Tamarind Chutney is also known as Imli chutney (Imli is the Hindi word for tamarind). Tamarind chutney is a spiced, sweet and tangy sauce served with Indian chaat snacks or fried snacks like samosa, kachori or pakoda. This is a family recipe of Tamarind chutney which is so good and finger-licking tasty. We also call this chutney as as saunth chutney or sonth chutney as this chutney is spiced with ground ginger powder.
Dried ginger roots or dry ginger powder is also called as ‘Saunth’ or ‘Soonth’ in Hindi. Hence the name of this condiment.
The consistency of this imli chutney is slightly thick with a smooth texture. It has the sourness of tamarind balanced with the sweetness of the jaggery (Indian unrefined sugar made from sugarcane juice) and the earthiness and mild hotness coming from the dry ginger powder, cumin and red chili powder.