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 really don't compare to the tamarind sauce you can make at home. Make this chutney and serve it with poppadoms or homemade samosas. It's the perfect way to start off a curry feast! If you like a good sauce with your poppadoms, tandoori or samosas, you should also check out these delicious sauces.
How do you make tamarind sauce?
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.
To prepare the tamarind sauce, however, you just need to add the remaining ingredients and it's job done.
How long can you keep tamarind 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.
Working ahead
You can make this tamarind sauce a few days ahead of serving. It keeps for months in the fridge.
If time is an issue, go ahead and prepare the tamarind concentrate on one day and finish it up later to serve.
Make this recipe your own.
Taste and adjust. Please use this tamarind sauce recipe as a guide.
You can adjust the flavours to your own personal preference. Add more sugar or jaggery to taste for a sweeter sauce. You could also add more salt or chilli powder.
The best way to perfection is to taste what you've prepared and then have a good play until you are happy with the flavour.
Here are some delicious recipes you can use your homemade tamarind sauce in!
Tamarind Sauce
Ingredients
- 200g block of tamarind pulp
- Water to cover 1 ½ cups plus more if preferred
- 1 teaspoon cumin powder
- 1 teaspoon chaat masala (optional)
- ½ teaspoon dried ginger powder
- ½ teaspoon red chilli powder or to taste
- 1 tablespoon sugar or jaggery – more or less to taste
- Salt to taste
Instructions
- Break up the block of tamarind into about six pieces in a small saucepan and cover with 375ml ( 1 ½ cups) water. Bring to a rolling simmer over medium–high heat, stirring often for about 5 minutes. Then remove from the heat and let it cool for another 5 minutes.
- Using a wooden spoon or potato masher, smash the tamarind in the water. The sauce will become thick like ketchup. Run this through a sieve into a bowl, pushing against the solids as you do. You should end up with a thick tamarind paste. If you have ever used shop bought tamarind concentrate, this is what you have though shop bought tamarind concentrate is much more concentrated. Discard any solids that remain in the sieve.
- Return the tamarind paste to the saucepan and add the cumin, chaat masala (if using), ginger, chilli powder and sugar. Bring to a simmer for about 3 minutes until the sugar is completely dissolved. You can add a drop more water if you prefer a runnier sauce or reduce it more if you prefer a thicker sauce. Taste the sauce and add more sugar, salt or other spices to taste. (You will need to dissolve any additional sugar over a medium heat if added.)
- I store this in a convenient squirt bottle in the fridge.
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Pratibha Rao says
For purposes does this tamarind suase used? Only veg please?
Dan Toombs says
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
Renée says
Oh by golly this smells amazing 💖
I admit we like things a little warm so I upped the chilli.
Will definitely do again
Dan Toombs says
Good idea, I always advise to add more chillies if you like a lot of heat.
Thanks
Dan
J says
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?
Dan Toombs says
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
jo gibson says
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...
Dan Toombs says
Hi Jo
Great to hear, thank you for letting me know.
Dan
Jeffrey R Sirninger says
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.
Dan Toombs says
Great to hear.
Thanks very much.
Dan
Greg Sullivan says
Pretty tasty, i added some rice vinegar and it's awesome
Dan Toombs says
Great to hear.
Thanks very much.
Dan
Miss SELVERANI NAIDOO says
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 ❤️
Dan Toombs says
Yes, I love it as a dip too.
Thanks
Dan
Lorraine Goley says
Could you get the same results using this recipe with powdered tamarind
Dan Toombs says
Yes, I think powdered tamarind would be a good compromise.
Thanks
Dan
Thomas says
We eat at a Thai restaurant locally and they offer what they call a Tamarind sauce with their lettuce wraps.
It’s seems more reddish and somewhat clear, am I on the right track with this recipe?
Thanks !!!!
Dan Toombs says
Yes, that sauce sounds like it, they may had a red chilli or some paprika to get the colour. This tamarind sauce would definitely be good with lettuce wraps.
Thanks
Dan
Donna says
All I could find was tamarind puree. Can I substitute it, and if so how much should I use?
Dan Toombs says
Yes , I think you could use that. use about half the amount stated but add to taste.
Thanks
Dan
Yianni says
Hi,
I have tamarind concentrate in a tub. How much of that, with your sauce recipe do i use to make the sauce?
Thanks.
Dan Toombs says
Add to taste, maybe add 1 teaspoon then another if you decide it needs more.
Thanks
Dan
Valeria says
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!
Dan Toombs says
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
MickyC says
I can't get tamarind in a block where I live but I can but the pods. Can I use this please , and if so how do I prepare it ?
Dan Toombs says
I’m not sure what the pods are so you’d have to use as the instructions and add to taste. Tamarind is a souring agent so if you ever struggle to find it you could replace with extra lemon or lime juice.
Thanks
Dan