I think I may have enough
Tamarind Sauce now.

The small drop of tamarind sauce that accompanies my Indian delivery is never quite enough. In a fit of turnover, I took the entire mass of tamarind pulp I had in the fridge and finally processed it properly. As you can see this wedge of tamarind, easy to find at your local Indian grocer, is big (very cheap) and packed with seeds. Of course you can also find the spices I’ve listed in the recipe at the Indian grocer too.

Inspired by this, my adapted recipe for tamarind sauce… from the brick of tamarind pulp:

400 grams of tamarind pulp

3 cups of water

2 teaspoon cumin powder

2 teaspoon chaat masala

1 teaspoon dried ginger powder

1 teaspoon red chili powder

1/4 teaspoon asafetida

3 tablespoon sugar

1/4 cup of water

1.) Cut up pulp into 12 relatively equal chunks and put in a medium-sized saucepan. Cover with the 3 cups of water and bring to a boil on medium heat.

2.) Once boiling, reduce heat and let simmer while constantly stirring. You will see that the chunks will be breaking down. Aid this breakdown by pushing on the chunks.

3.) Take off the heat and let cool for 5 minutes. Then use a masher to continue breaking down the chunks until it is at a ketchup-like consistency.

4.) Pour mixture into a sieve and press through into a separate bowl. Do it in batches if need be. Discard the remaining seeds or put in the compost bin. It should now look like tamarind paste. Return it to the saucepan.

5.) Cook on low heat with the sugar and spices until you can see that the sugar has dissolved. Add the water and mix well again.

6.) Do a taste test and add what you need more of. Take off burner, let cool and transfer to a container. Store in the fridge and use often!

Now you can have all the tamarind you need!

Or maybe this is a me-problem 🤪