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.

　　

Ingredients

makes 1 large jar

　　tamarind pulp (available from health-food shops and Indian markets) – 2 tablespoons

　　carrots – 4 good-sized, scrubbed or peeled

　　vegetable oil – 2 tablespoons

　　garlic – 2 cloves, crushed

　　black mustard seeds – half a teaspoon

　　hot red or green chiles – 2 small, finely chopped

　　tomatoes – 6 small-medium, cut into quarters

　　palm sugar (jaggery) or brown sugar – 2 tablespoons

　　spirit vinegar (at least 5 percent acidity) – a tablespoon

　　green cardamom pods – 6

　　

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.

　　Tender