Spicy Tamarind Sauce

This is pretty much BBQ sauce with extra kick (and none of the additives of store bought BBQ sauce). It’s simultaneously hot, sweet, sour, and spicy.

The recipe is from Vegetarian World Food cookbook (you can get it from Govindas. It's definitely worth getting, even if you're not vegetarian).

 

Makes about 3 cups of sauce

 

Ingredients:

Buy ginger in a jar. It's way easier and just as nice.

• 95g Tamarind
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
• 2 teaspoons shredded ginger from a jar (way easier than shredding it yourself. Cheap, too)
• 3 tablespoons brown sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• big pinch chilli powder
• 500g tomato paste
• Maybe cornflour

The original recipe doesn't thicken, so I add about something like 500g of tomato paste. This turns it into a sort of BBQ sauce. It's great. You can also add crushed tomatoes for a bit of bulk. I'm still working on getting the thickness right. Sometimes you need to add cornflour. The last batch I cheated and added a bit of store bought BBQ sauce, but hopefully the recipe doesn't need it. Next time I might experiment with adding caramelised onions or things to make it more BBQ-y.

You can buy tamarind from your fruit and veggie store. I get the Indian variety, personally.

 Instructions:

The original recipe says to soak the tamarind in 2 cups of boiling water for half an hour. Do this, but I would also let it cook on low heat to really bring out the flavours. The longer it sits, the better, really. Get your money's worth for the tamarind.

Collect the juice through a sieve—you only need the juice; discard the dry residue.

 Then just combine the juice and all other ingredients in a medium sized saucepan and cook moderately high for about 15 minutes. It should start to thicken with the tomato paste. If it’s not thick enough, put a teaspoon of cornflour in ¼ cup of water, stir until combined, then add to the sauce. You might have to play around a bit. The mixture will reduce as it cooks.

Leave to cool and put away. Before serving, garnish the sauce with a sprinkle of sesame seeds, if desired (the contrast in colours looks cool).