water/Puree
Carefully cut the tamarind block into eight equal pieces. Place the tamarind into a deep medium-sized bowl and cover with the hot water. Let soften for five minutes and then use a potato masher, back of the spoon or even your hands to break and mash the pulp pieces. The tamarind pulp will begin to dissolve into the water and separate from the fibrous husk and seeds. Soak the tamarind for 20 more minutes. Strain the pulpy water through a fine meshed strainer, using the back of a spoon (or your hands) to extract as much pulp as possible. Discard the fibrous husk remaining in the strainer.

Finishing the Tamariand Chutney
Place the strained tamarind pulp, jaggery, roasted and ground spices, and salt into a saucepan. !Bring to a boil, lower the heat to medium and simmer for 5 minutes. Reduce the heat to low and cook for another 5 minutes. The mixture should be slightly thickened and shiny. If the mixture becomes too thick, add water as necessary. If it's too thin, bring the mixture back to a boil for a couple of minutes to let some of the water evaporate.
Notes
Jaggery is dehyrdated sugar cane juice primarily made by small cultivators in rural villages. It has a smoky caramel flavour which is hard to substitute, although brown or dermera sugar is the closest equivalent.

NOTE: This was originally posted on my blog India On My Plate on August 12, 2011

Green Coriander and Mint Chutney

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Green Coriander and Mint Chutney
Serves: makes about 1½ cup
 
Variations of this refreshing chutney are ubiquitous among street food vendors in all corners of India. Although its bright colour and flavour are best when freshly made it can be refrigerated for up to a day.
Ingredients
  • 2 cups coriander leaves
  • 1 cup mint leaves
  • ½ cup medium onion, diced
  • ½ cup tomatoes or 1 Roma tomato, diced
  • Juice of 1 lemon
  • 2 teaspoons sugar
  • 3 green chillies, seeded chopped
  • Salt to taste
  • 4-6 tablespoons water
  • ½-1 teaspoon chaat masala (optional)
Instructions
Pick the mint and coriander leaves from the stems. Roughly chop the leaves to make the blending process easier.
Place the tomatoes, onions, chillies, lemon juice, salt, sugar, and chopped herbs into a blender. !Blend and add the water gradually until the ingredients start to puree. You may need to turn the blender off and scrape the sides down with a spatula a couple of times to ensure all of the ingredients are pureed.
Notes
In order to get a well pureed chutney I prefer using a blender. If you do not have one you could use a small food processor but the result may be slightly more coarse and chunky. Make sure that you finely chop the onions and chillies before placing into the food processor so as to minimize having large pieces in the finished chutney.

NOTE: This was originally posted on my blog India On My Plate on August 12, 2011

Watermelon and Tomato Chaat Salad

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Salad of watermelon and tomatoWalking through the narrow lanes of Old Delhi in the summer heat is a tiring affair. Rarely, I would visit Old Delhi in the summer but when I did I was always on the lookout for something to drink or eat to help cool down and rehydrate.  Most of the time it would be some sort of lassi. One day walking down the main road, Chadni Chowk, I saw a streetfood vendor selling watermelon chaat.  Large chunks of watermelon were sprinkled with some chaat masala, chopped coriander and a squeeze of lime juice. It was simple, refreshing and satisfying. The following recipe, inspired by this street side delight, is my own, but in the form of a salad. It is easy, quick, requires no cooking and, thus, perfect for those extremely hot days of summer. Cut and prepare this salad at the last minute as once it is mixed it tends to give off some liquid. It goes well with any type of grilled meat, fish or seafood.

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Watermelon and Tomato Chaat Salad
Serves: 4-6
 
Ingredients
  • 6 cups seedless watermelon, cut into 1 inch cubes
  • 2 cups (2 medium sized) heirloom tomatoes, cut into 1 inch cubes (or substitute cucumber)
  • 1 medium sized red onion, cut in half and thinly sliced
  • 1 generous cup mint leaves, roughly chopped
  • 1 generous cup coriander leaves, roughly chopped
  • 1 tsp, or more to taste, chaat masala, store bought or home made
  • 2 limes, juiced
  • Salt to taste
  • Black pepper
  • A couple of garden radishes, thinly sliced for garnish (optional)
Instructions
Place watermelon, tomatoes, red onion, herbs in a large bowl. Sprinkle with chaat masala, pinch of salt and lime juice. Mix well.

Place in serving bowl and garnish with a few twists of the black pepper mill and sliced radishes, if using.

Serve immediately.

NOTE: This was originally posted on my blog India On My Plate on July 22, 2011