When I was studying yoga in Mysore, an Indian lady opened her house to Westerners and served breakfast and dinner. She would make the most delicious Pongal drizzled with a sweet-sourish tamarind gojju. It was one of the first and most memorable meals I had when arriving in India. 

Photos from my first trip to India, Mysore, 1996

Only recently, after making it for so many years, did I finally obtain an authentic recipe for the tamarind gojju in India on our last retreat—the secret lies in obtaining fresh curry leaves and using a seedless tamarind pulp.

tips

  • The colour and taste will vary depending on the type of tamarind used. I use a partially dried, seedless tamarind pulp (on the right in the photo below), or when this isn’t available, I use a moist seedless tamarind pulp that comes compacted in a package (to the left).
  • The chilli commonly used in South Indian cooking is the Byaadagi chilli, which is known for its deep red colour. It is relatively sweet and less spicy. If you are unsure about the level of spice of the chilli you are using, leave it whole or cut it in half. The Byaadagi chilli and the seedless tamarind pulp can be purchased at your local Indian store.
  • The sauce will keep in the fridge for about a two months. I recommend doubling the recipe and freezing in smaller batches to use as needed.
tamarind chutney

ingredients

150g seedless tamarind pulp

3¼ cups boiling water

for the voggarane

2 Tbsp oil

¼ tsp mustard seeds

1 tsp fenugreek seeds

2 Byaadagi chillies, sliced in half

⅛ tsp asafoetida powder

10 fresh curry leaves

150g jaggery, or dark brown sugar

¼ tsp turmeric powder

⅓ cup unsweetened dried coconut

½ cup water

½ tsp fine rock salt

to serve

pongal

preparation

  1. Break the tamarind pulp into pieces and place in a bowl.  Pour 1¼ cups boiling water over the top and set aside for 30 minutes, mashing and turning the tamarind regularly to soften and break it up.
  2. Pour through a strainer, drain, use ½ cup boiling water to rinse out the bowl and pour over the tamarind pulp.
  3. Using the back of a spoon, scrape against the bottom of the strainer to extract as much of the thick tamarind liquid as possible. Do this for 5 minutes, then pour another ½ cup of boiling water. Keep doing this, scraping and pouring to extract as much of the thick tamarind liquid as possible until the water is used up. This process is fiddly and usually takes me about 15 minutes until I am satisfied with the amount of tamarind extracted.
  4. When you have extracted enough thick tamarind juice, either compost the remaining pulp or place it in a jar to use later in cooking. Don’t worry; the tamarind sauce will be quite liquid, and the jaggery will thicken it while it simmers. Set the tamarind sauce aside.

prepare the voggarane

  1. Heat the oil in a medium saucepan over medium heat. Add mustard seeds; when the seeds turn grey and pop, turn down the heat. Add the fenugreek, chilli, asafoetida, and curry leaves—fry for a few seconds.
  2. Pour in the tamarind sauce, bring to a rapid boil, turn down the heat, and add the jaggery/sugar. Allow to simmer uncovered for 10 minutes, or until it becomes slightly thicker and comes away from the edges around the saucepan.
  3. Add ½ cup warm water and coconut – blend in a high-speed blender for 1 minute.
  4. Pour the tamarind sauce into the blender, using a spatula to get as much out of the blender as possible. Allow the tamarind to simmer briefly, then add turmeric and salt. The tamarind sauce will thicken as it cools.

My preferred way of serving this is drizzled over this Pongal dish or as a dipping sauce with these samosas.