hello

after a recent housemate leaving abruptly and going awol ( and coincedently leaving with bills to pay) I had the fortune of being left with a cupbaord full of spices... many were out of date and i had to chuck...however i am left with some interesting ones... the one thats got me is taramind.... now i know this is a sauce or can be a paste but this is described as taramind fruit and is dried....its a shame to waste it but i have used the sauce in a thai dish i cooked and found it to be quite over powering...

I dont know how to use this particular flavours especially in this form and it seems a shame to waste it... any ideas? I like to cook chicken, beef or lamb in indian, thai and chinese cooking.

Thanks sorry for ranting.....!!!!

xxclairexx

hey, a bit of a rant now and again does a power of good, well, better than bottling it up.

I'll answer this, as Mamta is in India at the moment, no doubt she will add her wisdom on her return.

The 'spice' of which you speak is tamarind. It is a fruit from the tamarind tree (yes, obvious, I know!) and is used in Indian cooking as a source of sweet and sour. It is available in many forms, the most convenient is the liquid concentrate. However, it is usually found as a 'brick' of pulp. If you have this, it needs mixing (thoroughly) with warm water, and after standing for a while, drianing off the tamarind water (with a sieve is easiest). This solution contains sugars and fruit acids which give a pleasant sweet/sour taste. It is used (mostly in Southern India), to add a sharpness to a dish, but nicely tempered with a little sweetness, think raspberry jam and lemon/lime juice.

A lovely dish using tamarind is pathia, made with prawns, or even fish. It is hot, sweet and sour.

HTH

Pls reply if you need more info.

Just to add, if you tap in Tamarind into the search engine on Mamta's site you will come up with a wide selection of recipes using tamarind in its various guises.

Tamarind sauce makes an excellent dipping sauce for bhajias (pakoras),tikkis, springrolls etc.

Dip the tamarind in warm water for a while, sqeeze the pulp and then sieve it, add jaggery (Gur)-- sugar can be used, Salt and Red chilli powder- mix- and it is ready.

In India, or to Indians living abroad, this sauce is known as Tamarind chutney or Imli ki Chutney. It is very popular and is eaten just like tomato ketchup.

I have 2 recipes on this site.

I often make a pan full and keep it in an empty ketchup bottle in the fridge or in small jars in a freezer.

Mamta