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Sauce

Tamarind Chutney

A sweet and spicy sauce made from tamarind paste, water, jaggery, ginger powder, chili powder, and salt.

From the Recipes Wiki (Fandom) · 6 ingredients
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Why it works: Tamarind and ginger work together. They rank in the top 3% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 325 recipes. Both carry alpha-pinene, which smells pine, turpentine. The science ↓

Tamarind Chutney

Ingredients

Directions

Make the chutney

  1. Add tamarind paste, water and jaggery in a deep pan and bring to a boil.

  2. Add salt, ginger powder and chili powder and continue to boil over medium heat until the consistency becomes thick as that of a sauce.

Cool and store

  1. Allow to cool and store in an air-tight container in the fridge.

Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)

59Calories
0 gProtein
0 gFat
14 gCarbs

Counts 4 of 6 ingredients. The other 2 aren't in our nutrition table and add nothing above, so the real totals are higher.

What these numbers assume: 4 portions
IngredientPortion assumedkcal
Sugar1 tbsp (12.5g) granulated49
Chili1 tsp (2.7g)8
Ginger1 tsp grated fresh (2g)2
Salt1 tsp (6g)0
Tamarindnot in our table0
Waternot in our table0

One typical portion per ingredient; the recipe's quantities are not counted. A rough guide only, not for medical or dietary planning.

Recipe from the Recipes Wiki (Fandom).

Steps grouped into stages for easier reading; the method is the source's own.

Explore the science

The flavor team

The pairs that carry this dish. Each one is judged two ways: how much their aromas overlap, and how often cooks already put them together.

  1. Tamarind + gingertop 3% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together325 recipes

    Shared aroma: alpha-pinene (pine, turpentine).

  2. Tamarind + sugartop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together362 recipes

    Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

  3. Ginger + sugartop 17% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together14,054 recipes

    Shared aroma: 1-penten-3-one (fish, pungent).

Ginger and sugar barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 14,054 recipes: they work on texture and structure more than aroma.

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

What each ingredient does

Tamarind paste
Provides the tart, fruity acidity that defines the chutney's flavour.
Jaggery
Adds sweetness and body, balancing the tamarind's sourness as it thickens.
Water
Dissolves the paste and sugar so the mixture can boil and reduce to a sauce.

The step that matters

Boiling down to a sauce-like thickness. Sugar and tamarind pectin thicken as water evaporates. Stopping too early leaves a thin chutney, while over-reducing can make it stiff and overly sweet once cooled.

Swap the ginger

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (tamarind, sugar):

  1. Cinnamonfits better
  2. Gingerthe original
  3. Cuminfits about as well
  4. Turmericfits less well

Fit is the average pairing score against tamarind, sugar. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.

“What each ingredient does” and “The step that matters” were written by Claude from this recipe’s own method and reviewed in samples by CompKitchen.

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