This easy tamarind sauce recipe is a deliciously sweet and sour condiment dip. With hints of ginger, it can be used as a dipping sauce for samosa chaat or a marinade for chicken, tofu, fish, shrimp, pani puri and noodles!
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⭐ Why This Recipe is a Star
- Easy: This homemade Indian Tamarind Chutney sauce is a simple and easy recipe that is packed with flavor. It takes a while but that's mostly passive cooking time (Basically, you leave the tamarind to soak, and then boil down the sauce.)
- Versatile: you can use it as a sauce for grilled meat, fish and veggies or as a dipping sauce for samosas and other Indian Chaat (Pakoras, Bhajis etc.) Simmer it down a bit more and you can even slather it onto sandwiches and burgers! It's also really flexible- you can add more sugar if you have a sweeter tooth, or less if you prefer the sharpness of the tamarind to shine through. Both will taste good!
- Can be made for meal prep: it can last for 2-4 weeks in the fridge so is a great make ahead in bulk condiment!
What is Tamarind?
The tamarind tree, also known as Indian date, tamarindo, and Asam Jawa, produces pods with edible pulp. The pulp has a sour taste and an amazing flavor. Which is why it is a popular flavor in South East Asian, particularly Thai, and Indian cuisine!
The tart flavor goes well with fish sauce, soy sauce, Worcestershire sauce, brown sugar (traditionally jaggery or Gula Melaka) etc.
You can find it in Pad Thai, Singaporean Fish Curry and these delicious tamarind recipes. As tamarind is a common ingredient in Indian food, there are a lot of vegan tamarind recipes too.
Note: lemon juice on its own is not a good substitute for tamarind as though both have a sour flavor, the flavor profiles are different. Lemon juice is a simpler, brighter flavor, whilst tamarind is more complex.
P.S. It has tons of Vitamin C!
🥘 Ingredients
You will need a few ingredients for this sour and sweet tamarind mixture, such as:
- Tamarind: You can get tamarind concentrate from the Asian grocery store, especially Thai and South Asian ones. (If you can get seedless tamarind pulp, your life will be easier!) You'll need to soak it in hot water and strain out the softened pulp to get tamarind water or tamarind juice for the recipe.
- Jaggery: For an authentic Imli Sauce, use Indian Jaggery. If not, a 2nd choice is Gula Melaka Palm Sugar or 1 of its substitutes. Last but not least, brown sugar can also be substituted. Some people like to use dates to sweeten instead but note that the date flavor is very strong and you'll really be making a Date Tamarind Chutney, not a pure Tamarind Sauce.
- Light soy sauce: soy is full of umami so I used it instead of the traditional salt. If you want a more authentic Indian flavor, skip the soy sauce and use salt (but I highly recommend trying it at least once with the soy!) If GF, you can replace with 1 of these soy sauce alternatives.
- Seasoning: you'll need aromatics and spices to flavor the sauce. I used fresh ginger and dried chilies, but you can replace with ginger powder and, fresh chilies/ chili powder. Just note that adding too much powder may give the tamarind chutney a slightly gritty flavor.
Note: feel free to omit the chili if you can't take heat.
📖 Variations & Substitutes
- Spiced: to replicate what you get at Indian restaurants, add ½ teaspoon of chaat masala OR ¼-1/2 teaspoon of cumin powder and ¼-1/2 teaspoon of ground coriander powder to the Indian tamarind dipping sauce.
- Sweeter: add more sugar
- Tarter: use less sugar
- Chutney: add less water and cook for a longer time, till the sauce is nice and thick.
🔪 Step-by-Step Instructions
1. How to Make Tamarind Water
- Remove 2 Tablespoons of Tamarind paste from the tamarind brick. (More or less- the tamarind is quite sticky so it's hard to be exact.)
- Place the tamarind in a small bowl with 1 Cup of hot or warm water till the pulp has softened. (The water should have turned brown. About 10-15 minutes.)
