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Tamarind

Bark and pods

Tamarind

Tamarindus indica

Sour-sweet pulp from brown tamarind pods; soaked and strained to sour curries, sambar, chutneys and drinks.

Also called: tamarind paste, imli, tamarindo, asam jawa, sampalok

  • Fruity & sour
  • No heat
Buying & storing80 recipes

Photo: Jungle Rebel, via Wikimedia Commons (CC-BY-SA-3.0)

Flavour and aroma

sour, fruity, date-like, slightly sweet. Tart, sweet and fruity.

Heat
No heat
Forms
paste, dried, liquid

How to use it

  • soak

    Soak a lime-sized piece (about 20 g) in ½ cup hot water for 15–20 minutes, squeeze and mash, then strain out seeds and fibre.

  • infuse · Simmering technique

    Simmer the pulp in the dish for at least 5–10 minutes to cook out the raw taste; for rasam, boil it with tomatoes and spices before the dal goes in.

  • Sours South Indian sambar and rasam
  • Base for tamarind chutney (imli) for chaat
  • Used in pad thai, Thai sour curries and Indonesian sayur asem
  • Made into drinks such as agua de tamarindo

Identifying good quality

Sold as pressed blocks of brown pulp with seeds and fibres, as seedless paste and as concentrate. Good blocks are soft, dark brown, moist and sour-sweet; very dark, hard blocks are old.

  • Not to be confused with Kokum: Kokum is a thin dried purple rind with a softer, fruitier sourness.

Origin and history

Origin: Tropical Africa.. Grown and used: Grown across India (the world's largest producer), South-East Asia, Mexico and Africa..

Tamarind reached India in ancient times, long enough ago that it is often thought to be native. It is the main souring agent of South Indian cooking (sambar, rasam, puli kuzhambu), Gujarati dal and many chutneys, and also central to Thai and Mexican cooking.

Commonly told; not firmly documented

In masalas, pastes and sauces

Recipes with tamarind

71 more