This chutney is another Jammu classic. Its flavour profile is so great that it goes very well with most Jammu snacks. The tang of tamarind, the sweetness of jaggery and the heat from the chillies provide an excellent depth of flavour to this simple dish.
We prepared it not too long ago at home along with Gurgule (you can expect a post on them very soon). We knew we couldn't go wrong with it as it is a tried and tested combination in our neck of the woods and has been served for generations. Having the two together brought back happy memories from my childhood.
Before I walk you through the ingredients or the steps, here are some relevant metrics for the recipe
Difficulty - easy
Prep time - 10 minutes. It may take longer if you're going to be making your tamarind paste from scratch.
Cooking time - None.
Servings - approximately 5 to 6.
I would recommend preparing this dish at least an hour before serving so that there is enough time for the radish to absorb as much flavour as it can.
Ingredients
For this chutney, you will need
Radish - 250 grams finely grated.
Tamarind Paste - around 4 tbsp. You can go for store-bought if you like, or you could make it yourself like we described in one of our previous posts at the very bottom of the article.
Green chillies (optional) - 2 to 3 chillies, finely chopped. You can deseed them if you like.
Salt - 1/3 tsp but can adjust to taste.
Black Himalayan salt - 1/3 tsp
Red chilli powder - 1/3 tsp but can adjust to taste.
Ajwain/carom seeds - 1/2 tsp
Jaggery - Between 30 to 40 grams. The actual amount of jaggery depends on how sweet you want it.
Lukewarm water -1 cup approximately.
The Process
If you're making the tamarind paste from scratch, I recommend you start with that first, since you'll need to soak the tamarind in water for a few hours and then squeeze it etc. The details have been covered in a previous post and linked above.
If you are using store-bought tamarind paste, then you can start from here. In a bowl, make a paste out the jaggery by adding some water to it and giving it a thorough mix. Ensure the bowl is of a decent size and can accommodate all the ingredients.
Once your jaggery paste is ready, transfer the tamarind paste and water to the same bowl.
If you're adding the chillies, add them in now.
Introduce the carom seeds, salt, black salt, pepper and red chilli powder into the bowl now.
Now add the grated radish into the bowl.
Mix all the ingredients together. Allow me to quote Binging with Babish from YouTube, "this is the part where we allow all the ingredients to get to know each other."
Bon appetit. If you ever decide to make it, let me know how your experience was.
See you all in the next post.