Sawaddee ka welcome to have Thai kitchen today I'm going to show you how to make tamarind paste for
cooking from a block of pulp like this and I'll also show you how to process it so that you can
make it in bulk and keep it in the fridge for months and months so you only have to make this
like once every six months or so so if you've been following the show earlier you would have noticed
that I used to use Tamarind that comes in a top like this which is convenient and everything and it's
fine but I'm moving away from that because I'm realizing now the flavor and the acidity is a lot
better when you do make it from pulp like this and that's why I wanted to make this video to update
the information for you I also want to point out that I do have a video all about the basics of
tamarind tamarind 101 everything you need to know so you've got more questions about tamarind check
out that video I will link it in the description below alright let's get started so for today I'm
only gonna make just have a block you can do the whole thing if you want but personally for me
half a block is fine and this stuff last in the fridge like forever so you don't have to worry
about it going bad super simple you want to start by breaking this into sort of small chunks like
this so it takes less time to dissolve in the water if you add the whole chunk in just take
forever and you could just use a knife to cut it into cubes but I think it's actually easier like
this and you can open up more surface area make it soak even faster okay so now that goes into a
large bowl now to this I'm just gonna add hot water and this water can be as hot rap can be
as hot as you want it can be off the boil but it doesn't have to be pros and cons the hotter it is
the longer you have to wait before you can start mashing it with your hands but hot water will
dissolve the tamarind more thoroughly so don't go with like lukewarm tap water things like that
that'll that'll make it harder for you to mash it afterwards so at this point and what I do
is I just let it sit and just go do something else forget about it it'll take about 30 minutes before
it's cool enough for me to stick my hands in there so here's our Terran after it's been sitting it's
kind of lukewarm right now yes I know it does not look appealing but this will pass trust me
so before I do anything this is a lot more full than I had anticipated so I'm just gonna move it
into a bigger bowl so I can just like scrunch at it without worrying about spilling all right so
now you're just gonna go in and massage the flesh off of the fibers that is in here so there are
no seeds in the pulp and the package will say seedless but there are a lot of fiber that is
that is covering the seeds so you have to strain that out and I'm only wearing gloves just you know
for hygienic reasons but if you wash your hands very well and you don't worry about Tamron and
your nails then you can do it bare hands so yeah you just want to feel with your fingers that each
seed fiber no longer has soft pulp on it and really take your time because you don't want
to waste anything here and my tip is for this part don't add too much water because if it's
too runny it's harder to find the stuff like it's just kind of swimming around so generally I do a
half pound block for two cups of water jet works out pretty well so that looks good and now I'm
gonna strain this into a pot because we're gonna cook it I got a sieve here don't go with a super
fine mesh sieve because this is quite thick and something superfine will make it harder so this
sieve is good it's quite coarse so all that goes in mmm and you're just gonna try to stir it and
press it all into the pot it's a little thick so you really need to get in with your hands and help
push it along just push all the fibers against the sieve and then because I'm stingy I'm going
to rinse whatever is left here with a little more water cuz I want everything gosh darn it
okay there we go
really squeeze that through make sure you get everything off the bottom and that is it so
now this is good to use for cooking right away but if you want to keep it for a long
time you want to cook this first kill off all the bacteria and everything in it will last a
lot longer so I'm just gonna bring this to a boil and because it's so thick I would keep
stirring to prevent it from jumping and landing on your arm that would not be pleasant so now
that it is boiling ready for the cans okay so I like to use mason jars because if you add a
really hot thing to a mason jar it creates a vacuum seal so then it'll last longer but you
can use any container that you like something that seals well I am generally pretty good at
pouring but you might want to use a funnel this is the perfect thickness right here if you're
trying to sort of replicate the store-bought version this is a great ratio Oh perfect so
this makes exactly two cups and a little bit I have like a tablespoon left in here which I
will just turn into a drink after close that now as you can see I'm not going through the
proper canning method like I'm not boiling these like you would a jar of jam so I'm still going
to keep this in the fridge but if you want to go ahead and can them so that you can keep at
room temperature for years and years you can do that too and that is it oh you know what now that
we're here let me taste it mmm oh nice and sour I'm flavorful also it's a good idea to taste it
because different brands different batches have slightly different acidity so you might want to
take that into consideration when you make a red it's good to know where you're starting at right
so this batch is very sour more sour than my last batch so I know that when I use it for cooking I
gotta use a little bit less so I hope that was helpful if you got more questions about tamarind
don't forget to check out my Tamron 101 video I'll link to it below we cover a lot of things in that
video when you make this I want to see a photo of it maybe you can use it as a Christmas gift
for a Thai food loving friend if you haven't subscribed to the show make sure you do so
you don't miss an episode like this and click the bell icon as well so you get a notification
when I post a new video thank you as always for watching and I will see you next time for you