Tamarind aka Tetul – when we Bangladeshi, hear the word, our mouth automatically starts watering! We eat tamarind in many ways – pickle, sauce, candy, mash/spread and even act as a vital ingredient to many dishes we make. The fruit grows in brown pod and mostly very sour, that’s why it is very good for adding tangy flavor to any dish! Today I will share a tamarind sauce recipe, which is basically my father’s recipe and mostly eaten with snacks like Puri, Somucha or Singara!

So we basically need tamarind, lots of sugar and chili flakes and few other spices. This is one of the few ingredient but long time needed recipe, so you have to be mentally prepared before making this! But trust me, once you make it, you can save it for many days like any other sauce!

First thing we need to do is rinse the block of tamarind very lightly with water and soak the tamarind in normal temperature water, for at least two hours. Usually tamarind comes in a block in a packet, often very tightly bound together, unlike the fresh pulp found inside the pod. But no matter in what way you buy, you need to make a pulp from the tamarind. So soak it for overnight or minimum 2 hours. Please don’t use hot water as the tamarind looses their flavor.

After two hours, my tamarind block looks bit pale and soft. Now its time to make my hand dirty!

Now I used my hand to crush all tamarind pods with water. The purpose is to make the pulp, so the more you crush, the more pulp will release. In the beginning, the pulp will look really thin, but more you crush, you will see the pulp is getting thicker and you will start to separate the seeds. Who knew this much pulp can be made from this dry fruit!

Then I have used a colander to separate the seeds and used a spoon or spatula to get as much as pulp as possible by straining the mixture. Also, don’t forget to scrap under the colander, as there would be a lot of pulp gathered under.

Now we have a liter of tamarind pulp, as I soaked them in 1 liter of water. Then we would start the main cooking procedures.

In a deep pan, I added two table spoon of mustard oil and added pach phoron and bay leaves when the oil is heated. I let the spices fry for few seconds and when they start popping, I added finely diced garlic. We would not fry the garlic to brown as they get bitter in taste. So when garlic started to get little reddish, I added tamarind pulp to the pan.

I also added ground cumin, coriander powder and salt to the pulp and mixed them well. The mixture would looks very thin at this moment, so we would simmer it for five minutes in high temperature. The mixture tends to splatter a lot, so if you prefer, simmer it under a lid. I did not have to use lid as I have used a deep pan.

After five minutes, when the pulp mixture looked little bit thicker I added table spoon of chili flakes and three table spoon of sugar. The color of the mixture would immediately start to change from brown to deep red, when you add sugar. Also sugar helps in binding and thickening the mixture. We would simmer it for two more minutes.

After two minutes, I added more chili flakes and sugar and simmered for two to three minutes. The purpose is to adjust the sugar and chili to your taste, that’s why we are not adding all the sugar at once. We need to repeat the process for few times until we get desired taste. If you think that the sauce taste too sweet, you can add a tea spoon of vinegar to it to adjust the tanginess.

When I got my desired taste after repeating the process of adding sugar and chili for three times, I turned the heat in very low and let the sauce simmer for 15 more minutes. The sauce is still thin, so simmering would make it thicker by reducing extra water content.

After 15 minutes of simmering, the sauce should be thick enough to stick on a wooden spoon. I was not very satisfied with the thickness, so I decided to simmer for 10 more minutes.

Look how thick and deep red the sauce looks! I turned off the heat and immediately put it in a bowl to cool it off. If I left the sauce in the pan, the color would change since the pot was too hot.

So here is tangy, sweet and spicy tamarind sauce! As I said earlier, you can try this sauce with many things, like any fried veggies, nuggets, veggie tots and it will not disappoint you!

Recipe: Tetuler Tok Prepping time: 30 minutes

Ingredients: 450g Tamarind (with seeds) 250g Sugar 2-3 Garlic cloves 1tsp pach phoron 1 big Bay leaf 1 tsp fine Salt 1tbsp Cumin Power 1tbsp Coriander Powder 100g Chili Flakes 4 tbsp Mustard Oil

1. Rinse tamarind lightly with water first. Soak them in a big bowl with a liter of normal water for minimum 2 hours. 2. After two hours, when tamarind gets soft, crush with hand and make thick pulp. Finally use a colander to separate the seeds from the pulp. 3. In a deep pot, heat two table spoon of mustard oil (or any white oil) and add pach phoron and bay leaf. When they start popping add minced garlic and fry for few second until they are slightly reddish. 4. Now add the tamarind pulp, cumin and coriander powder and salt and simmer in high heat for 5 minutes. 5. Add a table spoon of chili flakes and few table spoon of sugar to the sauce and simmer in low heat for five minutes. Repeat the process two to three times until you get desired taste. 6. After you get desired taste, turn the heat very low and simmer the sauce for 15 more minutes or more until the sauce get in your desired thickness. 7. When finally done, turn off the heat and immediately put in big bowl to cool it off. You can keep the sauce in refrigerator for a year! Enjoy it with fried goodness!