Dates Chutney | Dates Dip

Dates Dip/Dates Chutney/Dates Jam is a sweetish, tangy and spicy accompaniment to dosa/roti/samosa/cutlet/breads. Natural sweetness from dates is a healthy choice, as well. Kids will love it as it has a sweet touch. Kids will lick the plate clean, if provided with this yummy, finger-licking dates dip. You shall tweak this recipe to make it tangier or spicier or sweeter, whichever is your preferred taste. My Kindergartener was revising ABC words in school as they had exactly 26 days to end this academic year. I was supporting the theme by providing her food to denote the alphabet day. I gave this Dates dip with Donut shaped Dosa for D day (pic below), along with dumplings(link).

Dates Chutney | Dates Dip

 

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Prep time

5 mins

Cook time

5 mins

Total time

10 mins

 

Serves: 4

Ingredients

To soak:

• Dates - 10 to 12
• Tamarind - gooseberry sized
• Dry red chilli - 1 or 2

For flavor:

• Salt - 1 pinch
• Garlic - 1 clove

For extra sweetness:

• Jaggery - 1 or 2 tsp

To temper:

• Oil - 1 or 2 tsp
• Mustard seeds - ⅛ tsp

Instructions

1. Soak tamarind, dates and dry red chilli in ½ cup (or use more until all are immersed well) of warm water for 15 to 20 minutes.
2. Drain the soaked water and save for later.
3. Add garlic and salt to soaked dates, tamarind and dry red chilli and grind in mixie, without the soaked water.
4. Then add half of soaked water and grind to smooth paste.
5. Transfer to a bowl. Add the remaining half of soaked water and pulse in mixie to collect the remaining dates paste from mixie jar. Add this also to the same bowl and mix well.
6. In a pan, add sesame oil.
7. Once oil is hot, add mustard seeds.
8. Once mustard seed are spluttered, add the ground mix and stir well in medium heat.
9. Switch off once it thickens and shines. Takes just 3+ minutes.
10. Transfer to serving bowl and enjoy with dosa, chapathi/roti, bread.

Notes

1.You shall skip the tempering and just heat the mix to call it as Dates Jam.
2.You shall increase or decrease the ingredients and make the taste that you like to be more dominant.
3.If you are serving this as accompaniment for deep-fried snacks, then you shall add generous pinches of asafoetida and dry ginger powder(Sukku thool) to aid digestion. You shall add this along with dates paste and cook.
4.For younger kids, you shall skip dry red chilli and add dry ginger powder to substitute spiciness and to aid digestion.
5.This dip can be stored in refrigerator and use within 3 days.

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If you like this Dates Chutney, you will also like Mango Pachadi(link), which has a similar combination of flavors and tastes.