3 posts tagged “tamarind”
Purplesque has been making me drool. Her blog entries on homemade Indian food always leave me hungry and throughly impressed. In the kitchen, as far as Indian food is concerned, I've never ventured further than curry. So sad, right? Purple really inspired me to expand my Indian cooking repertoire, so off to the local Indian grocery store I went with stars in my eyes and ingredients in my mind that I could hardly pronounce.
I had Good Friday off from work, so I stopped by Samosa House/Bharat Bazaar for lunch. It's half Indian deli and half Indian grocery store, so I killed two birds with one stone by ordering yummy potato samosas for lunch and stocking up on some Indian ingredients/spices. Since I had a giant head of romanesco (heirloom cauliflower), pakoras came to mind instantly.
I breaded my florets in a batter made out of chana besan (chick pea flour), rice flour, ginger, cumin, serrano chiles and ground coriander. I served it with raita (mint and coriander yogurt sauce) and a tamarind chutney. I love the way the spices really infuse everything from the batter to the dipping sauces. Now I'm obsessed with Indian food... there's definitely more to come.
As promised ladies & gents... tamarind gets a taste of the sweet life. For my overly ambitious attempt at French macarons, I had made tons of tamarind caramel for the filling. I should have known better is all I have to say about that. Bad baker plus finicky recipe equals one giant culinary disaster. Yikes.
Out of that nightmare, my batch of tamarind caramel was the only thing good that came out of it. I was ready to experiment. I liked the flavor combination. The tangy tamarind was toned down by the buttery caramel. I also added a good sprinkling of fleur de sel and five spice powder just to heighten the flavor of the tamarind. It's addicting, especially right when it comes out of the oven.
Sorry for the mini-post. Lunar new year is approaching quickly and according to Chinese tradition the house (bad luck) must be cleaned out to make room for the good luck. What can I say? I'm superstitious. I just cleaned off the steps and now it's time to replace the foil under the gas burners. How Chinese is that? :)
Try this recipe. People will ask you if you put crack in it.
Tamarind Caramel Popcorn
The Caramel:
200 grams sugar
3 tablespoons butter
200 grams of heavy cream
1/4 cup of tamarind paste
1 teaspoon of ground cinnamon
pinch of five spice powder
6 to 8 cups of popped popcorn (I do mine in a wok with a few teaspoons of canola oil)
fleur de sel, to taste
Heat the sugar in a heavy bottomed pan on moderate heat. Have everything else on hand since this is all gonna happen really quick. You'll start to see the edges of the sugar begin to liquefy/color. At this point, begin slowly stirring the sugar so that it can melt evenly. Once it has turned a nice caramel brown add your butter and step back. Beware. Making caramel is dangerous. The boiling sugar is hotter than boiling water, so I'd wear long sleeves if I were you. After the butter is incorporated, add the cream. Scary. It'll seize up for a second. If you heat your cream up or bring it to room temperature beforehand, it won't be as scary. Add your tamarind paste and spices and you're all set to coat your popcorn. You can also jar up your caramel at this point and save it for later. Impatient eaters, should preheat their ovens to 250 degrees. Pour the caramel over the popcorn and fold it until evenly coated (or not. Sometimes I like having pieces that are extra coated with caramel and some pieces that just have a hint of flavor. Up to you). Spread it evenly on a baking sheet lined with parchment. This allows for easy clean-up. Give it a generous sprinkle of fleur de sel. Bake for about an hour, giving it a stir every 15 minutes. Allow it to cool, if you can stand it, and then break it apart and enjoy!
Now that I've had my blogging fun, I really must get back to those chores. I feel like Cinderella.
I admit that they did sit in the refrigerator a few days before I could get motivated. A little Google research revealed that tamarind was one of the flavoring elements of Pad Thai and that it was a common ingredient in Asian and Latin American cooking. I see, I see. I did not know that. I also learned that I would have to somehow separate the fibers and seeds from the pulp. This is nothing like pitting plums. With a little help from the internet, I learned that the best way to extract the pulp would be to boil the deshelled pods with a bit of water. The heat and water would liquefy the pulp, coaxing the seed and fibers away. After this step, I pushed the mixture through my trusty tamis to separate the tamarind paste. I had a nice little jar of fresh tamarind paste ready to be used.
Naturally, my first experiment was a version of Pad Thai (a very bastardized version). I didn't have any of the iconic fish sauce so I subbed in a little soy sauce, a spoonful of crunchy peanut butter, a dollop of oyster sauce, some sambal and a squirt of ketchup. That's right. You'd be surprised at how the sugar in the ketchup balances out the tang of the tamarind perfectly. Now you see why I call this dish a bastardized Pad Thai? :) I sauted some yu choy, shitake mushrooms and carrots for the vegetable element of the dish. I also fried up a few tofu rectangles for the protein. To finish it off, I served it with radish sprouts and lime wedges. Very tasty, but in the end I renamed the dish "Spicy Tamarind Noodles". Maybe I should have been cliche and called it "everything but the kitchen sink noodles". Pad thai would just be straight misleading.
Coming soon:
Get excited... one more post coming up about tamarinds!!! And this one is a dessert!
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