TAMARIND
(Tamarindus indica)Tamarind means date of India. It’s believed to originate from East Africa but now grows throughout India, South East Asia and the West Indies.
Tamarind is a semi evergreen, tropical tree that can grow up to 24 meters high. The gluey pulp that surrounds the seeds have tartaric acid content that is rather high therefore making it a good souring agent in dishes.
It has very light aroma of sour sweetish dried prunes but the flavor is very intense, almost sour fruit but refreshing nonetheless.
You can buy tamarind as a paste, in a block, dried, sliced or even in a sweet form. It’s known as a must in all Indian and South East Asian curries, bean dishes, lentils and chutneys and are loved by most kids in a sweet form.
The juice is also drawn and used to make a refreshing drink, but mostly in the Western kitchens tamarind is known to be found in Worcestershire sauce.
Tamarind is known to be an antiseptic as well as a laxative and an aid to certain gastro intestinal complications.
In order to use dried or tamarind that’s in a block form pour over some boiling water and allow it to sit in there for a while, use the water that’s been flavored by it as well.
RECIPE:
Tamarind marinated pork fillet
Ingredients:
1x pork fillet
100ml soy sauce
30ml tamarind paste
10ml brown sugar
50ml white wine
Method:
· Combine all the ingredients together in a pot and warm gently, once everything has dissolved and cooled down pour over the pork and marinate over night.
· In a smoking hot pan, remove the pork from the marinade and sear all around, once seared pour over the marinate and allow to reduce while the pork cooks through, just make sure not to over cook the pork as it’s a very lean meat.
· Serve with some wok fried greens and fried rice or some oriental vegetable noodles.
The pictures are from http://www.stockfood.com/
The pictures are from http://www.stockfood.com/
