Tamarind

A recipe for 1, ready in 30 mins.

Over two years ago I was wandering the international food isle at Tesco and bought a block of tamarind. The purchase was triggered by a wave of nostalgia. The Tamarind is a delicious, top restaurant chain in Kenya, where I had a lovely meal with my extended family years ago. You can check it out here.

So I bought the block of tamarind, but I had no idea what to do with it. At first I considered making something Asian and looked up a bunch of recipes, but I did nothing. I moved flats and I took the tamarind with me. Then, I cleaned out my cupboards and figured it was about time to do something with the tamarind. So, I made a quick, thick molasses like sauce to put on grilled pork chops.

Tamarind looks like this:

You have to boil it with water to get the juice out. If you put 50 g tamarind with one cup of water on a low heat it looks like this:

You should keep it boiling for about 20 minutes. Topping it up with half cupfulls of water when the water is about to boil off. Then boil it down to slightly less than 1 tablespoon.

Tamarind juice is sour. It is often paired with sweet or creamy things. I wanted to make something that was sweet, sour, hot and smoky, almost like a BBQ sauce. So, in a little saucepan, I combined:

• 1 tbsp tamarind juice
• ¼ cup water
• 5 dates chopped into small pieces
• 1 pinch hot smoked paprika
• ¼ tsp Dijon mustard
• 1 drop honey
• Salt & pepper to season

Cook the mixture on a low heat until the volume reduces and the dates start to disintegrate. It should be thick and shiny.

Season 2 pork chops with salt and pepper and pre-heat the grill to its top temperature. Grill them for 2.5 mins, flip them and grill for another 2.5 mins.

Top the chops with the sauce and enjoy! It is indeed sweet, sour, hot and smoky.

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