Cooking with Tamarind?

kuhlmeye

So, the title pretty much explains it. My parents got me a bottle of Tamarind sauce from a farmers market yesterday, but I have never used the stuff. Anyone have any good recipes that use it? Have you used it?

Also, apparently it doesn't have to be refrigerated? Can any confirm this?

adytum

There are lots of good curry recipes that use it. Look for Thai / Malay / Pakistani foods.

I tend to buy tamarind pulp and make my own juice as I'm cooking. I suppose you'd use the sauce in a similar manner?

UncleChet

Pad Thai! Get some rice noodles, peanuts, and other fine ingredients and have someone over for Thai food.

Atheraal

I haven't used it in a long time, but as I recall it makes for a great light stir fry sauce. Goes well with tropical fruits, ie mango or pineapple. Not sure about the refrigeration thing.

Mr Ray

So aparently Tamarind is a fruit, and a Tamarin is a small monkey.

This thread makes a lot more sense now.

adytum

Pad Thai takes a specific sauce of which tamarind is an ingredient.

It's not tamarind + noodles + stuff = pad thai

kuhlmeye

Hmmm... it does look like Pad Thai requires much more than my sauce. Stir-fry is a good idea.

I was also thinking of using it to make a sweet BBQ sauce or a marinade.

Niceguy Myeye

If you're making stuff at home, it doesn't have to be authentic to be tasty. You should take that sauce, some peanut butter, and some diced chili peppers and maybe some coconut milk and mix them together in a stir fry.

On a non related note, a Thai restaurant around here put a brass statue of a tamarind in front of their parking lot. It looked like a glorious golden poop.

here's a picture of some tamarind:

fightinfilipino

Tamarind also goes great as a flavoring for soups!

especially fish-based soups and stews. salmon, onions, tomatoes, chinese broccoli, and tamarind sauce in a soup, over rice, is good eats.