Tamarind is a Fruit Widely Known in Cuisines Around the World (Chris Rawstern)

My first experience with tamarind was in Guatemala. While living there, I grew to love the refreshing beverage made with tamarind. As the tamarind pulp is quite tartly acidic, it works similarly to lemons for making lemonade. Once returning to the US in the 1980s, tamarind was unavailable in most places and my interest fell by the wayside.

Tamarind is originally from Africa, around what is the Sudan, today. It grows abundantly in India and the name tamarind comes from the Indian words Tamar Hindi, meaning Indian Date. The tamarind was introduced into Mexico and the Caribbean sometime around the 16th century. The tamarind tree can grow to a height of around 80 feet in its preferred climate. The tree appears feathery, with tiny leaflets down each side of the stems. These leaflets close up at night. The fruit grows as brown pods. The outer casing of the pods is dry and brittle and easily cracked off. The inner fruit is a dark reddish brown, thick, fibrous and sticky. The fruit encases 1 to 12 glossy brown seeds. It is tart and sour when young, sweetening as the pods ripen.

Tamarind was once again highlighted when interest in world cuisines and fusion cooking picked up in the later 1990s. This time the focus was on the pulp used in recipes, rather than solely as a beverage. An amazing flavor, tamarind is both sweet and sour at the same time. It is a potent flavor, best used somewhat sparingly unless you are quite accustomed. It is a wonderful addition to any sweet and sour dishes. It is an ingredient in Worcestershire sauce. In Southeast Asian cooking, it is a flavor often combined with such other ingredients as garlic, dried shrimp, coconut and chilies. Pad Thai is one commonly known Thai dish using tamarind. In India, it is used to make delicious chutney, as well as a Tamarind Rice or South Indian Fish Curry. In the Caribbean islands it is often used in cooking seafood. Small amounts of tamarind paste are used in sauces for dishes containing cassava, chickpeas, potatoes or rice with greens. It can be used to make sweet and sour sauces, mixed into recipes with both sugar and pepper, mixed into barbecue sauces, made into beverages, desserts and candies.

One common use for tamarind is in sauces, which gives control of the amount used. Plain tamarind sauce or paste is available in many places these days, including online. Adding from a teaspoon to many tablespoons of this prepared sauce simplifies making any recipe. It can flavor a marinade for meats. Chicken, beef, pork and lamb are all candidates for a tamarind flavored marinade. The natural acidity can be used in a marinade to tenderize tougher cuts of meat. It can be used in vegetarian dishes, adding wonderful sweet and sour flavors to a vegetable stew. The paste can be cooked into a jam. If making a Caribbean type barbecue sauce with tamarind, some suggested ingredients would be chilies, mango, onion, garlic and a bit of spicy mustard. Sugar may be added to taste. These flavors seem to beg for barbecued chicken.

I plan to try out recipes in the Caribbean or African style. A little tamarind sauce with sweet potatoes and brown sugar would be a great combination. Mixed into a stew with greens and chickpeas and sweet potato is another great application. Find some tamarind, whether in pods, compressed into a cake, or strained into a sauce. Experiment with the flavor. Make it into a refreshing beverage with sugar, to taste. This gives the first indication of the flavor of tamarind. Then look at trying this new flavor out in other recipes. It is so versatile, lending the use to both sweet or savory recipes, and sometimes both together. Put tamarind on your list of new flavors to try if you have not already.

Thank you for taking the time to read my article. I hope it was informative and helped you along your own culinary journey. You will find many more recipes and helpful tips on my web site. I am on Facebook at A Harmony of Flavors and share a recipe or tip each day to the fans that have liked my site. I hope to see you there soon.

My name is Chris Rawstern, I have been on a cooking and baking journey for 42 years. Many people have asked what A Harmony of Flavors means. Have you ever had a meal where the visual presentation was stunning, the smells were incredible the taste was so remarkable that you ate slowly savoring every bite, wishing the experience would never end? Then you have experienced what a truly harmonious meal can be like.
I began my cooking career in Guatemala, in 1970. I moved there as a naive 20-year-old, and set out to learned about cooking in a foreign land. I will pass along special recipes that I have been making for 42 years, and new ones. I will also pass on tips or notes with things to watch for and what just plain works better. I have amassed huge quantities of recipes over the years, and recently have begun giving classes.
My passion is to teach people how to create a Harmony of Flavors with their cooking, and help pass along my love and joy of food simple and exotic, plain or fancy. I continue my journey in ethnic and domestic cuisines, trying new things. I would love to hear from you, to help me continue my journey to explore diverse culinary experiences and hopefully to start you on a journey of your own.
Visit my Web site http://www.aharmonyofflavors.com my Blog my Marketplace at http://www.a-harmony-of-flavors-marketplace.com or on Facebook page at A Harmony of Flavors. I share a recipe or tip each day to the fans that have liked my site.I hope to see you there soon

My first experience with tamarind was in Guatemala. While living there, I grew to love the refreshing beverage made with tamarind. As the tamarind pulp is quite tartly acidic, it works similarly to lemons for making lemonade. Once returning to the US in the 1980s, tamarind was unavailable in most places and my interest fell by the wayside.

