Adventures in Thai Cooking & Travel
Tamarind
Tamarind (Makahm)
by Kasma Loha-unchit
Text Copyright © 1995 & 2000 Kasma Loha-unchit.
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Tamarind (makahm): The 
reddish
brown, curved seed pods of a lovely tropical tree hold several large seeds encased by moist,
sticky, dark brown flesh that varies from being very sweet to very sour. The latter is used as one
of the primary souring agents in Thai cooking, imparting a delicious fruity tartness to soups,
salads, stir-fries and sauces. Although imported, fresh tamarind pods can often be found in
Southeast Asian markets, much of them are sweet tamarind (makahm wahn), which may not have even
the slightest hint of sourness. It is a delicacy that is snacked on like fruit.
If you are able to find sour tamarind pods, break open the brittle pods and remove the moist flesh from the strings that hold them in place. Remove the seeds and use the meat to make tamarind water or juice. For most areas of the country, to get consistent results in cooking, it is best to purchase tamarind in compressed blocks wrapped in clear plastic wrap, labeled simply as "tamarind," or "wet tamarind" (direct translation of the Thai term for this form of cooking tamarind – makahm bpiak). Most already have seeds and strings removed. Occasionally, I have come across compressed tamarind that is labeled as "candy" although the sole ingredient listed is tamarind; this is done to avoid the necessity of having to include nutritional analysis required of imported food products.
Simply 
break off a chunk and place in a bowl with a small amount of water. Work the tamarind with
your fingers, mushing the soft parts until they melt into the water to make a thick, reddish brown
fluid, which in Thai is called "tamarind water" (nahm makahm bpiak). Because of its appearance, I
have chosen to call the resulting fluid "tamarind juice" in this book. When all the soft parts
have dissolved, gather up the remaining pulp with your fingers, squeeze dry and discard. Making
tamarind juice with your fingers works best, as mashing with a spoon or fork does not do as
efficient a job in dissolving the soft pulp and will either take more time or waste a lot of
tamarind; and straining through a sieve only makes a mess that requires more time to clean up. If
you are making a large quantity, adding hot water to the tamarind and letting it soften for a few
minutes before working with your fingers help speed the process.
How much tamarind to use for a given volume of water depends on whether there are seeds and how much soft pulp there is in the chunk. Start out with 1 Tbs. to 1/4 cup water. If the fluid becomes too thick, add a little more water; if the fluid is thin, add more tamarind. For most dishes, you want to have a fluid the consistency of fruit concentrate. If it is too thin and runny, it can dilute flavors and introduce unwanted liquid to dry dishes, such as salads, while at the same time, add too little of the desired sour flavor.
Pre-mixed, ready-to-use tamarind water in containers is available from most Southeast Asian markets; however, it is not as fresh-tasting as making your own and tends to have a very dark, unappetizing color. Once opened, it must be refrigerated, and even so, can spoil after a couple of weeks. On the other hand, the compressed tamarind block does not need to be refrigerated; wrap well in plastic and store in an airtight container in a cool place in your pantry. It lasts indefinitely. If you make a large batch of tamarind juice ahead of time, keep it no more than a week in the refrigerator as it may start to ferment after that.
When buying tamarind, squeeze the package and select one that is as soft as possible and that has a pleasing dark reddish brown color.
Text Copyright © 2000 Kasma Loha-unchit in Dancing Shrimp: Favorite Thai Recipes for Seafood. See pages 71.
This is just one of many listings in the "Alphabetical List of Ingredients" in chapter four (pages 49 to 73) of Dancing Shrimp: Favorite Thai Recipes for Seafood.
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Tamarind
Tamarind (ma-kahm)
is the fruit of large lacy-leaf
trees common in the tropics the world over. It is oblong and curved in shape and looks much like
the seed pod of many large flowering trees. When young, the pods are green and fleshy. As they
ripen, they turn reddish brown and become brittle on the outside; inside, the rich, dark brown
flesh of the fruit is moist and sticky, enveloping a row of bean-like seeds. Because of its
widespread habitat and easy cultivation, tamarind has found its way into the cuisines of many
countries around the world, from the African and Asian continents to the tropical Americas. In
Thailand, tamarind trees are often grown for their shade as much as for their fruit pods. These
beautiful trees grace many city parks in Bangkok and other provincial towns. They are also found
in the gardens of many Thai homes.
