This is a simple recipe for a great dipping sauce, with a couple of off the wall ingredients to give it a bit of a kick. Superb with Rustic Pub Scotch Eggs as well as pretty much anything cooked al fresco in the Great British Summer … whenever that might happen.
Gareth’s Tamarind and Date Dipping Sauce
The recipe is reproduced here with the permission of its creator, Gareth Webster.
Equipment
- Large pan
- Sieve
- Sharp knife
- Chopping board
- Food blender or Nutribullet
- Empty jam jars
Ingredients
- 800g chopped tomatoes
- 1 onion, finely chopped
- 125g chopped dates
- 2 applies, cored and finely chopped
- 75g dark brown sugar
- 3 tbsp treacle
- 2 tbsp tamarind pulp
- 175ml malt vinegar
- 2 tsp Worcester sauce*
- 2 tsp mustard powder*
- 1 tsp cayenne*
- 1 tsp paprika*
The sauce does have a bit of a spicy kick. This can be reduced by halving the quantity of the asterisked (*) ingredients.
Method
- Soak tamarind in water.
- Sieve the pulp.
- In a large pan, fry the onion until brown.
- Add all of the other ingredients directly into the pan, including the Tamarind pulp.
- Simmer for an hour. Whilst the sauce is simmering, sterilise the jam jars.
- Leave to cool for an hour.
- Blitz in a food blender.
- Drain through a sieve into the sterilised jam jars.
Hints and Tips
- If fresh tamarind is not available, you can use 2 tbsp of tamarind paste.
- Using a Nutribullet will liquidise the ingredients, so no need to use a sieve.
