Tamarind Paste Recipe

Tamarind Paste is a magical ingredient that adds tangy, fruity and a delicate sweet flavor to your dishes. In this post I share in detail how to make it at home with just 2 ingredients tamarind pulp and water. Stir it in your chutney, sambar, rasam, curries, beverages, marinades, sauces, Pad Thai and the list is endless!

This homemade paste can last you more than a year in the refrigerator and it comes handy in your everyday cooking. If you are wondering what is Tamarind Paste? It is just tamarind pulp that has been cooked down with water and strained, to get a clean paste that’s free from sand, stones, shells and debris. You can also make your own tamarind concentrate by cooking this further.

About Tamarind Paste

In South Indian households, tamarind is widely used in everyday cooking and we use it in a lot of dishes, right from dal to stews and chutneys. Most cooks, soak a little tamarind in hot water, squeeze it and use it instantly. So making tamarind paste is not traditional to Indian cuisine in the past.

Many years ago when I first moved to Singapore, I tried store bought tamarind paste because we could not find tamarind easily. After tasting that I developed a dislike towards tamarind and had stopped using it completely for many years. The store bought tamarind paste had stones, sand or mud and it had a rusty and oily smell.

After a long break, I started soaking tamarind in hot water. I would refrigerate and use the softened pulp when needed. Still had to dilute it and strain every time. Later I moved over to making this tamarind paste and it’s really handy when you want to make Tamarind chutney instantly or want to use it in other dishes like sambar and rasam.

What kind of tamarind to use?

South Indian tamarind is very sour when compared to the Thai tamarind. Thai Tamarind is sweeter and can also be eaten on its own like a tangy fruit when you remove it from the shell. But Indian tamarind is very very tart and is best for cooking purposes. However in a pinch any kind of tamarind can be used to make the paste.

Seedless or with seeds? – I use seedless tamarind pulp because that’s what I buy. You can also use tamarind with the seeds.

You may want to check these recipes using tamarind
Tamarind Chutney
Tamarind Rice
Pulihora
Madras Chicken

Photo Guide

How to make Tamarind Paste (Stepwise Photos)

Preparation

1. Firstly clean tamarind to remove any unwanted particles if you find any like shells or strings. Heat 2 to 3 cups of water in a pot. Water should be hot not warm. Layer your tamarind in a wide bowl and pour half of the hot water. It must be fully immersed in water. If not pour more as needed. Do not use excess water else you will end up with hot splashes while simmering.

2. Leave it for about 45 minutes to 1 hour. Tamarind turns soft.

3. A lot of people blend this with additional water. However I prefer not to blend. So showing you how I do it. Squeeze the tamarind well with your hand.

4. Pass this through a strainer to another heavy bottom non reactive pot. you might find stones or shells of the tamarind or seeds, discard them. Do not use a wide pan.

5. Add the pulp back to the tamarind pot, add more water that was set aside and squeeze it again and repeat passing the left over pulp through the filter. You can do this once more if you wish.

Do not overdo, you might get mud or stones, just discard the pulp. or you can even make thin tamarind water and refrigerate to use the next 2 days.

Make the Tamarind Paste

6. Now you see a thick paste.

7. Cover it partially and boil on a medium flame until bubbling hot. Be careful as it splashes.

8. Cool the tamarind paste completely and store it in a clean dry glass jar.

Refrigerate and use within a month. If you want to store longer up to an year, transfer to freezer safe containers and freeze. Do not use plastic jars and spoons. Handle with dry spoons.

Expert Tips

• Do not overcook tamarind, the flavor and taste is lost. Soak it well to extract as much as possible.
• Do not filter the tamarind till the last bits, you end up getting dirt and stones. Rather discard the last portion to keep the paste clean. You do not want to waste even little bit of the tamarind, you can extract further, by adding 1 cup of water. Squeeze and then filter the thin tamarind water. Refrigerate and use up with in the next 2 days for sambar or pulusu.
• Do not use cookware made of reactive materials like aluminum or copper to cook tamarind.
• Storage – Never store tamarind paste in plastic containers always use glass jars, and if using glass jars with plastic lids, make sure the paste doesn’t touch the lid.

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