Hi, I'm making Mamta's beef madras curry at the weekend and at the bottom of the recipe it says you can use tamarind paste instead of vinegar and tomato puree. I've found some concentrated tamarind paste in my cupboard and I was wondering how much I should use? I'll be grateful for your help please.

If it is anything like my paste I'd replace each tablespoon of vinegar with a good half teaspoon of the paste -and I'm a tamarind lover. You can always add more!

as Winton says, it is powerful stuff, add a little, and taste!

Vinegar and tom puree? Common substitute some years ago was lemon juice and cane fruit jam. How tastes have changed.

Tamarind contains tartaric, malic, citric and hydroxycitric acids, which gives it that lovely tart taste.

Thanks for the quick and helpful replies! Will I add the tamarind paste to the marinade? The paste i'm using is made by TRS.

Hi Savs.

If you are following Mamta's original recipe: http://www.mamtaskitchen.com/recipe_display.php?id=10573, I would add it at stage (5) were you would have added the tomato puree so the tamarind can dissolve in the hot stock.

Winton

Thanks Winton! I'll let you know how it turns out.

Hope it was good Savs. I made Mamta's Chicken Jalfrezi last night,

http://www.mamtaskitchen.com/recipe_display.php?id=10466

and added just a teaspoon of tamarind paste. It made a very good addition and a nice change.

Winton

Hi Winton, my beef madras turned out fantastic. I added about a teaspoon and a half of tamarind paste. I used braising steak and cooked it for 3 hours. The meat melted in your mouth mmm definitely making it again. Thanks again for the advice. Think i'll give the jalfrezi a go next week!

Grat Sav, it is nice when things work out, isn't it?

but a Jal frezi is essentially a stir fry dish. It doesn't need tamarind (or yoghurt or cream come to that). It was developed by Bengalis for the Raj, using left over meat from the Sunday roast.

Surely, if you want a creamy sauce (gravy?) then there are other recipes. If one continues to add ingredients to recipes, they all end up the same, a kitchen sink curry!

I've tried a few jalfrezi curries and they've never had yoghurt or cream in them. They've always had tomatoes and I think peppers.

I'd have thought if you started adding dairy products to a jalfrezi/jhaal faraizi it was no longer a jalfrezi but some thing else, its origins really being a sort of anglo-indian 'bubble and squeak!'

Adding some tamarind was certainly not any attempt to create a 'gravy' but to give the dish some tartness if the tomatoes were low on flavour.

Winton