Tamarind is originally from Africa, around what is the Sudan, today. It grows abundantly in India and the name tamarind comes from the Indian words Tamar Hindi, meaning Indian Date. The tamarind was introduced into Mexico and the Caribbean sometime around the 16th century. The tamarind tree can grow to a height of around 80 feet in its preferred climate. The tree appears feathery, with tiny leaflets down each side of the stems. These leaflets close up at night. The fruit grows as brown pods. The outer casing of the pods is dry and brittle and easily cracked off. The inner fruit is a dark reddish brown, thick, fibrous and sticky. The fruit encases 1 to 12 glossy brown seeds. It is tart and sour when young, sweetening as the pods ripen.

Tamarind was once again highlighted when interest in world cuisines and fusion cooking picked up in the later 1990s. This time the focus was on the pulp used in recipes, rather than solely as a beverage. An amazing flavor, tamarind is both sweet and sour at the same time. It is a potent flavor, best used somewhat sparingly unless you are quite accustomed. It is a wonderful addition to any sweet and sour dishes. It is an ingredient in Worcestershire sauce. In Southeast Asian cooking, it is a flavor often combined with such other ingredients as garlic, dried shrimp, coconut and chilies. Pad Thai is one commonly known Thai dish using tamarind. In India, it is used to make delicious chutney, as well as a Tamarind Rice or South Indian Fish Curry. In the Caribbean islands it is often used in cooking seafood. Small amounts of tamarind paste are used in sauces for dishes containing cassava, chickpeas, potatoes or rice with greens. It can be used to make sweet and sour sauces, mixed into recipes with both sugar and pepper, mixed into barbecue sauces, made into beverages, desserts and candies.

One common use for tamarind is in sauces, which gives control of the amount used. Plain tamarind sauce or paste is available in many places these days, including online. Adding from a teaspoon to many tablespoons of this prepared sauce simplifies making any recipe. It can flavor a marinade for meats. Chicken, beef, pork and lamb are all candidates for a tamarind flavored marinade. The natural acidity can be used in a marinade to tenderize tougher cuts of meat. It can be used in vegetarian dishes, adding wonderful sweet and sour flavors to a vegetable stew. The paste can be cooked into a jam. If making a Caribbean type barbecue sauce with tamarind, some suggested ingredients would be chilies, mango, onion, garlic and a bit of spicy mustard. Sugar may be added to taste. These flavors seem to beg for barbecued chicken.

I plan to try out recipes in the Caribbean or African style. A little tamarind sauce with sweet potatoes and brown sugar would be a great combination. Mixed into a stew with greens and chickpeas and sweet potato is another great application. Find some tamarind, whether in pods, compressed into a cake, or strained into a sauce. Experiment with the flavor. Make it into a refreshing beverage with sugar, to taste. This gives the first indication of the flavor of tamarind. Then look at trying this new flavor out in other recipes. It is so versatile, lending the use to both sweet or savory recipes, and sometimes both together. Put tamarind on your list of new flavors to try if you have not already.

Thank you for taking the time to read my article. I hope it was informative and helped you along your own culinary journey. You will find many more recipes and helpful tips on my web site. I am on Facebook at A Harmony of Flavors and share a recipe or tip each day to the fans that have liked my site. I hope to see you there soon.

