Freshly made tamarind sauce is so much better than anything you can purchase.
There are many brands of tamarind sauce that you can purchase to make life easy.
They are good but most are a lot sweeter than this version. I don’t really have a sweet tooth and prefer the very tart flavour of this tamarind sauce.
Quick and easy to make! This tamarind sauce is so better than shop bought!
You could of course add more sugar or jaggery to taste. One thing is certain, when you make your own tamarind sauce, your end dishes will taste better!
This is a sauce I always have on hand. It keeps forever in the fridge and is delicious added to chaats, wraps, and curries.
So what do I do with tamarind sauce when I’ve made it?
Let’s break this recipe down.
To make the tamarind sauce, you first need to process a brick of tamarind. Photos of this process are below.
Once you get all the seeds out of the tamarind and run it through a sieve, you have tamarind concentrate.
So if you don’t add any spices or other ingredients to this concentrate, you still have a very useful ingredient. Tamarind concentrate is called for in many recipes. It adds a delicious sour flavour to a curry so it is good to have on hand.
But what about the finished sauce?
Like the tamarind concentrate mentioned above, tamarind sauce is of course available to purchase. But this recipe for tamarind sauce which is sweet, sour and spicy is my personal favourite.
No shop bought tamarind sauce for me!
Both the concentrate and the sauce can be stored in the fridge for weeks.
Here are some delicious recipes you can use your homemade tamarind sauce in!
Break up a 200g piece of tamarind and place in a saucepan.
Bring to a simmer and cook for 5 minutes. Stir regularly and then allow to cool for five more minutes.
Run through a fine sieve.
discard any solids that remain.
Return to the pan and add the rest of the ingredients. Simmer for about three minutes until smooth.
Store in the fridge until needed. I keep mine in a convenient squirt bottle.
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For purposes does this tamarind suase used? Only veg please?
Hi Pratibha
You can use the tamarind sauce in so many ways. It is great stirred into many curries as a souring agent. It is also nice served as a dip with dosas and idlis. I like it squirted over chaats.
Thanks,
Dan
Oh by golly this smells amazing 💖
I admit we like things a little warm so I upped the chilli.
Will definitely do again
Good idea, I always advise to add more chillies if you like a lot of heat.
Thanks
Dan
Thanks for recipe as i love the taste of tamarind but cant tolerate some of the added ingredients in shop bought sauce.
How long does this sauce keep for? Also if you kept half of the pulp paste in the fridge before using the rest for the sauce, how long would this pulp last, and would it work well to rub on chicken or potatoes before cooking?
Hi
The tamarind should keep up to a week in the fridge. Some people say up to a month but I have never kept it that long. It should be fine to rub on chicken or potatoes.
Thanks
Dan
Hi, great recipe – I just made it from fresh tamarind I bought in Thailand 18 months ago – and had forgot about !!
It was fine when i shelled it – no moulds! So made the sauce and it tastes lovely – going to make a curry tonight ready for tomorrow’s dinner and will add some to that…
Hi Jo
Great to hear, thank you for letting me know.
Dan
I started with tamarind in pod and basically followed this recipe using dark brown sugar, fresh ginger juice, and added in ground coriander seed. It was nice.
Great to hear.
Thanks very much.
Dan
Pretty tasty, i added some rice vinegar and it’s awesome
Great to hear.
Thanks very much.
Dan
I’m surely gonna try cause its delicious as dip for samosas or chips. I love tramrind I also use it in fish & dholl _mixed Veggies curries is awesome ❤️
Yes, I love it as a dip too.
Thanks
Dan
Could you get the same results using this recipe with powdered tamarind
Yes, I think powdered tamarind would be a good compromise.
Thanks
Dan
All I could find was tamarind puree. Can I substitute it, and if so how much should I use?
Yes , I think you could use that. use about half the amount stated but add to taste.
Thanks
Dan
Hi,
I have tamarind concentrate in a tub. How much of that, with your sauce recipe do i use to make the sauce?
Thanks.
Add to taste, maybe add 1 teaspoon then another if you decide it needs more.
Thanks
Dan
Hi!
If I use tamarind pasteinstead of pulp to make this sauce, I guess I should use much less water. Do you naybe have ab indication for it?
Thanks in advance!
Tamarind paste can be quite strong so I would just add to taste until you think it is right as it is hard to be precise.
Thanks
Dan