Amli or tamarind is a very widely used ingredient in regional cooking in India as well as in other countries such as Thailand. Tamarind paste is commonly used as a base to make chutneys for a variety of street foods found all over India. This particular recipe makes enough tamarind paste for you to store away and use as you need for your next Street Food party! We take the paste one step further to make a tangy and spicy chutney to use on our favorite dishes.
Amli Paste (Tamarind Paste)
Prep time
Cook time
Total time
Ingredients
- 14 ounce block of seedless tamarind pulp
- 2 cups water
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon ground jeeru (ground cumin powder)
- 1 tablespoon lal mirchu (cayenne powder)
- 1 tablespoon brown sugar or gaur (jaggery/palm sugar)- OPTIONAL
Instructions
- Chop the tamarind block into large pieces
- Add tamarind pulp pieces directly into the InstantPot
- Add 2 cups of water into the InstantPot
- Stir Well
- Close InstantPot lid to lock it
- Turn vent on the lid to CLOSE VENT to prevent steam from escaping
- Set pot to MANUAL mode
- Set to HIGH PRESSURE
- Set timer to 10 minutes
- Once alarm goes off, manually release the steam by opening the vent. The silver prong will drop back into the lid. BE CAREFUL OF THE HOT STEAM
- Open the lid
- Mash the cooked tamarind pulp using a potato masher until it becomes a softened paste
- Place a strainer over a large bowl and using the back of a spoon, strain the pulp through the strainer
- There will be seeds and tamarind strings left in the strainer which you will throw away
- At this point, you can store the tamarind paste in a glass jar in the freezer or refrigerator for later use- if you want to make the chutney, continue with the next step
- To the tamarind pulp in your bowl, add the salt, jeeru (ground cumin powder), lal mirchu (cayenne pepper) and whisk well. Add water to the paste until you reach your desired consistency of the chutney. The chutney will be VERY tart at this point and you can add the brown sugar/gaur (jaggery/palm sugar) to cut through the tartness.
- You are now ready to use this chutney for your favorite foods!
- If not using immediately, refrigerate or freeze
Notes
Serving suggestion:
Use this paste to make chutney or store as a paste to use in various dishes: bhel, chaat, sev usal, sambar, Thai dishes, etc.
Variations:
As mentioned in the technique, you can add brown sugar or gaur (jaggery/palm sugar) to the chutney to cut through the acidity as it is very tart without it.
NO ONION/NO GARLIC VARIATION: There is no onion or garlic in this recipe.
VEGAN VARIATION: This recipe is completely vegan!
Storage Options:
Mason Jars, Plastic containers, glass containers, freezer proof containers, freezer safe ziploc bags
You can portion out the paste if you do not think you will use all of it at once.
Use this paste to make chutney or store as a paste to use in various dishes: bhel, chaat, sev usal, sambar, Thai dishes, etc.
Variations:
As mentioned in the technique, you can add brown sugar or gaur (jaggery/palm sugar) to the chutney to cut through the acidity as it is very tart without it.
NO ONION/NO GARLIC VARIATION: There is no onion or garlic in this recipe.
VEGAN VARIATION: This recipe is completely vegan!
Storage Options:
Mason Jars, Plastic containers, glass containers, freezer proof containers, freezer safe ziploc bags
You can portion out the paste if you do not think you will use all of it at once.
