Tamarind in all Its Tangy-ness

Seeing whole Tamarind for the first time in about six, seven years felt like a shock. This is after being comfortable with buying Tamarind balls and spicy Tamarind lollipops.

          So naturally, on seeing them on the bottom – because, I guess, the fresh version is not as popular as, say, the bottled sauce or the candy – I grabbed them up. In the process of cleaning them to make syrup and a sauce, I also learned that the fine people at the Tamarind-Ball-Making factory tricked me: “dem sowa nuh pussfoot!”

           Mind you, I wasn’t expecting to be sweet at all, but this was one dose of sourness you feel in your toes - send your minds to your first “cry baby”… bring it back. The second thing I was reminded of was the amount of work it took to de-seed the fruit and how messy it was – probable reasoning for it being unpopular. It took more work than a dry coconut and gungo peas put together. But the end result was amazing.

            In tribute to my reminiscing on driving home from Mum’s in the Air Jamaica building with a bag of tamarind balls and another of Busta sweetie, the initial plan was to tackle making my own tamarind balls – or misshapen version. But that wouldn’t in keeping with the theme here, would it? And I refuse to disappoint. So, I employed the fruit in a mission to the sweet and savory.

Ingredients:

12 whole tamarind – removed from shell

1 tbsp butter

¾ cup of water

¼ Savignon blanc

4 tbsp of brown sugar

5 mint leaves - chiffonade

1 dry coconut – opened, grate the flesh, strain the water

4 egg whites

Sweet sweet Meringue

 Throw all ingredients into a sauce pan to reduce. Cover it for the first 5 minutes or until it boils, then take the over off and leave to reduce to jam thickness.

Next come the cookies because they take longer: Tamarind Meringue Cookies.

Garnished with cleaned seeds & mint leaves

Preheat the oven to 350⁰F or 180⁰C.  

Wisk egg whites stiff. (Curly peaks will be the result of this forearm workout.)

Continue to Wisk and gradually add brown sugar, salt, and syrup.

Scoop spoonfuls onto a sheet of aluminum foil or baking sheet.

Put in oven for 10-12 minutes.

Turn the heat off and leave cookies in the oven overnight.

Happy Easter!

Lastly, Tamarind-Coconut-Cheesecake dip – that tastes like Bun & Cheese: cream cheese, for which I praise that Normandy Cremerie.

½ rectangle of Philadelphia cream cheese

1 pinch of salt
¾ cup of tamarind reduction

1 cup of coconut water

1 tsp of brown sugar

Throw the above in a mixing bowl. Set the mixer on medium speed and let it work to a smooth consistency.

Grated coconut for topping

Triscuits – choice for dipping

Garnish with cooled, cooked tamarind, mint leaves, and grated coconut

(Bring as an hors d'oeuvre to your next pot luck!)

I gave the rest of the coconut to a friend to make an attempt at Busta – God and im bredren help wi!

So try those two and melt.

Eat well, til lata (hopefully not as late as next year)

Gillian M.