Tamarind

Tamarind.

Tamarind is a tropical evergreen tree native to Africa and cultivated in the tropics worldwide. Only the beans inside the pods are edible, and they have a taste ranging from slightly sour to sweet and sour, reminiscent of prunes. The beans have a fibrous, slightly juicy consistency.

Uses

Throughout the Middle East, tamarind is used in savory dishes, especially in stews, and is often combined with dried fruit.

Both the young leaves and the pods are used, and the raw pods are used only in hot dishes, being boiled beforehand. The beans can be eaten raw, cooked, or dried. They are used to make jams or as ingredients in various dishes or drinks. Tamarind is one of the ingredients in the famous Worcester sauce, but also in various sauces for roasts, such as Indian chutneys.

The sweeter fruits are most often eaten fresh, or are used to make sweet sauces for desserts. The beans also yield a very aromatic edible oil, and when roasted they are used as an ingredient in coffee.

Our tip: Make tamarind paste

Remove the beans from the pods (350 g), put them in a covered pot, pour in 250 ml of water and boil for about half an hour. Stir occasionally and add water if necessary. Strain this mixture so that you are left with only the pulp from the beans, without the husks or seeds. After straining, put it back in the pot and keep it on the heat for a while while stirring. Add 4 tablespoons of cane or palm sugar to the resulting paste and put it in a bowl in the refrigerator. Tamarind paste can be seasoned with an anise flower, ginger, garlic, Sichuan pepper, fennel or cinnamon.

Enjoy!

Storage

Wrap the pods in a cloth and keep them in the refrigerator. This will extend the shelf life to several months.