If you’re like me, sometimes you get a fever, and the only prescription is more tamarind.
A few months ago I found some mint in the fridge that was on its way to brown, and thought I’d salvage what I could and make myself a mojito. Unfortunately there was no lime to be found, so I decided I’d try with tamarind instead.
I took a lump out of a wet packet of tamarind (you know, the one that comes in plastic with the seeds), dissolved it in water, took out the seeds, and strained it. I muddled the mint, added a little sugar syrup, rum, and the tamarind. The result was… all right.
I asked my genius partner-in-crime for her opinion, and she thought the same thing – all right. Then she thought about it for a little while and said, “You know those little Thai tamarind candies? The ones with chili powder in them – make it taste like that.”
So out went the mint and rum, and in came a teeny bit of chili powder and vodka. The result, which a bunny-loving friend has since dubbed the “Tamtini,” is BRILLIANT.
I never measure actual amounts, and the amount of tamarind you use really depends on how sour you want it. It’s really the chili powder that makes it, I think, and the sugar offsets the saltiness of the tamarind, depending on what brand of tamarind you buy.
A few weeks later I happened by my favorite happy hour spot in Brooklyn, when I saw this sign:
Foregoing my usual $3 draft, I tried it. Ick! Too sweet, and not enough tamarind.
If you don’t like vodka, rum works too. I’m intrigued by my cousin’s suggestion to try this with coconut rum, though I don’t think either of us has tried it yet.
Don’t get me wrong, I’m not claiming that we were the first to do this. I’ve seen tamarind drinks on menus before, but to my recollection none of them used chili powder. If you came up with this thing back in the 50s, speak up.
And if you have any wild tamarind concoctions to share, please do!
I recall drinking margaritas de tamarindo as a teenager back in San Jose. Tamarind extract/syrup (would paste work?), cheap tequila, sugar, lime, sugar, salt….delicious!
This summer we’ve been mixing tamarind juice (around here, we have found Goya brand) on ice with rum and adding a squeeze of lime. Refreshing!
Also, how about San Pellegrino lemon soda, mixed with vodka and Shikanji masala? Love, love, love shikanji.
Have you tried Lucas Pulpadip or Pelucas? It’s prepared tamarind with chili, sugar, and lime already in it. It’s normally eaten as a candy, but could go potentially very well in a tamatini.
As a proper South Indian maami and certified lush, I mean, cocktail connoisseur, I have to try this out with the pulli in my refrigerator. Will let you know the results.
Brilliant. So trying this.
Darth Paul, brilliant!
Pelucas was a grade-school staple whenever I had a dollar and my parents weren’t around. I imagine it would take a considerable amount of labor to mix it well, but probably worth it!
To be fair, bunny-loving friend stole the name from one significant other. That being said, this article gets two paws up!
Now I’m tempted to dunk pelucas in Stoli and see what happens.
And, of course, as a mad Madrasi, I’m now wondering if anyone’s ever spiked their rasam. Would be an interesting variation on hot buttered rum.
You’d probably be better off making a tamarind syrup instead of trying to dissolve tamarind straight into the drink. Just reduce a 50/50 sugar/water mix with some tamarind or tamarind paste thrown in until it becomes viscous. But vodka? Desi please! Tamarind and tequila belong together.
The reason you didn’t enjoy your margarita, though, is because margaritas need to be made fresh. If happy hour margaritas are a crime against liquor, happy hour “specialty” margaritas are an abomination. Lemon and lime juice don’t keep well on the shelf. The delicate compounds that give citrus its flavor will, with exposure to air and light, quickly break down into turpenes which taste like, well turpentine. To compensate for the piney taste of old citrus the commercial mixes will load it up with preservatives and stabilizers and foamers and colorants and all sorts of other crimes against nature. And as if such adulteration was not enough, they will then add a metric fuckton (slightly more than a regular fuckton) of sugar (or high fructose corn syrup) to guarantee that you never actually taste what you’re pouring down your gullet. Hence why you thought your’s was too sweet and lacked tamarind.
A recipe should be simple enough to make. Something like 2 parts tequila, 1 part tamarind syrup, 1 part lime juice, and 1 part (in order of preference) Cointreau, Grand Marnier, or Triple Sec. That might be a bit too sweet actually, you’ll have to play with the ratios a bit to get a balance. Maybe add some actual tamarind in addition to the tamarind syrup. That and stir in some chili.
Better yet, make a panakam where you take out some of the ginger and sub in ginger liquer and maybe a bit of gin depending on how much of a booze-hound you are. Although I spent the better part of last summer drinking Hendricks martinis. Basically Hendricks gin with cardamom, rose syrup, and some grapefruit juice. Not based on any particular Indian drink, but the flavors involved go well with Indian food.
Vij’s (www.vijs.ca) has a drink called a Dark Army. It’s phenomenal (although after having a few, I’m surprised I can remember). From what I remember, it included tamarind, appleton dark rum, muddled mint, and a bunch of spices (cumin powder, black salt, and others).
Lucas makes a great chaser for pepper-flavored vodka and tequila. I do it like a lemon drop, just use a little ball (chickpea size or so) of it dunked in lime and rolled in salt. I’ve been meaning to try vodka-soaked lucas in a bloody mary, but I don’t do mixed drinks much anymore.
looks yummy to me!
Tabla in New York city does an excellent Tamarind Margarita
I’m pretty sure the legendary Bruce Dickinson would agree with me that that sounds n$”sty. But I guess sometimes you gotta have more tamarind 😀
yum! will def. experiment with this.
Tabla in New York city does an excellent Tamarind Margarita so does, unsurprisingly, tamarind.
And, of course, as a mad Madrasi, I’m now wondering if anyone’s ever spiked their rasam. Would be an interesting variation on hot buttered rum. no, but i have spiked gulab jamuns with malibu. and added chaat masala to margaritas. i’ve found, in general, that it is much trickier to spike the south indian food than north indian, and even then, it always works better on desserts (like jaangiri in vodka/ginger liquer syrup). i prefer to just have a drink alongside the south indian food (a la quick gun murugan’s ‘oru masala dosa, oru whiskey’).
Isn’t a bloody mary just a tamatini?
That guy is saying there is a Sanskrit word for “tomato” even though Sanskrit was already out of regular use by the time the New World (and the tomatoes therein) were discovered. How does that make sense?