My name is Chris Rawstern, I have been on a cooking and baking journey for 42 years. Many people have asked what A Harmony of Flavors means. Have you ever had a meal where the visual presentation was stunning, the smells were incredible the taste was so remarkable that you ate slowly savoring every bite, wishing the experience would never end? Then you have experienced what a truly harmonious meal can be like.
I began my cooking career in Guatemala, in 1970. I moved there as a naive 20-year-old, and set out to learned about cooking in a foreign land. I will pass along special recipes that I have been making for 42 years, and new ones. I will also pass on tips or notes with things to watch for and what just plain works better. I have amassed huge quantities of recipes over the years, and recently have begun giving classes.
My passion is to teach people how to create a Harmony of Flavors with their cooking, and help pass along my love and joy of food simple and exotic, plain or fancy. I continue my journey in ethnic and domestic cuisines, trying new things. I would love to hear from you, to help me continue my journey to explore diverse culinary experiences and hopefully to start you on a journey of your own.
Visit my Web site http://www.aharmonyofflavors.com my Blog my Marketplace at http://www.a-harmony-of-flavors-marketplace.com or on Facebook page at A Harmony of Flavors. I share a recipe or tip each day to the fans that have liked my site.I hope to see you there soon

reade more... Résuméabuiyad

Tamarind is a Fruit Widely Known in Cuisines Around the World (Chris Rawstern)

My first experience with tamarind was in Guatemala. While living there, I grew to love the refreshing beverage made with tamarind. As the tamarind pulp is quite tartly acidic, it works similarly to lemons for making lemonade. Once returning to the US in the 1980s, tamarind was unavailable in most places and my interest fell by the wayside.

Tamarind is originally from Africa, around what is the Sudan, today. It grows abundantly in India and the name tamarind comes from the Indian words Tamar Hindi, meaning Indian Date. The tamarind was introduced into Mexico and the Caribbean sometime around the 16th century. The tamarind tree can grow to a height of around 80 feet in its preferred climate. The tree appears feathery, with tiny leaflets down each side of the stems. These leaflets close up at night. The fruit grows as brown pods. The outer casing of the pods is dry and brittle and easily cracked off. The inner fruit is a dark reddish brown, thick, fibrous and sticky. The fruit encases 1 to 12 glossy brown seeds. It is tart and sour when young, sweetening as the pods ripen.

Tamarind was once again highlighted when interest in world cuisines and fusion cooking picked up in the later 1990s. This time the focus was on the pulp used in recipes, rather than solely as a beverage. An amazing flavor, tamarind is both sweet and sour at the same time. It is a potent flavor, best used somewhat sparingly unless you are quite accustomed. It is a wonderful addition to any sweet and sour dishes. It is an ingredient in Worcestershire sauce. In Southeast Asian cooking, it is a flavor often combined with such other ingredients as garlic, dried shrimp, coconut and chilies. Pad Thai is one commonly known Thai dish using tamarind. In India, it is used to make delicious chutney, as well as a Tamarind Rice or South Indian Fish Curry. In the Caribbean islands it is often used in cooking seafood. Small amounts of tamarind paste are used in sauces for dishes containing cassava, chickpeas, potatoes or rice with greens. It can be used to make sweet and sour sauces, mixed into recipes with both sugar and pepper, mixed into barbecue sauces, made into beverages, desserts and candies.

One common use for tamarind is in sauces, which gives control of the amount used. Plain tamarind sauce or paste is available in many places these days, including online. Adding from a teaspoon to many tablespoons of this prepared sauce simplifies making any recipe. It can flavor a marinade for meats. Chicken, beef, pork and lamb are all candidates for a tamarind flavored marinade. The natural acidity can be used in a marinade to tenderize tougher cuts of meat. It can be used in vegetarian dishes, adding wonderful sweet and sour flavors to a vegetable stew. The paste can be cooked into a jam. If making a Caribbean type barbecue sauce with tamarind, some suggested ingredients would be chilies, mango, onion, garlic and a bit of spicy mustard. Sugar may be added to taste. These flavors seem to beg for barbecued chicken.

I plan to try out recipes in the Caribbean or African style. A little tamarind sauce with sweet potatoes and brown sugar would be a great combination. Mixed into a stew with greens and chickpeas and sweet potato is another great application. Find some tamarind, whether in pods, compressed into a cake, or strained into a sauce. Experiment with the flavor. Make it into a refreshing beverage with sugar, to taste. This gives the first indication of the flavor of tamarind. Then look at trying this new flavor out in other recipes. It is so versatile, lending the use to both sweet or savory recipes, and sometimes both together. Put tamarind on your list of new flavors to try if you have not already.

Thank you for taking the time to read my article. I hope it was informative and helped you along your own culinary journey. You will find many more recipes and helpful tips on my web site. I am on Facebook at A Harmony of Flavors and share a recipe or tip each day to the fans that have liked my site. I hope to see you there soon.

