The Ultimate Guide to TAMARIND - Hot Thai Kitchen!

Tamarind, known in Thai as "makaam", is one of the most important ingredients in Thai cuisine. It is a staple in every Thai kitchen, and it plays a key role in popular dishes, such as pad thai! Many people cook with tamarind, but perhaps few know what the fruit actually looks like or how that brown liquid in the jar was made! I also get a lot of questions about tamarind in general, so here's a video to hopefully tackle them all. In this video I talk about everything from what the fruit looks like, how to eat a fresh tamarind, how to buy cooking tamarind, how to store it, and how to use it. If you still have unanswered questions, please feel free to let me know!

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About Pai:

Pailin “Pai” Chongchitnant is the author of the Hot Thai Kitchen cookbook, co-host of a Canadian TV series One World Kitchen on Gusto TV, and creator and host of the YouTube channel Pailin's Kitchen.

Pai was born and raised in southern Thailand where she spent much of her "playtime" in the kitchen. She traveled to Canada to study Nutritional Sciences at the University of British Columbia, and was later trained as a chef at Le Cordon Bleu culinary school in San Francisco.

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[PailinsKitchen]

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[SkkyJuse]

I can't believe no one has mentioned Mexican agua fresca de tamarindo. Just make the fresh paste like she did, then add lots of ice, water, and a good quality of sugar. Makes a wonderfully refreshing alternative to lemonade.

[LemLTay]

A bit of trivia: many folks from the UK love their HP or "brown sauce" not realising that it contains that magic ingredient, tamarind. That gives the sauce that lovely fruity sourness, an idea probably borrowed from the Indians use of "imli" when the Brits were in India.

In Malaysia, some Indians use the leftover tamarind pulp to polish their brass ornaments. Waste not, want not!

Also, we differentiate our souring agents, calling tamarind (as featured in your video) "asam jawa" (tamarind from Java), whereas another common souring agent is "asam keping" (tamarind in pieces). But the latter is not related to tamarind, but closer to the mangosteen family (garcinia), which produces a rather sour fruit that is sliced and dried.

The Peranakan (Straits Chinese) cooks always advise newbies to "adjust seasoning after adding tamarind", especially salt and sugar. Even if the dish's seasoning was perfect up to the point tamarind is added, one must always taste and make further adjustments after adding the "asam" paste.. Due to the sourness introduced, it can "unbalance" the overall taste.

Also, watch out for the processed tamarind pulp in block form - I've encountered ones where so much salt was added in processing the pulp that one must compensate for that by under-salting the dish, then adjusting for salt AFTER the tamarind is added. The obvious point is tamarind can be regarded as a seasoning ingredient, so if one is unfamiliar with the strength of the paste, add part of the recipe's recommended amount, taste, then add more as required.

[nerilamadrid]

Salivating, remember the days when we were kids, we climbed the tamarind tree and eat right up there, with salt.

[TheKatlnelson]

I love the tamarind chilli candies. By the way, it is easy to grow a tamarind tree indoors by planting seeds found in the pulp.

[BB.halo_heir]

my grandmother in mexico used it all the time.  also grew up eating tarmarind Mexican candies, still do!

[leyameera]

Pai, the Tamarind concentrate from Indian stores can be used for Thai curries (after diluting it ofc). Even in India, the tamarind block (supposedly seedless) is what we use on a daily basis (yes, we use Tamarind in everyday cooking, especially in the South). And even to us, the bottled versions are relatively new - a convenience that most traditional cooks (me included) tend to ignore. :)

[mudrarakshasa]

U mentioned dates.... The English word tamarind comes from Arabic word "tamar e hind"...which means Indian date

[lucianasser]

Here in Brazil we make a lot of lemonade with tamarind. It is delicious!

[intanwijaya]

I used that sweet tamarind from Thailand when I studied in the States to make Indonesian dishes: Sayur Asam. At that time, I dont even know that it was a sweet Tamarind since the box said Tamarind and my recipe said to use tamarind. I kept wondering why was my dishes tasted so sweet. Glad that I watched your video now. It explained a lot.

[AvoniasStratigis]

I live in the South of India, in Kerala. Where we have both kinds of Tamarind, the black concentrated kind and the kind shown here (which is true for most Thai ingredients, I can find Galangal, Kaffir Lime and Lemon grass here - though not used for cooking) and Garcinia gummi-gutta(as an altogether different sour agent). We make this kind of soupy thing that is used with rice, actually poured on it. It's called Rasam and it's made with Tamarind as the main ingredient (whenever Dal is not used). It has one of a kind flavor that I have not yet found elsewhere

[johntlew]

I love your sense of humor. Watching you react in an honest way. I just discovered it. Having a batch of it from a food bank I had no idea what it was. But I loved the taste and consistency of it. So thrilled to see this . Thanks.

[Loader]

That God I found this video. I am new to Thai cooking, and recently bought a block of tamarind. The recipe called for 2 tbsp of tamarind paste. So I forced my measuring spoon through the block and made 2 packed tbsp. Something about it didn't look right. Then I tasted it and quickly realized I was definitely doing something wrong! It would have been a catastrophic mistake! Thanks for the video.

[crimsonstar]

My parents (from Indonesia) sometimes add tamarind juice to peanut sauce for satay. They typically use the tamarind pulp method since the pulp is easy to store for a long time.

[_h.]

With the Pandemic era! I've been exploring Thai food. Love how Thai prepare their Thai paste on mortar and pestle! The "trinity". Thank you for this informative guide on Tamarind. Love your video.

[yingziyu]

i use tamarind for tea, mix with goji berry, black tea and other dried fruits that i want to add in the tea pot

[elainebmack]

Hi Pailin! Great information. I got acquainted with fresh tamarind while living in Thailand, and I make my own cooked sauce for my pad Thai. I also use the tamarind pulp in my hibiscus elixir which I make from dried hibiscus flowers, fresh cranberries, and a variety of herbs. The tamarind gives the elixir a nice tartness and refreshing quality. I also add coconut sugar to lightly sweeten it. I love the versatility of tamarind and would encourage all to try it in different ways.

[hadaszayada]

your channel is one of my favorite food channel! the way you explain and share youre knowledge is amazing/// you are truely one of the best food youtubers

[suitablefortreatment]

Central coast California here; the chain Whole Foods here only sells the Indian style super concentrate, and I've been using that for years in Thai cooking and your recipes. It's not exactly the same (somewhat of a darker, molasses-y) but it still gets the job done, it just has to be diluted with water at about 1/4 to 1/2 cup of water to one tbsp. of concentrate, depending on taste.

[rmis]

It is also used in Middle-Eastern cooking. One popular hors d'oeuvre is chopped meat, with minced onion doused in a tamarind sauce and spread atop pizza type dough rounds. they are about the size of the palm of your hand and the tamarind sauce is dark, almost black. 
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