When the Bengali Chutney fired Tomatoes and Hired Strawberries...

A short visit to supermarket on Friday evening on the way back home… The store was decorated with bright red strawberry posters. And signboards reading "Strawberries at rock bottom price!!!" Am I to be blamed if these were temptations enough for me to swiftly load my shopping cart with a box of these berries? I also quickly dumped some fresh cream packets thinking “Just in case”… Friday night, I was madly looking for something special to make with strawberries over the internet. I was spoiled for options too. Encountered numerous recipes but then I had a stringent criterion which none of them satisfied. I wanted my strawberries either in the form of a paste or cooked in some kind of a solution coz none at home would like its pieces on their own. I only like them in ice creams or milk shakes. Well, I made mascarpone cheese out of the fresh cream and let it set in the refrigerator Friday night. I went to bed undecided about what to make with strawberries. Next day when Abbas reminded of the hoards of tomatoes which we had bought with plans of making the infamous Bengali Chutney, “Ding Dong”, yes the Bell finally rang! I knew the fate of those red beauties!

Ingredients:

Strawberries – 12-15, (cut into 4-6 pieces each)

Dates – 6-7 (soak in warm water and cut into halves or quarters) - optional

Golden raisins – 20-30 - optional

Sugar – 2-3 tbsp (need to adjust as per taste)

Salt – ½ tsp

Ginger juice – ½ tsp

Tamarind pulp – 1 tbsp

Water – ½ cup

Oil – 1 tbsp

Mustard seeds – ½ tsp

Red chillies – 1-2

Method:

1. Heat oil in a pan and add mustard seeds. When they start spluttering, add broken red chillies and chopped strawberries.
2. Cover the pan with lid and simmer it. Strawberries will leave their own juice.
3. Once they are cooked, add dates, raisins, salt and ginger juice and combine. Cook on low flame for a minute.
4. Add Sugar, water and tamarind pulp. Adjust sugar according to your taste. (Ma and Abbas like their Chutney very tangy and spicy. So I add less sugar.)
5. Cook till the chutney is slightly thick and not runny.
6. Best served chilled with some papads. Dip papads in the chutney and enjoy.

Note:

1. If using tomatoes, use about 3-4 medium sized tomatoes.

2. We can also add Ambe Saat (in Amchigele) or Aam Satto (in Bengali) by chopping them.