I tend to use this chutney as a relish, stirring it into the accompanying rice of a main course. It is slightly sweet, as you might expect, but tantalizingly hot and sour too. Scoop it up with a pappadam or a doughy, freckled paratha (I have been known to use a pita bread in times of desperation). On Mondays I sometimes put a spoonful on the side of the plate with cold meats. Palm sugar (also known as jaggery) is used in Indian cooking and is available in Indian markets.
Recipe information
Yield
makes 1 large jar
Ingredients
Preparation
Step 1
Cover the tamarind pulp with a scant 1/2 cup (100ml) boiling water, smash the brown, datelike goo into the water with a fork or spoon and leave it for twenty minutes. Push the softened paste and its liquid through a small sieve (I use a tea strainer) with the back of a spoon. Discard the seeds and solids.
Step 2
Cut the carrots into thin, almost hairlike strips. The simplest way to do this is with an attachment disk of a food processor (the one you might use for coleslaw, say).
Step 3
Warm the vegetable oil in a saucepan, then add the garlic. Add the mustard seeds and let them cook for a minute or two until they pop, then add the chiles. Once the chiles have started to soften, a matter of a minute or two, stir in the carrots and continue to cook for three or four minutes. Add the tomatoes; palm sugar; tamarind liquid; the vinegar; the whole cardamoms, lightly crushed (you just want the pods to open and the seeds to be revealed); and a grinding of salt. Continue cooking gently for ten minutes, until the carrots are showing signs of tenderness; I think they should be still a little crunchy. The chutney will keep in the fridge, sealed in a canning jar, for a few days.
