Tamarind

The unusually tart flavor and slightly thick texture of this sauce is great with a simple grilled fish or boiled green vegetable. It is easy to make when you have frozen cubes of tamarind liquid on hand, and can be prepared hours in advance of the meal and left at room temperature.

I tend to use this chutney as a relish, stirring it into the accompanying rice of a main course. It is slightly sweet, as you might expect, but tantalizingly hot and sour too. Scoop it up with a pappadam or a doughy, freckled paratha (I have been known to use a pita bread in times of desperation). On Mondays I sometimes put a spoonful on the side of the plate with cold meats. Palm sugar (also known as jaggery) is used in Indian cooking and is available in Indian markets.

Tamarind provides acidity with a delicious fruity tartness. It is mainly used in Indian, Thai, and Mexican cooking, although it grows in many tropical climates, including Florida. Look for the caramel-colored tamarind concentrate or paste in markets, as extracting the fruit from the pods is labor-intensive. Use the ketchup on the Indonesian Corn Fritters (page 155), Indian Spiced Scrambled Eggs (page 75), and burgers or grilled shrimp. For all of the preserving recipes, including this one, use kosher salt; unlike table salt, it is free of additives that can discolor ingredients.

This tart-sweet relish is thick enough for you to plop some into the crevices of a samosa for a wonderful, classic Indian food taste treat. Tamarind is known as the “date of India,” and the delectable marriage of the two kinds of dates in this chutney is a natural. Both ingredients lend body, their flavors perfectly complementing each other. I’ve eaten this chutney off a spoon. If available, use jaggery (unrefined Indian sugar) or Southeast Asian palm sugar instead of the brown sugar. Sticky dark brown slabs of tamarind pulp are sold at Chinese, Indian, and Southeast Asian markets in a double layer of plastic packaging. Soft dates, such as Medjools, work best. Otherwise, soak chewy, hard dates in just-boiled water for about an hour to soften them, then drain and proceed.

Tamarind is one of the most common flavors of agua fresca in Mexico, and it’s my absolute favorite. Fresh tamarind pods are available at many specialty markets. Those from Asia are sweeter and more velvety and tend to have more pulp, whereas those from Mexico and the Caribbean are much more tart—which is what I love about them! This beverage has a brownish-orange color, but don’t be put off by it.

You can buy tamarind paste (page 46) from Middle Eastern stores. Serve the scallops as an appetizer accompanied with a leaf salad.

Rasam is an immensely popular South Indian soup. The word rasam, in the Tamil language, means "essence," or "juice," and has come to mean a particular type of soup that includes the tartness of tamarind or tomatoes. The ingredients used in rasam vary, but it is basically a light, spicy soup. The spiciness can be adjusted to your taste. At times I add vegetables to make this soup a complete meal.

This is a spicy, vinegary paste from the beautiful region of Goa. It is great with meat, chicken and fish; I have used it in a few recipes to get you started. Just remember when you cook with it, it is all raw so it does need to be well cooked before you use it.

Jasmin is a piece of work. Her single-word name only enhances her celebrity status. She's the chef/proprietor of her eponymous quintessential beach hut restaurant on the northern tip of Koh Phi Phi in Thailand. A tall, sexy native with long jet black hair and flowing silk dresses, she's as sharp as a razor blade and intimidating as hell. If you ask her a question, she stops, squints her eyes dubiously, and raises an eyebrow. She's the Queen Bee here. Her worker bees are the little barefoot gypsy kids who live on the beach, the happiest kids I've ever seen. They take her orders, serve her food, and assist her in effortlessly knocking out the freshest and most delicious Thai dishes around—her clientele buzzes in from every surrounding island. "Just bring us whatever you'd like" (I try to skip the questions). I'll kick back with a Singha and watch those iconic longtail boats pull up with ice crates of screamingly fresh local fish, and I'm eating perfectly executed delicacies fifteen minutes later. Here's a woman who is truly about abundance, joie de vivre, and a spirit so vibrant that it inspires everyone. A true domestic goddess. She graciously taught me this classic in her (outdoor) kitchen on the beach.