2. Turning Tamarind Water into Sauce
- Pour the tamarind water into a small saucepan, followed by the soy sauce, brown sugar, ginger and chili. Cook over medium heat to medium-high heat till thick, glossy and syrupy. I cooked mine for about 15-20 minutes but you can shorten the time if you want a thinner sauce.
- Taste and if you've boiled it down a bit too much (and it's become a bit salty), add more sugar and/ or more water.
Note: remember to stir every now and then or the sugar will catch at the bottom of the pan!
🥡 How to Store
Store extra in airtight glass containers in the fridge for 2-4 weeks. For longer storage, pop it in the freezer.
The more sugar you add, the longer the tamarind sauce will keep. (Make sure to use a sterilised airtight container and clean spoon when scooping.)
👩🏻🍳 Expert Tips
Tip #1: Use tamarind sauce whenever you want a sour note to lift the flavor or to cut through fat. (On top of baked chicken wings, for example.) It can be used on its own, or stirred into stews and curries!
Tip #2: If using dried tamarind pods, wash then soak them in hot water till soft. After that, squeeze out the flesh. You'll need to use more than 2 Tablespoons of it for this recipe (as the taste is lighter.) I recommending using 2-3 times more.
Tip #3: You can add a tablespoon butter to the Indian tamarind sauce, to make a rich glaze for pan-fried fish!
💭 Recipe FAQs
🥗 Other Indian Recipes
Enjoyed this easy sweet and sour tamarind sauce recipe? Please leave a 5-star 🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟rating in the recipe card below! If you find it better than store-bought tamarind sauces, please consider supporting it by buying me a coffee! 🙂 (No obligation though!) Thank you and have a great day!
Easy Tamarind Sauce Recipe
Equipment
- Heat-proof bowl and sieve
- Pot or small saucepan
Ingredients
- 2 Tablespoons concetrated tamarind paste It comes in the form of a brick. You can also use dried tamarind pods- just double or triple the amount of pulp used.
- 1 C boiling water You can use less if you want to expedite the cooking process but make sure all the tamarind is covered
- 1 Tablespoon jaggery, palm sugar or brown sugar
- 1 knob ginger sliced thinly. Substitute with ½ teaspoon ginger powder if necessary
- 1 dried chili cut into ½inch pieces. Substitute with chili powder if needed.
- ½ Tablespoon light soy sauce I used soy sauce as it gives the glaze more umami but if you want it strictly Indian, substitute with salt, to taste. (I used about ½ teaspoon.)
Instructions
Making tamarind water
- Remove 2 Tablespoons of Tamarind paste from the tamarind brick. (More or less- the tamarind is quite sticky so it's hard to be exact.)
- Place the tamarind in a small bowl with 1 Cup of hot or warm water till the pulp has softened. (The water should have turned brown.)
- Strain the tamarind liquid through a sieve, making sure to press out all the water.Note: you may need to massage the pulp with your hands to break the strings apart.
- Discard the seeds and stringy bits left in the sieve. Keep the tamarind water for your sweet tamarind chutney (see below.)
Making tamarind sauce
- Pour the tamarind water into a small saucepan, followed by the soy sauce, brown sugar, ginger and chili. Cook over medium heat to medium-high heat till thick and syrupy. I cooked mine for about 15-20 minutes but you can shorten the time if you want a thinner sauce.
- Taste and if you've boiled it down a bit too much (and it's become a bit salty), add more sugar and/ or more water.Note: remember to stir every now and then or the sugar will catch at the bottom of the pan!
Notes
- Spiced: for Indian tamarind chutney, add ½ teaspoon of chaat masala OR ¼-1/2 teaspoon of cumin powder and ¼-1/2 teaspoon of ground coriander powder to the Indian tamarind dipping sauce. Use less water and cook for a longer time, till the sauce is nice and thick (remember to stir as the sugar will burn.)
- Sweeter: add more sugar
- Tarter: use less sugar
Note: the nutritional information is an estimate automatically calculated using the WPRM recipe maker and I am not responsible for its veracity.
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