Tamarind/ puli paste
Hola people. Multiple weeks now & have been procrastinating posting multiple recipes. So pushing myself and trying to finish this one. Funny fact is that I have had a lot more time (thanks to Eid break) to try out multiple recipes, document mil’s recipes. However, just haven’t found time to sit down and finish blogging them. Good thing staying at home all the time is getting time to learn some of the things from mil that I have been wanting to for a really long. Bad thing about staying at home all the time is the personal & professional life has gotten badly mixed up. I am sleeping late and so finding it super hard to get up in the mornings. So I am mostly groggy during the day with energy left only to work and not multi task. Evenings are becoming this family board game time and after all that when Adya sleeps, I am so worn out that I either just watch TV or try and sleep off. I am not giving excuses. Of course, if I really wanted to, I could’ve pushed myself more but I did not want to. I did not see the need to. One good thing that has happened with my niece Tash gifting me a cute ‘Recipe notebook’ is that I sincerely note down all my recipes as soon as (or as) I make them for the blog.
Anyways, this is one of those prep ahead recipes. No great shake, super super easy to make but a super time saviour if you are one of those who forget to soak tamarind for making sambhar/ rasam. I fall in that category since I do not make sambhar/ rasam regularly. So there are quite a few times where my dal’s ready and my veggies are all chopped and I have forgotten to soak the tamarind :D. My mil started making these a few years back when I had mentioned to her that my friend Sumi’s mom used to make this for us (she then remembered a relative of ours also used to make) and to someone who’s a regular and experienced cook, she also finds this very useful. So we always have a batch of this ready to be used. The only boring work here is to remove the seeds from the tamarind but I guess that could be managed/ averted by doing this while watching something on TV (our house help does this part of the prep for us). Anyways, I highly highly recommend doing this tamarind/ puli paste and keeping it handy. This is probably mainly aimed at south indians who use quite a bit of tamarind/ puli in their cooking.
- 750 gms tamarind
- 3 cups water
- Some patience to remove the seeds from the tamarind 🙂
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Remove the seeds from the tamarind/ puli (the most boring/ tedious part of making this).
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Pressure cook the tamarind/ puli with 2 cups water for 3 whistles.
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Let pressure release naturally. Let the cooked tamarind cool down completely.
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In a big mixer jar, grind the tamarind/ puli in batches till you get the paste consistency.
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If you find it difficult while grinding, add a little water (a max of 1 cup water in total extra).
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Transfer to an airtight container and refrigerate/ freeze immediately.
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When you want to use tamarind in sambhar/ rasam, take as needed and mix with a little water. Remove any fibre with your hand and use it right away.
- 2 heaped teaspoons of tamarind/ puli paste = 1 lemon size tamarind ball.
- We usually make this big batch and freeze half the portion/ refrigerate half the portion. Once the refrigerated portion gets over, we take the frozen half for use. This increases shelf life of the paste.Â
- Using as less water as possible again increases the shelf life of the paste.Â
- Do not use your hands while making this/ transferring it to containers. Again, this helps with the shelf life.Â
- Whenever you take out the paste, make sure to use a dry spoon.Â
- If you are like my mil/ mom, you will surely take out the last bit of tamarind paste/ puli left in the mixer jar using some water. If you are one of those, then keep that water aside and use it within a day or 2. Do not mix it with the rest of the paste.Â
- When the paste reduces in quantity in the stored container, just wipe the insides using a tissue (At times, just the paste sticking to the corners can cause fungus).Â
- Lastly, this is a true time saviour and if you are like me where you decide to make sambhar/ rasam last minute, you can totally save up on the soaking tamarind part (I hate that part).Â
Stepwise pictures
Remove the seeds from tamarind/ puli. 
Add 2 cups water & pressure cook for 3 whistles. Let pressure release normally. 
In batches, grind the cooked tamarind/ puli. Add a maximum of upto 1 cup water (totally) while grinding if you find it hard to grind. 
Transfer to an airtight container and refrigerate/ freeze immediately. When you want to use tamarind in sambhar/ rasam, take as needed and mix with a little water. Remove any fibre with your hand and use it right away.
