sel et sucre

Category: sauces & syrups

  • Date Tamarind Chutney

    Date Tamarind Chutney

    I recently had the pleasure of dining at Rasika, a very popular DC Indian restaurant, and trying their famous palak chaat. This dish is an amazing medley of textures and flavors, with crispy spinach playing off a sour-sweet chutney and sweetened yogurt, and I knew almost immediately that I had to try my best to recreate it. I’ve dedicated this week to a series of posts on recreating all the pieces of Rasika’s palak chaat. This post is the second in a series of three. See post 1: Chaat Masala and post 3: Palak Chaat.

    This date tamarind chutney balances the sweetness of dates and jaggery sugar with the sourness of tamarind. The recipe is very simple, and you don’t even need to worry about using the exact ingredient amounts specified in the recipe; the sweetness of dates and sourness of tamarinds can vary greatly so don’t be afraid to adjust the flavors to your liking.

    (more…)

    Related Posts:

  • Strawberry Vinegar Reduction

    Strawberry Vinegar Reduction

    This is a jewel of a syrup, a deep ruby red reduction with the rich thick consistency of honey.  Take a taste and the intense strawberry flavor plays on your tongue, the sweetness balanced by the complex tartness of red wine vinegar. This syrup is incredibly versatile, allowing for a little bit of customization at each step along the way. You can make it with different berries or fruits (or combinations of fruits even), you can add in fresh herbs, you can reduce the syrup only slightly (a thinner consistency works best for mixing in drinks or vinaigrettes) or cook it down until it’s the consistency of honey, and once you’ve made it, there are an endless amount of possibilities for using it! I’ve listed some suggested uses after the recipe.

    (more…)

    Related Posts: