My first experience with Tamarind (that I was aware of – tamarind is supposedly an ingredient in Worcestershire sauce!) was as an ingredient in Sambar. But tamarind is really versatile, and I’ve started to experiment more with it. It has a mostly sour, slightly sweet taste that lends itself well to a number of things. For example, I bet you could do an epic barbecue sauce with tamarind. I haven’t done that yet, but I’ve started using tamarind in sauces and glazes instead. Particularly in dishes with tofu. I’m fond of tofu, but it doesn’t taste like much. But when you fry it, you can achieve a great textural contrast of crispy outside and softer inside. And if you then add a tangy tamarind sauce, you will have made an end-of-this-week’s-groceries noodle dish into a winner.

You can use tamarind sauce for a many different things, and it stays good in the fridge for at least a week. I’ll try to post a recipe at a later point.