How to Prepare Tamarind

Preparation info
  • Makes

    1¼ cups

    • Difficulty

      Easy

Appears in
Season: Big Flavors, Beautiful Food

By Nik Sharma

Published 2018

  • About

This is the method I use to extract tamarind paste. I typically extract once with hot water, but some cooks might also do a second extraction, which depends on how much pulp was extracted the first time.

Ingredients

  • 8 to 12 whole tamarind fruit pods
  • or
  • 1 cup or oz [260

Method

Remove and discard as much of the outer brittle shell on the fruit pods by cracking it gently with your fingers. Discard any large stringy fibers that might be present. Then place the extracted fruit in a heat-proof, non-reactive bowl. Alternatively, if you’re working with the pre-cleaned seedless pulp, place it in a heat-proof, non-reactive bowl. Cover the pulp with the boiling water, stir, an