Tomato and Date Chutney (Tomato aar Khejurer Chaatni)

It has been a while since I have posted on my blog. Personal matters kept me away and as a result I was unable to post this recipe during Durga Puja.  Tomato and date chutney is a must have accompaniment with the bhog during Durga Puja.  If you have ever had the good fortune of partaking of the bhog during the Durga Puja celebrations of the Bengalis, then you may have had the pleasure of enjoying this chutney. So try out this simple but delicious chutney, I have added dried figs to the chutney to further enhance the flavour of the chutney.

Below is the video of the chutney and here is the YouTube url: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3_DIMCd0lQw in case you face a problem with opening the window below. The detailed recipe is below the video.

Ingredients:

• 3 Tomatoes 

• 3 or 4 Dates 

• 2 Dried Figs 

• Few raisins

• A pinch of turmeric powder

• A little less than ½ teaspoon ginger paste

• A little black mustard seeds

• Sugar to taste

• Less than one tablespoon of mustard oil or any other oil of your choice.

Method.

E

Chop the figs and soak them in some warm water along with the raisins.

Chop the tomatoes and the dates. Take care not to chop the dates into tiny pieces or they will get mushy while cooking and you will not have the pleasure of biting into the dates.

Heat the oil in a vessel of your choice and add the black mustard seeds.

Once the mustard seeds start crackling add the chopped tomatoes.

Stir fry, cover the vessel for a few minutes and then add a pinch of salt. The salt helps to soften the tomatoes quickly, besides also helping to balance the flavour of the chutney. Stir for a little while.

After the tomatoes have softened a bit add the turmeric powder and the ginger paste. Stir and cover it for a little while and then add the sugar. The quantity of the sugar will depend on how sweet you would like your chutney to be; you have to keep in mind that dates are sweet and therefore it would be wise to adjust the quantity of sugar keeping the sweetness of the dates in mind. Too much sugar along with the dates could make the chutney too sweet.

After stirring a bit, add water. Allow the chutney to cook for a while, do not immediately add the dates because they may completely dissolve if kept boiling for too long.

After some of the water has evaporated, add the chopped dates, raisins and figs.

Let the chutney cook till it has thickened, of course you can stop the cooking process if you do not want it to be too thick.

Just before switching off the flame add a few drops of lemon juice. The lemon juice acts as a preservative and also adds that bit of tang to this sweet chutney.