My name is Chris Rawstern, I have been on a cooking and baking journey for 42 years. Many people have asked what A Harmony of Flavors means. Have you ever had a meal where the visual presentation was stunning, the smells were incredible the taste was so remarkable that you ate slowly savoring every bite, wishing the experience would never end? Then you have experienced what a truly harmonious meal can be like.
I began my cooking career in Guatemala, in 1970. I moved there as a naive 20-year-old, and set out to learned about cooking in a foreign land. I will pass along special recipes that I have been making for 42 years, and new ones. I will also pass on tips or notes with things to watch for and what just plain works better. I have amassed huge quantities of recipes over the years, and recently have begun giving classes.
My passion is to teach people how to create a Harmony of Flavors with their cooking, and help pass along my love and joy of food simple and exotic, plain or fancy. I continue my journey in ethnic and domestic cuisines, trying new things. I would love to hear from you, to help me continue my journey to explore diverse culinary experiences and hopefully to start you on a journey of your own.
Visit my Web site http://www.aharmonyofflavors.com my Blog my Marketplace at http://www.a-harmony-of-flavors-marketplace.com or on Facebook page at A Harmony of Flavors. I share a recipe or tip each day to the fans that have liked my site.I hope to see you there soon

My first experience with tamarind was in Guatemala. While living there, I grew to love the refreshing beverage made with tamarind. As the tamarind pulp is quite tartly acidic, it works similarly to lemons for making lemonade. Once returning to the US in the 1980s, tamarind was unavailable in most places and my interest fell by the wayside.

Tamarind is originally from Africa, around what is the Sudan, today. It grows abundantly in India and the name tamarind comes from the Indian words Tamar Hindi, meaning Indian Date. The tamarind was introduced into Mexico and the Caribbean sometime around the 16th century. The tamarind tree can grow to a height of around 80 feet in its preferred climate. The tree appears feathery, with tiny leaflets down each side of the stems. These leaflets close up at night. The fruit grows as brown pods. The outer casing of the pods is dry and brittle and easily cracked off. The inner fruit is a dark reddish brown, thick, fibrous and sticky. The fruit encases 1 to 12 glossy brown seeds. It is tart and sour when young, sweetening as the pods ripen.

Tamarind was once again highlighted when interest in world cuisines and fusion cooking picked up in the later 1990s. This time the focus was on the pulp used in recipes, rather than solely as a beverage. An amazing flavor, tamarind is both sweet and sour at the same time. It is a potent flavor, best used somewhat sparingly unless you are quite accustomed. It is a wonderful addition to any sweet and sour dishes. It is an ingredient in Worcestershire sauce. In Southeast Asian cooking, it is a flavor often combined with such other ingredients as garlic, dried shrimp, coconut and chilies. Pad Thai is one commonly known Thai dish using tamarind. In India, it is used to make delicious chutney, as well as a Tamarind Rice or South Indian Fish Curry. In the Caribbean islands it is often used in cooking seafood. Small amounts of tamarind paste are used in sauces for dishes containing cassava, chickpeas, potatoes or rice with greens. It can be used to make sweet and sour sauces, mixed into recipes with both sugar and pepper, mixed into barbecue sauces, made into beverages, desserts and candies.

One common use for tamarind is in sauces, which gives control of the amount used. Plain tamarind sauce or paste is available in many places these days, including online. Adding from a teaspoon to many tablespoons of this prepared sauce simplifies making any recipe. It can flavor a marinade for meats. Chicken, beef, pork and lamb are all candidates for a tamarind flavored marinade. The natural acidity can be used in a marinade to tenderize tougher cuts of meat. It can be used in vegetarian dishes, adding wonderful sweet and sour flavors to a vegetable stew. The paste can be cooked into a jam. If making a Caribbean type barbecue sauce with tamarind, some suggested ingredients would be chilies, mango, onion, garlic and a bit of spicy mustard. Sugar may be added to taste. These flavors seem to beg for barbecued chicken.

I plan to try out recipes in the Caribbean or African style. A little tamarind sauce with sweet potatoes and brown sugar would be a great combination. Mixed into a stew with greens and chickpeas and sweet potato is another great application. Find some tamarind, whether in pods, compressed into a cake, or strained into a sauce. Experiment with the flavor. Make it into a refreshing beverage with sugar, to taste. This gives the first indication of the flavor of tamarind. Then look at trying this new flavor out in other recipes. It is so versatile, lending the use to both sweet or savory recipes, and sometimes both together. Put tamarind on your list of new flavors to try if you have not already.

Thank you for taking the time to read my article. I hope it was informative and helped you along your own culinary journey. You will find many more recipes and helpful tips on my web site. I am on Facebook at A Harmony of Flavors and share a recipe or tip each day to the fans that have liked my site. I hope to see you there soon.

