Dips & Sauces

One of the five 'mother sauces' in conventional French cuisine. Serve with your favourite steamed greens, vegetables, fish, chicken or crepes. This recipe yields ½ to ¾ cup.

A thick, refreshing chutney that tastes delicious with Indian snacks such as dhokla, paranthas, stuffed paranthas, bhajias, or just as a sandwich spread. This chutney tastes best fresh but can be refrigerated for about 10-12 days. This recipe makes 1 ¾ cup of chutney.

This is a basic sauce for pastas, sandwiches and dips that you can tweak depending on the use you put it to. If it's going to be a dip or a spread, increase the amount of Parmesan cheese to half a cup and oil by a few extra tablespoons. As a pasta sauce, increase the amount of garlic and olive oil in it. You'd be surprised what a big difference these small additions can make to the flavour.

Pomegranate sauce is a staple in Mediterranean cooking, but kicks ass even outside its traditional domain. You’d find it in supermarkets labelled as pomegranate molasses, and is easily made at home. Whenever you're looking for a beautiful balance of sweetness and mild sourness, you should give this sauce a try. The basic pomegranate sauce is versatile; you can drizzle it over ice cream or cheesecake, glaze or marinate meats with it, or use it in Indian curries. This recipe is a glam version of the basic sauce, and you'll find all about creating versions of it here. 

Even though I love continental cuisine, my husband - who likes very spicy food - is not very fond of it. So I've come up with this spicy version of bechamel sauce with some onions, and garlic & green chilly paste. He loves this sauce in au gratin bakes and lasagna. Increase the amount of garlic & green chilly paste if you'd like the sauce more spicy.