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Tamarind

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By Sri Owen

Published 1994

  • About

Tamarindus indica; asam, asem, asem Jawa. This is one of our many sources of sourness in cooking. In tropical countries, the pods are sold freshly picked from the tree. If the tamarind is already ripe, the skin is likely to be cracked, and is easily peeled off. In the West it is sold already pulped and packed in dark brown blocks. At the time of writing, fresh tamarind is available in Thai and Indian shops in Britain, and in the food halls of some large department stores in London.

Some recipes specify a small piece of tamarind pulp, about the size of a walnut, which is to be grilled, or heated in a heavy iron pan or skillet, until slightly charred all over. In all other cases, use tamarind water. Break a piece of pulp from the block, or the tamarind seeds from one whole pod, and place in a small bowl. Add 3–4 tbsp warm water, then squeeze and press with your fingers or a spoon, so that the water becomes thick and brown. Repeat the process until you have as much tamarind water as you need. Pass the water through a sieve and discard the solids. As a guide, 30 g/1 oz of tamarind will make about 170 ml/6 fl oz/ΒΎ cup of tamarind water; if the recipe specifies thick tamarind water, use twice as much tamarind.

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