My name is Chris Rawstern, I have been on a cooking and baking journey for 42 years. Many people have asked what A Harmony of Flavors means. Have you ever had a meal where the visual presentation was stunning, the smells were incredible the taste was so remarkable that you ate slowly savoring every bite, wishing the experience would never end? Then you have experienced what a truly harmonious meal can be like.
I began my cooking career in Guatemala, in 1970. I moved there as a naive 20-year-old, and set out to learned about cooking in a foreign land. I will pass along special recipes that I have been making for 42 years, and new ones. I will also pass on tips or notes with things to watch for and what just plain works better. I have amassed huge quantities of recipes over the years, and recently have begun giving classes.
My passion is to teach people how to create a Harmony of Flavors with their cooking, and help pass along my love and joy of food simple and exotic, plain or fancy. I continue my journey in ethnic and domestic cuisines, trying new things. I would love to hear from you, to help me continue my journey to explore diverse culinary experiences and hopefully to start you on a journey of your own.
Visit my Web site http://www.aharmonyofflavors.com my Blog my Marketplace at http://www.a-harmony-of-flavors-marketplace.com or on Facebook page at A Harmony of Flavors. I share a recipe or tip each day to the fans that have liked my site.I hope to see you there soon

reade more... Résuméabuiyad

Apricot Delight

Another entry for that recipe looks familiar event, this one uses a recipe from Green Gourmet Giraffe. I used to love apricot delights but all the preservatives and other ingredients would upset my stomach so I was excited to see Johanna make them at home. To completely avoid preservatives, I got some organic sulphur free dried apricots and dessicated coconut from wholefoods. I didn't read the recipe right the first time, so ended up adding all of the apricots to the pan rather than leaving some whole. I don't think it make a big difference though. I also accidentally added a little bit too much water to mine, which made my a little softer but did mean that I had no issues getting the coconut on the sides.

 

Apricot Delight
makes 36
adapted from the Australian Women's Weekly as found on Green Gourmet Giraffe
250g dried apricots, chopped
3/4 cup boiling water
1 1/2 cups dessicated coconut
2 tbsp honey agave
extra coconut, for coating

Place half  the apricots and the boiling water in a small saucepan.  Soak for about an hour.  Bring to the boil and gently simmer uncovered for about 10 minutes.  The apricots should be quite jammy.

Puree apricots in a blender.   Add the rest of the apricots and the coconut.  You will have a stiff paste.  Spread into a lined 15cm square cake tin and leave overnight in the fridge. 

The next day, take slab out of the cake tin and chop into about 36 squares (or any size you want).  Toss each piece in coconut.  I found that the top of my slab had dried out a bit and was harder to get the coconut to stick to it - so I wiped it with a damp wad of kitchen paper. 

Keep in an airtight container. 



They are just as tasty as the store bought ones, although a little darker in colour without the preservatives. But more importantly easy to make and pretty healthy. Will certainly make them again!

Another entry for that recipe looks familiar event, this one uses a recipe from Green Gourmet Giraffe. I used to love apricot delights but all the preservatives and other ingredients would upset my stomach so I was excited to see Johanna make them at home. To completely avoid preservatives, I got some organic sulphur free dried apricots and dessicated coconut from wholefoods. I didn't read the recipe right the first time, so ended up adding all of the apricots to the pan rather than leaving some whole. I don't think it make a big difference though. I also accidentally added a little bit too much water to mine, which made my a little softer but did mean that I had no issues getting the coconut on the sides.

 

Apricot Delight
makes 36
adapted from the Australian Women's Weekly as found on Green Gourmet Giraffe
250g dried apricots, chopped
3/4 cup boiling water
1 1/2 cups dessicated coconut
2 tbsp honey agave
extra coconut, for coating

Place half  the apricots and the boiling water in a small saucepan.  Soak for about an hour.  Bring to the boil and gently simmer uncovered for about 10 minutes.  The apricots should be quite jammy.

Puree apricots in a blender.   Add the rest of the apricots and the coconut.  You will have a stiff paste.  Spread into a lined 15cm square cake tin and leave overnight in the fridge. 

The next day, take slab out of the cake tin and chop into about 36 squares (or any size you want).  Toss each piece in coconut.  I found that the top of my slab had dried out a bit and was harder to get the coconut to stick to it - so I wiped it with a damp wad of kitchen paper. 

Keep in an airtight container. 



They are just as tasty as the store bought ones, although a little darker in colour without the preservatives. But more importantly easy to make and pretty healthy. Will certainly make them again!

reade more... Résuméabuiyad