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Tamarind


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I think my tamarind usage is pretty basic -- usually for savory sauces/dips/chutney, tamarind rice, some veggies and channa dhal.

I think the application of tamarind in a sweet dish would be wonderful, just a hint perhaps? Although, I've never used it in that manner.

Tamarind Jam sounds delightful, I'll have to give that a try.

--Jenn

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We like to do our own "fusion" cuisine by making the tamarind-honey barbecue sauce in Gray Kuntz's cookbook and serving it over a pan-roasted onglet, with rice and Salvadoran-style red beans. Kind of France meets Asia and Central America by way of New York and Mt. Pleasant (my 'hood).

I'm on the pavement

Thinking about the government.

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I'd be interested in seeing some desserts with tamarind! I love the way it makes my copper and brass vessels shine.

Naturellement is a range of excellent jams, syrups and a few other kinds of foods produced in Auroville, and now being sold to a wider market. They make a tamarind jam which is FANTASTIC. Not everyone might agree - its one of those love it or loathe it products, but I think it delivers a sweet-sour-fruity kick that I've never got from any other jam.

The lady who makes it told me that she was just trying to make a tamarind syrup one day and the batch got too thick, so she decided to go all the way and see if it could become solid enough to qualify as a jam and this is the result. She said the ingredients are very basic - dried tamarind, sugar, maybe some lime and absolutely no preservatives. Why don't you give it a try?

Vikram

That sounds very interesting Vikram. Must try it sometime. Somehow I can almost taste it - is it a bit like pomegranate molasses? The sorbet, the BBQ sauce and the syrup sound delicious too. I love the taste of tamarind (especially the concentrate) but I have never done more with it than the usual stuff like sambhar, tamarind rice, meethi chutney and curries. I did, however, make a drink out of pom. molasses which was quite nice.

Suman

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I did, however, make a drink out of pom. molasses which was quite nice.

Suman

Suman:

That sounds interesting. Would love to try your recipe.

I use tamarind for sambhar, tamarind rice, green chili chutney with tamarind and toasted sesame seeds, Coconut chutney powder, and the Kerala specialty Puliingi -with green chilies, ginger and tamarind.

Ammini Ramachandran

www.Peppertrail.com

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Hello Ammini,

Here's my recipe (if you can call it that):

Dilute pom. molasses and add sugar to taste. Serve chilled with ice. Maybe you can even do something a bit jal-jeera-ish to it like add some chat masala or rock salt, but I haven't tried that yet.

Suman

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Hello again Ammini,

Here's another (and I believe, ancient) Indian recipe to use up leftover pomegranate molasses. I found it in a wonderful book called 'The Spice Trail'. I've made it so often that now I just add in things rather than follow measurements precisely. It comes out good every time.

Make Rajma as usual, add some chopped beetroot to it along with PM. Adjust the seasonings. Garnish with chopped walnuts. Not only delicious, but also stunning with its burgundy redness.

(It occurs to me as I write this that you could perhaps throw in some fresh mint )

I haven't typed out the recipe for copyright reasons, but if you need to clarify something, please feel free to PM me.

If you're into Middle-eastern food, PM goes very well with lamb and mint.

Suman

v

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Make Rajma as usual, add some chopped beetroot to it along with PM. Adjust the seasonings. Garnish with chopped walnuts. Not only delicious, but also stunning with its burgundy redness.

(It occurs to me as I write this that you could perhaps throw in some fresh mint )

suman,

do you put the beetroot in raw? how finely do you chop it? and you don't cook the dish any more after you add it?

thanks,

mongo

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The recipe calls for roasted beetroot. The only beetroot that I normally get to see here is the cooked, vacuum-packed kind. So I chop it up into about 1 cm dice and add it towards the end. You can also drizzle some walnut oil on top if you have some lying about.

Suman

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I love to drink tamarind in the summer -- melt tamarind paste and sugar in boiling water to get a syrup, which I later dilute with water and a lot of crushed ice. You can get a tamarind soft drink at mexican places but it has too much sugar for my taste.

But you have to be careful with it, right? Part of the reason it is so cooling, I am told, is that it thins the blood, or lowers blood pressure or something like thatl. Does anyone know exaclty? I just know from my dad that ingesting too much tamarind or too many fava beans were two tricks people would use to get out of the army.

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