Condiments are like old friends, highly thought of, but often taken for granted. -Marilyn Kator
The aroma of dry red chilies hitting warm-hot oil…that my friends is what I call the essential of my cooking life. And this is one of the recipe that can keep that aroma, air tight in a bottle, at your disposal… at all times! I can safely say this aroma that we Indians call as “tadka”, is inseparable from us and our cuisine. I remember when one of my teachers met my mom, she looked at her hands and said, “I can say your mom must be a very good cook, just by looking at her hands. Those are tadka hands! “. We giggled in agreement. So here is that tadka in a bottle, in the form of jam. Feel free to slather it judiciously on any dish you want to upgrade with a punch. Or use it as a dip. Be it, your omelette, fried rice, noodles, momos etc or just drop a blob into your marinade, to spice things up. I bet it’s going to be your favorite condiment too.
This recipe calls for dry red chillies. You can deseed few or all of them to tone down the heat if you like.
Also some fresh red chillies like these. Also you could deseed few of them.
And one lemongrass stick, of which we will be using the root side soft bulb part only.
Let’s get started with the recipe:
1. Soak the dry red chillies in hot water for about 15 mins.
2. In a chopper add one roughly chopped onion, roughly chopped fresh and dry red chilies, 5-6 garlic cloves, an inch of ginger and finely chopped lemongrass.
3. Pulse a couple of times until we have a rough mass.
4. In 1/2 cup of hot water put a lemon sized ball of tamarind and allow it to soak and get mushy.
5. Heat 1/4 cup oil in a saucepan and add the chopped mushy chilly mass in, and cook for about 10 mins. (keep stirring)
6. Sieve the tamarind water and add to the saucepan, along with 1/2 tsp of salt and 2/3 cup of brown sugar. Cook for another 15 mins on low heat. Keep stirring.
7. Once you achieve a jam like consistency with a rich deep red color, add 1/2tsp of soya sauce, 1/2 tsp vinegar and 1 tbsp Oyester sauce. Stir and take off heat. Allow to cool completely before transferring to an airtight glass jar. Store in the refrigerator for up to a month. Enjoy alongside your fav dish, noodles pasta, fried rice, omelette, parathas, dosas etc.
Ingredients
- Dry red chillies- 10(deseed few to tone down the heat if you wish)
- Fresh red chillies- 6( deseed for lesser heat-optional)
- Garlic cloves- 5
- Onion- 1 medium
- Ginger- 1 inch piece
- Lemongrass- 1 stalk( only bulb side used)
- Oil- 1/4 cup
- Tamarind- small lime sized
- Water 1/2 cup (hot)
- Soya sauce-1/2 tsp
- Vinegar- 1/2 tsp
- Oyester sauce- 1 tbsp
Directions
- 1Soak the dry red chillies in hot water for about 15 mins.
- 2In a chopper add one roughly chopped onion, roughly chopped fresh and dry red chilies, 5-6 garlic cloves, an inch of ginger and finely chopped lemongrass.
- 3Pulse a couple of times until we have a rough mass.
- 4In 1/2 cup of hot water put a lemon sized ball of tamarind and allow it to soak and get mushy.
- 5Heat 1/4 cup oil in a saucepan and add the chopped mushy chilly mass in, and cook for about 10 mins. (keep stirring)
- 6Sieve the tamarind water and add to the saucepan, along with 1/2 tsp of salt and 2/3 cup of brown sugar. Cook for another 15 mins on low heator until jam like consistency achieved. Keep stirring.
- 7Once you achieve a jam like consistency with a rich deep red color, add 1/2tsp of soya sauce, 1/2 tsp vinegar and 1 tbsp Oyester sauce. Stir and take off heat. Allow to cool completely before transferring to an airtight glass jar. Store in the refrigerator for up to a month. Enjoy alongside your fav dish, noodles pasta, fried rice, omelette etc.
