One of Stacy’s (old) favorite foods in the world is a sticky-sweet tamarind sauce that the local snow cone trailer drizzles on snow cones. Apparently during a restless night after revisiting this non-Paleo treat of a snow cone she dreamed about a barbeque sauce made from these seed pods. So, I decided to oblige and invent one.
Tamarind Barbecue Sauce
- 3/4 lb Tamarind seed pods
- 1 C water
- 4 Tbsp honey
- 1 tsp salt
- 1/2 tsp pepper
- 1/2 tsp red pepper flakes
- 2 Tbsp Tamari sauce
- 1 Tsp cumin
- 2 cloves garlic
- ♥ Peel the outer hulls of the tamarind pods, remove the threads and the seeds themselves (the more unusable parts you remove, the easier your job is
- ♥ Add to pot with water and cook on high until boiling, letting little hands stir occasionally
- ♥ Look for and remove remaining solids from pot
- ♥ Reduce heat to medium and simmer for 30 minutes, letting little hands stir occasionally
- ♥ Add remaining ingredients and simmer for 30 minutes until the thickness of a sauce, letting little hands stir occasionally
(It will get thicker than this)
I slather this on backbone(or you could use ribs the same way) pieces with salt, pepper, and paprika rubbed on. I grilled them over medium indirect heat for about ninety minutes then finish them off on the grill about 3-5 minutes on each side.
A word of warning: tamarind is not sweet in its natural state and people add a ton of sugar to get the dessert topping. This sauce is much more like a tangy and tart vinegar sauce than an overly sweet cloying honey barbecue sauce. The result is well worth the effort, though.