This soup has many layers in its complexity, but the overall effect is of cleanness and freshness. An optional addition of jasmine rice makes a heartier meal.

This shrimp appetizer almost has the iron of steak but far fewer calories.

A pickle-like blend of ingredients called balchao, is crucial to many of Portuguese Goa's meat dishes, and usually incorporates Goa's other passion, feni, a potent alcoholic brew made from either cashew nuts or palm fruit. Also omnipresent in Goan dishes is the highly acidic feni vinegar, which reduces the potency of dried red chiles—as does tart tamarind, another key element in this layered, complex, and fiery-hot paste that peppers its way into many of Goa's curries. Unfortunately, neither the alcohol nor the vinegar is available outside of India (maybe even outside of Goa), and so my offering is devoid of both. Nonetheless, it is very flavorful, with cider or malt vinegar standing in as a perfectly acceptable substitute.

This recipe originally accompanied Vidalia Onion Fritters with Tamarind Dipping Sauce. Tamarind water gives this very nicely balanced tart-yet-sweet dipping sauce its lovely deep orange color and unusual flavor. The sauce is delicious with Vidalia Onion Fritters and other fried foods.

This South Indian dish—also known as xec-xec—is full of tamarind, cumin, coriander, and roasted coconut. The spices meld with the tomato to form a flavorful sauce that clings to the shrimp.

Sate Sapi<r>
Editor's note: This recipe is adapted from James Oseland's book Cradle of Flavor: Home Cooking from the Spice Islands of Indonesia, Malaysia, and Singapore. It was originally accompanied by Lemongrass-Shallot Sambal and was part of an article by Oseland on Indonesian cuisine. There are few more dependable sounds in Indonesia than the rhythmic rat-a-tat-tat-tat of satay vendors who roam the streets and alleys of every town and village announcing their presence with a wooden stick rapped against their portable grills. When a customer approaches, the satay men set up their makeshift kitchens—a tiny grill, a basket containing the already skewered meat, a fan to breathe life into the fire—on the spot, grilling skewers of meat to order. The smoky-sweet aroma is irresistible, and, soon neighbors can't help but gather to order some for themselves. This recipe is from Jimi, a West Javanese street vendor with a languid smile. Over the course of three hot nights back in the 1980s, on an extended stay in Bogor, West Java, I watched him grill petite skewers of this delicious satay as he made his rounds. Eventually I worked up the courage to ask him for his recipe, which he gladly shared. Ginger, coriander, and palm sugar (dark brown sugar can be substituted) are the keynote tastes. The tamarind in the marinade acts as a powerful tenderizer, making even very chewy meat tender, so it's important to use a somewhat toothsome piece of beef, such as flank steak or skirt steak. If you start with tender meat, the marinade is likely to make it mushy. For a skewerless satay, try using this marinade for a whole piece of flank steak, then broil the meat as you would for London broil.</r>

The mild flavor of mahimahi is a perfect match for this wonderfully balanced tamarind glaze. The famously tart fruit is sweetened with brown sugar and brought to life by soy sauce and lime juice.

If you like curries, you'll love this recipe. The sauce is rich with coconut flavor and redolent with spice. Don't be alarmed by the number of red chiles — these are mild.

Dipped in peanut sauce, these beef satés are flavor bombs on a stick. Don't be put off by the long list of ingredients — we promise you won't be disappointed if you make the sauce from scratch. (It's so much fresher and more complex than any bottled product you may have used in the past.) The meat can be marinated and the sauce prepared ahead, so you just need to grill the satés before serving.

The best way to enjoy this Vietnamese delicacy is first to savor the sauce, shallots, and garlic tucked in and around the shells of the shrimp, then eat the succulent meat with steamed rice. Serve with ice-cold beer or a crisp Viognier or Pinot Gris.

This spicy vegetarian curry is hearty enough for a comforting fall dinner. It's great simply ladled over steamed rice.

Use a block of Asian (Thai) tamarind rather than the Indian kind. It's usually thicker, softer, and easier to work with.