Tart and Garlicky Tamarind Sauce

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Tamarind Sauce 1I’ve decided that I don’t pay enough attention to sauces, often considering them nothing more than an afterthought.   Bad call on my part.

Because without sauces, cheese nachos would pretty much just be a plate of tortilla chips, hot fudge sundaes would barely have a leg up on a bowl of plain ice cream, and Eggs Benedict would be nothing more than an open faced breakfast sandwich.  Clearly it’s the sauces that are elevating those dishes to something extra special.

Tamarind Sauce 2And so I’m planning on addressing the major dearth of condiment recipes around here, starting with this  tart, garlicky tamarind sauce.  Tamarind pulp is combined with hot water, garlic and Jalapeno and simmered until dark and  thick.

Use it instead of ketchup to give your burger some Burmese flair, or use it as a dip on fries or any other fried snacks.  I’m especially happy to  have this recipe on file because it always seems like I’ve got a thick slab of tamarind remaining after my  Southeast Asian cooking phases.  This will surely be my new go-to for using up any tamarind leftovers.

Tamarind Sauce 3

Tart and Garlicky Tamarind Sauce

Yield: About 1 cup

Prep Time: 10 minutes

Cook Time: 5 minutes

Total Time: 15 minutes

Ingredients:

* 1/2 cup packed tamarind pulp, finely chopped
* 1/2 cup plus 2 Tablespoons hot water
* 5 cloves garlic
* 2 Jalapeno chile peppers, seeded and roughly chopped
* 1/2 teaspoon salt
* 1 teaspoon sugar

Directions:

Combine the tamarind pulp and the hot water in a small bowl. Set aside for 5 minutes and use a fork to mash the tamarind to help dissolve it into the water. Press the mixture through a sieve into a small saucepan, pressing the mixture against the sieve to extract as much as liquid as possible from the pulp. Discard any remaining solids.

Combine the garlic and Jalapeno in a food processor and process until the mixture has formed a paste. Add this to the tamarind liquid and then add the salt and sugar.

Bring the mixture to a boil and then reduce heat and simmer for about 5 minutes, just long enough to take some of the edge off of the garlic. If the mixture gets too thick, add a Tablespoon or two of water. Taste and adjust the salt or sugar, if necessary.

Refrigerate any leftovers.

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