Tamarind paste is a staple everyday basic ingredient that is used almost daily in South Indian cooking. Making Tamarind paste at home is now easy. It is more budget friendly, convenient to make tamarind paste or pulp at home in bulk and freeze. This makes your everyday cooking very easy.
Tamarind Paste Recipe
Some of the staple ingredient that I always have in my freeze is tamarind paste and ginger garlic paste. I can never run out of it. Every month I make a big batch and store them in my freezer. Making tamarind juice fresh everytime is not practical at all, It takes time and also you have to discard the half extracted fruit which can be wasteful.
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Since Tamarind is an important ingredient in every South Indian cooking. Making them as this paste and storing makes your cooking easier. Also it is budget friendly and reduce food wastage in kitchen.
About Homemade Tamarind paste
Tamarind is a basic ingredient in everyday Indian cooking. No South Indian recipe is complete without this fruit. The tartness in this makes any gravy spectacular. Specially in my tamarind chutney, puliyogare recipe and my aachi's tamarind rasam. 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. Also wasting half extracted tamarind fruit can be wasteful. So I came up with a homemade paste recipe which makes your life so easier. You have to check my aachi's chilli tamarind pickle recipe too.
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.
Similar Recipes
Ingredients
- Tamarind - Make sure to use tamarind that are seedless and doesn't have fibre. If you find seeds in your tamarind, sort it out and remove the seeds and string from it. I like to use brown tamarind than black. Since black tamarind pulp may turn your curry darker in colour.
- Salt - fine sea salt is used. Rock salt may not work as it may not dissolve well.
- Water - water is used only to cook the tamarind. So don't add too much water. Too much water can make your tamarind paste watery which will make the tamarind paste freeze rock solid.
Step by Step Pictures
1)Take tamarind fruit and break it open into small pieces. Check for seeds, fibre and shells. Remove all of it and discard. You need only tamarind fruit. Take the tamarind fruit in a sauce pan. Add water to it and place it on heat.
2)Bring everything to a boil and cook it for 30 mins. Now the tamarind must have softened. Keep mixing inbetween.
3)Once tamarind fruit is cooked and softened. Take it off the heat and let it cool uncovered for 30 minutes.
4)Take the cooled tamarind pulp in a blender and puree till super smooth. No need to add water. Grind them in batches if needed. It has to be blended till super smooth.
5)Once the whole batch is ground. Rinse the blender with some water if needed and add the water to the tamarind pulp and mix. Now take the tamarind pulp back in the sauce pan. Place it on heat and let it cook for 15 minutes. Keep mixing. This step removes any extra moisture from the tamarind.
6)Now Remove this tamarind pulp to the bowl and let it cool down for 30 minutes. Once it is cooled, add salt to the pulp and mix well.
7)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.
8)You can store the pulp in a small glass jar in fridge upto a week.
Watch Tamarind Paste Video
Expert Tips
Choosing Tamarind - Make sure to use tamarind that are seedless and doesn't have fibre. If you find seeds in your tamarind, sort it out and remove the seeds and string from it.
Never skip salt - don't skip the salt in this recipe. Because salt helps with preserving and also it ensures the tamarind pulp doesn't freeze rock solid and stays scoopable.
Boil the mixture well - Once the tamarind paste is ground, place it on heat and cook the mixture slightly so the extra water evaporates also the heat helps with the preservation.
Storing and Freezing Technique - Once tamarind pulp is made, Cool the mixture completely before freezing. You can take a little amount of this mixture in a small container and keep it in fridge upto a week and use it. This mixture stays good in freezer upto 6 months. Even after freezing the tamarind pulp stays scoopable because of the salt added.
Usage - This is a concentrated tamarind paste. You can use this directly in curry, kuzhambu and gravies that requires tamarind
FAQ
Q: Which type of tamarind is best for making tamarind paste?
You have to use tamarind that doesn't have seeds, strings. Make sure to sort out seeds and strings before using. You can use black or brown tamarind for this recipe.
Q: Will the tamarind paste harden when frozen?
No the tamarind paste will not harden in freezer because of the salt used in the recipe.
Q: Do I need to dilute the tamarind paste in water before using in cooking?
No need to dilute the tamarind in water, you can add them directly into curries.
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How to Make Tamarind Paste at Home (Homemade Tamarind Paste)
Equipment
Ingredients
- 1 kg Seedless Tamarind Fruit
- 2 cups Water
- 1 cup Fine Salt
Instructions
- Take tamarind fruit and break it open into small pieces. Check for seeds, fibre and shells. Remove all of it and discard. You need only tamarind fruit.
- Take the tamarind fruit in a sauce pan. Add water to it and place it on heat. Bring everything to a boil and cook it for 30 mins. Now the tamarind must have softened. Keep mixing inbetween.
- Once tamarind fruit is cooked and softened. Take it off the heat and let it cool uncovered for 30 minutes.
- Take the cooled tamarind pulp in a blender and puree till super smooth. No need to add water. Grind them in batches if needed. It has to be blended till super smooth.
- Once the whole batch is ground. Rinse the blender with some water if needed and add the water to the tamarind pulp. Mix well.
- Now take the tamarind pulp back in the sauce pan. Place it on heat and let it cook for 15 minutes. Keep mixing. This step removes any extra moisture from the tamarind.
- Now Remove this tamarind pulp to the bowl and let it cool down for 30 minutes. Once it is cooled, add salt to the pulp and mix well.
- 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.
- You can store the pulp in a small glass jar in fridge upto a week.
Video
Nutrition
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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?
Sandhya Venkatesh
Tried this method and we get a big batch of tamarind pulp with minimal waste. Making this when we have free time and storing it helps us during busy cooking days.