There are several varieties of tamarind. Some yield fruits that are very sweet, without the slightest trace of sour. These sweet varieties command a high price at the market and are sold in their ripened pods to be eaten fresh as fruits. The province of Petchaboon in northeastern Thailand is known for its sweet tamarind (ma-kahm wahn). Each year, when the fruit comes into season during the dry months, a Sweet Tamarind Fair is held with lots of festivities and lots of delicious tamarind to sample and take home. During this time of year, bags of the plump brown pods are peddled around by street hawkers as well as piled among colorful fruits at fruit stands across the country. The prized good-eating varieties even find their way into prepackaged gift baskets sold in modern Bangkok supermarkets, alongside imported fruits, canned goods and chocolates.
More common varieties produce tart fruits that vary from sweet-and-sour to mouth-puckering sour. The less sour ones – removed from their brittle pods and coated with a mixture of salt, sugar and crushed chillies – are a delight to nibble. They wake up the mouth, get the juices flowing and temporarily quench thirst. Others are cooked in syrup with their seeds strained out and made into candied tamarind. They are great for the digestive tract and have a mild, natural laxative effect. Additionally, tamarind is believed to possess blood purifying properties.
For cooking, sour tamarind is used as a souring agent that adds a pleasant fruity taste. Like lime juice, it also tenderizes. Tamarind pods are sometimes available fresh from Asian markets and other ethnic grocery stores, but they may not always be the sour varieties and, therefore, may not give consistent results in cooking. Occasionally, the pods carried in the stores are immature tamarind; though brown on the outside, they are still green and undeveloped inside. Southeast Asians eat these young pods fresh with a sweet shrimp sauce, or chop and incorporate them into a tamarind chilli sauce called nahm prik ma-kahm. Young green tamarinds are also pickled and eaten as snacks much like green pickled mango, dipped in a mixture of crushed chillies, salt and sugar.
For more consistent results in cooking, I use "wet tamarind" (ma-kahm bpiak). This is the dark brown flesh of ripe sour tamarind removed from the pods, compressed into compact blocks and sold in Thai and Southeast Asian markets. Labeled as "wet tamarind" or simply "tamarind," most brands already have the fibrous strings and most of the seeds removed. In buying wet tamarind, I usually squeeze the package to feel its softness; a softer package generally is fresher, more moist, easier to work with and yields better-tasting tamarind juice.
To use, break a small chunk of wet tamarind and mix with a few tablespoons of water, using your fingers to knead and mush the soft part of the fruit so that it melts into the water. Gather up the undissolvable pulp and any seeds with your hand, squeeze out the juice and discard. You should end up with a fairly thick brownish fluid called "tamarind water" (translated from the Thai nahm som ma-kahm bpiak). Use this fluid form in your Thai dishes. If you wish to make a large quantity of tamarind water, soaking the tamarind in warm or hot water first to soften will help speed the process. Use about a quarter cup of water to each one-inch chunk; the amount to use, of course, will depend on whether there are a lot of seeds in the package you buy.
The wet tamarind block, when kept airtight in a cool place, lasts indefinitely and needs no refrigeration. It is like preserved dried fruit. Tamarind is also available already premixed with water, in the form of a ready-to-use concentrate; however, it isn't as fresh-tasting as making it yourself. Once you open a container of the premixed stuff, you should plan to use it up in a few weeks because it will spoil quickly. Price-wise and quality-wise, you get a lot more for your money with a block of wet tamarind. (Besides using it in cooking, wet tamarind is a valuable silver polisher; the large silver factories in Chiang Mai use plenty of it to shine their beautifully tooled silver bowls and jewelry to an impeccable sheen.)
Besides the tart fruit, the edible leaves and flowers of tamarind trees are also sour and are eaten fresh in salads and with chilli dips. They are used instead of the fruits to add sourness to some types of spicy-sour soups. Tamarind seeds, on the other hand, are roasted and added to other roasted ingredients to make a coffee substitute. They are also roasted, soaked and eaten whole as a folk medicine to drive out intestinal parasites.
Text Copyright © 1995 Kasma Loha-unchit in It Rains Fishes. See pages 58 & 59.
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Recipes with Tamarind :
Soups
Hot and Sour Prawn Soup (Dtom yum Gkoong)
Salads
Green Papaya Salad (Som Dtam)
Thai-Style Stir-Fried Noodles (Pad Thai)
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Text Copyright © Kasma Loha-unchit, 1995 in It Rains Fishes, and 2000 in Dancing Shrimp. All rights reserved.
First drawing Copyright © 2000 Toby Goodenough. All rights reserved.
Second drawing Copyright © 1995 Margaret DeJong. All rights reserved.
Photograph Copyright © 2003 Bab Sogge. All rights reserved.
All material on this website is Copyright © 1995 to 2008 Kasma Loha-unchit. All rights reserved.
For comments, feedback or questions, contact Kasma.
Page added 15 June 2003. Last updated 15 October 2003.