Tamarind is such a basic ingrediant in indian cooking. No recipe is complete without this awesome fruit. The tartness in this makes any gravy spectacular. The one hard thing is extracting the juice from this. Soaking it and then squeezing the pulp and straining it. I really find it hard when you have no time on hand. So i came up with a homemade pulp recipe which makes your life so easier.It is very easy to make too...
You can keep this jar in freezer and use it as you like..This tamarind pulp doesn't freezer rock hard, it freezes hard but you can scrape as mush you need from this. I hope you will love it as much as i do and ask me if you need any help.
Ingrediants:
Tamarind Fruit - 1 kg
Water - 1 liter
Salt - ½ cup
Method:
Take tamarind fruit in a large pot and break open it.
Add water to it and bring everything to a boil. Boil it for 10 mins.
Now remove it from heat and allow it to cool for a bit.
Take another large container and place a big holed colander over it .
Pour the tamarind mixture over this and using a ladle start pressing the mixture so that the pulp gets drained in the pot.
Do like this till you are left with the hard seeds and strings of the fruit.
Now add salt to the pulp and mix well. Allow it to cool completely.
Transfer this to a large freezer safe container and freeze it.
You can scrape as much pulp as you need when it is frozen for your recipes.
Important points:
1)Don't throw the left over seeds and pulp. Store that in fridge and use it in gravies and rasam.
2)Cool the mixture completely before freezing.
3) You can take a little amount of this mixture in a small container and keep it in fridge upto a week and use it.
Pictorial:
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| You need a block of tamarind fruit |
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| Break open the pack and add water to it |
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| bring it to a boil and simmer it for 10 mins |
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| Place a colander over a large bowl |
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| Pour the mixture over this |
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| Using a spoon press it |
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| till you are left with the pulp |
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| This is the extracted pulp |
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| add salt to it |
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| and mix well |
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| Transfer this to a large container |
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| Don't throw away the pulp which you got, Store that in a container and use it for gravy.. |
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| Transfer the container to freezer.. |
Chandrani
Very useful tarmerind pulp.
Cuisine Delights
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Cheah
Thanks for sharing this useful tip.
Gayathri NG
So helpful tip, looks so handy...
Priya
Very handy and helpful post.
anthony stemke
Thanks for this information on using tamarind. I always have trouble using a block of tamarind similar to your photo. I never felt like I was getting enough flavour and would end up supplementing with lemon juice. I am going to take your advice and store in the freezer.
Emma
Hello, thank you for this post. How do you defrost the tamarind for use? Thanks
Mina Joshi
Very useful tip. I tend to freeze it in ice trays and then remove the cubes in a bag. That way you can decide how much to defrost to use...If it's all frozen in one container, defrosting small amounts can be difficult and not advisable.
sandhyasanthosh
Nice tip. Even I do the same, but for extracting the pulp, I use the vegetable/fruit storage bag. The bag is like a fiber mesh, and just within 10 mins I can squeeze out the 1 kg tamarind pulp. And instead of storing the left over, I again dilute it with some more water, and store that in bottle, and use it for fish curry, rasam, sambhar for the immediate week.
Tamizh G
We can use pulp to gravy directly or should be diluted in water. .
Aarthi
@Tamizh GYou can add it directly no need to dilute
Anonymous
I suggest u freeze it in a ice cube tray and once frozen empty the cubes into a box or freezer bag and pop cubes into curry instead of scraping! We use tomato purée like that
Anonymous
How long can this be used ? when does it turn out bad - any leads?
Aarthi
@AnonymousAs long as it is deep freezed it stays good for many many months.
arun prasath
Hi aarthi . . thanks for a useful tip . . i have a doubt . . can i make this in a small batch which i can use for 2 weeks or so and store it in the fridge and not the freezer ?
Aarthi
@arun prasaththis can be kept in fridge for 1 week
Ranjini
Aarthi.. Is it advisable to use rock salt instead of table salt?? Will it be v hard when stored in freezer?