Tamarind Stew

Tamarind is a fruit grown from a pod on trees with lots of branches and can be found in certain parts of Asia and the West Indies. Tamarind, for lots of Caribbean, people has many uses ranging from from sauces to candies. In my beautiful Island of Grenada, one of the ways we process this fruit is to make a stew (N.B not the stew for meat). The locals love this as a afternoon snack and I hope you’ll enjoy it too!

 

Ingredients:

 

• A 12 oz. pk tamarind pulp (optional)
• 1 lb raw tamarind (shelled and stem removed)
• 1 cup sugar(if tamarind is really tart use 1 ½ cups sugar)
• 2 tsp ginger powder (fresh ginger is fine too)
• 2 bay leaves
• 1 stick cinnamon
• ¼ cup water

 

Instructions:

 

• In a medium pot, put all the ingredients and bring to a boil
  
• Reduce to low heat and stir with a wooden spoon to avoid the mixture sticking
• In the mean time sterilize a jar or 2 to put the stew in
• When the contents get thick, remove from heat

• Pour the mixture in the jar or jars (depending on size) and leave to cool