My husband bought tamarind. What should we do with it?

[LavenderBlue]

He read the replies to the pomegranate thread and now wants some SDMB answers.

I think the two of us should start buying foods we actually know how to prepare for a few months . . .

[ultrafilter]

Where’s the fun in that?

Most fruits work pretty well in ice cream–perhaps you could try Tamarind ice cream?

[Angua]

Tamarind is a tart fruit. It works best with spicy Thai and Indian dishes.

We tend to use it as a dip with dry, fried savoury food such as samosas, cassava, and things like that. I can’t think of any recipes off hand, but any good Thai/Indian cookbook should provide you with many uses.

Enjoy!

[silenus]

Stuff it!

In a chicken, silly. Take a lime and a lemon and a tamarind and quarter them, stuff them into the chicken, add a little fresh sage and rosemary, and roast. Yummy!

[fortytwo]

@Angua

Tamarind is a tart fruit. It works best with spicy Thai and Indian dishes.

We tend to use it as a dip with dry, fried savoury food such as samosas, cassava, and things like that. I can’t think of any recipes off hand, but any good Thai/Indian cookbook should provide you with many uses.

Enjoy!

Angua When we eat in our local Indian restaurant we usually have a few poppudums to keep us going til’ the main meal arrives. Accompanying these are usually 2/3 dishes one of which is a very pungent vegetable dish. I’ve always thought Tamarind was involved, is that likely?

[KarlGrenze]

You could also make juice.

Just a couple of links, there are tons more online.

[_xiao_wenti]

I like to soak the pulp overnight to extract the juice. Then add to chicken or fish stock and make soup. Add pork, bok choi, won sen noodles, lime, chili – you have a wonderful quick meal that even my finickey son will eat.

[Angua]

@Vetch

Angua When we eat in our local Indian restaurant we usually have a few poppudums to keep us going til’ the main meal arrives. Accompanying these are usually 2/3 dishes one of which is a very pungent vegetable dish. I’ve always thought Tamarind was involved, is that likely?

To be honest, I couldn’t tell you, unless you know what its called. Tamarind is a rather tart, almost lemony taste. You could always ask the restauranteur.

[Tamerlane]

@Vetch

Angua When we eat in our local Indian restaurant we usually have a few poppudums to keep us going til’ the main meal arrives. Accompanying these are usually 2/3 dishes one of which is a very pungent vegetable dish. I’ve always thought Tamarind was involved, is that likely?

My general experience with ( numerous ) Indian restaurants in my area is that fried appetizers ( samosas, pakoras et al. ) usually come with two dipping condiments, one a green, seemingly mint-based “hot” sauce ( it generally isn’t hot enough by my standards to be a sweat-inducer ) and one a dark brown tamarind-based “sweet & sour” sauce.

• Tamerlane

[Anastasaeon]

Everytime I see or hear the word “tamarind”, I think of this (very tongue in cheek) site.

Worth looking into, though, is this quote from the page:

The news just keeps rolling in. Reader Christa points out that the FDA considers tamarind unfit for human consumption, siting the following reason:

 Reason: FILTHY
 Section: 402(a)(3), 801(a)(3); ADULTERATION
 Charge: The article appears to consist in whole or in part
 of a filthy, putrid, or decomposed substance or be otherwise
 unfit for food.

Not sure how long ago that was… the link they provide goes to the FDA page, though.

[Qadgop_the_Mercotan]

@Tamerlane

My general experience with ( numerous ) Indian restaurants in my area is that fried appetizers ( samosas, pakoras et al. ) usually come with two dipping condiments, one a green, seemingly mint-based “hot” sauce ( it generally isn’t hot enough by my standards to be a sweat-inducer ) and one a dark brown tamarind-based “sweet & sour” sauce.

• Tamerlane

Our Indian restaurants in the midwest have these two, along with onion chutney, which is a bright red.

[rjk]

@Tamerlane

My general experience with ( numerous ) Indian restaurants in my area is that fried appetizers ( samosas, pakoras et al. ) usually come with two dipping condiments, one a green, seemingly mint-based “hot” sauce ( it generally isn’t hot enough by my standards to be a sweat-inducer ) and one a dark brown tamarind-based “sweet & sour” sauce.

• Tamerlane

The Indian sweet shop I frequent also serves great samosas, but the tamarind sauce they serve is bright red and syrupy. I could drink it by itself!

Unlike the operators of the site Anastasaeon linked to, I love tamarind candy. It’s just tamarind pulp cooked down with sugar, made into balls, and rolled in salt. Here in Vancouver it seems like half the corner groceries carry it, and I’ve seen it at least one supermarket. (Note: If you get teh commercial kind instead of making your own, watch out for seeds! They’re harder than your teeth. Trust me.)

Finally, you could save a few of those seeds and try growing your own tree, but watch out for the demons!

[DarkPrince]

@Anastasaeon

Everytime I see or hear the word “tamarind”, I think of this (very tongue in cheek) site.

Damn, I clicked this thread specifically to link to bad-candy.

Umm…oh well, post count +1!

[passengerpigeon]

There is a very, very good Filipino dish called sinigang which is essentially an all-purpose soup flavored with tamarind with whatever you have thrown in. My mother always made it with chicken broth, chicken, water chestnuts and onions and served it over rice.

Sadly, it’s very complicated to make tamarind soup base from tamarinds, so most recipes assume you just go buy Tamarind Soup Mix, which costs about 40 cents at any Asian supermarket.

–p

[hawthorne]

Beef rendang is a great Malay dry(ish) curry that features tamarind. It adds wonderful sourness in the background to contrast with the sweetness of the coconut. I use a block of dried pulp, but fresh pulp soaked in boiling water would be even better.

[Gyrate]

I think it’s disgusting that people are making candy and curries out of those cute little monkeys, and…
What? Tamarind?
…Never mind…