Tamarind

Tamarind is the fruit of a tropical tree. Its brown pods hold sticky, dark pulp around hard seeds. The pulp is very sour, with a fruity, date-like sweetness behind it. It is used as a souring agent across South and Southeast Asia, Mexico, the Caribbean and the Middle East.

How to do it

Tamarind is sold in three main forms. The block gives the best flavor.

1. Break off 50 g (about 2 oz) of pulp from a block.
2. Pour over 150 ml (⅔ cup) of hot water and leave it for 15 minutes.
3. Squeeze and mash the pulp with your fingers to loosen it from the seeds and fibers.
4. Push it through a sieve, scraping the underside. Throw away what stays behind.

You will have a thick, brown liquid, often called tamarind water or paste. Make it thicker or thinner by changing the water.

Jars of tamarind concentrate are ready to use but much stronger, darker and saltier. Use about a quarter to a third of the amount a recipe gives for homemade paste. Jars labeled tamarind paste vary from thin to thick, so taste and adjust.

How to use it

• Pad thai sauce: mix tamarind paste with fish sauce and palm sugar in roughly equal parts, then taste.
• Sour South Indian dishes such as sambar and rasam, and many fish curries.
• Sweet and sour chutneys to serve with samosas and chaat.
• Drinks such as Mexican agua de tamarindo.

Substitutes

• Lime juice with a little brown sugar, about 1 tablespoon lime juice and 1 teaspoon sugar for each tablespoon of paste. It is sharper and less fruity.
• Pomegranate molasses, for a similar sweet-sour depth.
• Mango chutney thinned with lime juice, in a pinch.

How to store it

Keep blocks well wrapped in a cool cupboard for months. Homemade tamarind water keeps for about a week in the fridge, or freeze it in ice cube trays. Opened concentrate keeps for months in the fridge.

Common mistakes

• Using concentrate in the amount meant for homemade paste. The dish becomes very sour and dark.
• Leaving seeds or fiber in the paste.