Tamarind Marg

Recipe by @punikasayshi of @featuresofcomfort

we’re at the height of summer and all my sour tooth has been craving is a mouth-puckering, tart-but-sweet tamarind cocktail on a hot afternoon in the sun. tamarind will forever hold a special place in my heart. growing up, we would pick tamarind straight from the tree at my ama’s house, and after cracking open the hard shell and devouring the tangy and chewy fruit, my cousins and i would play a game of หมากเก็บ (“mahk-geb”), a traditional thai marble game, with the seeds we spat out. sometimes, we would pretend to play “market” and use the seeds as fake money. it’s a fond childhood memory i will never forget — i encourage you to invent your own games from these seeds if you can!

ingredients

300g wet tamarind (found at local thai/south asian markets)
4 cups of clean water + 1.5 cup for soaking
3/4 cups of brown sugar
big pinch of salt
half a lime (or more to taste)
tajin for rim
tequila

directions

soak the tamarind in 1 cup of water, leave for at least 30 minutes to soak until the tamarind starts to dissolve into the water. mash the tamarind with a fork until thick in consistency and thoroughly mixed.
separate the seeds and fibre through a fine mesh sieve. if there’s still more tamarind meat left, repeat step 1 and 2 with 1/2 cup of water to get as much tamarind out as possible.
put the tamarind paste into a pot with 4 cups of clean water and bring to a boil. once boiling, turn off the heat and stir in brown sugar and a big pinch of salt. remove from heat until fully cooled. (at this point, you have ready-to-drink traditional tamarind juice! can be store in fridge for up to 1 week)
in a pitcher full of ice, pour in tamarind juice, tequila (taste for strength, depending on how much you want to party), a big squeeze of lime, and an even bigger stir to mix it all together.
wet your coupe glasses, rim it with plenty of tajin and pour your drink into the glass, garnish with a slice of lime et violà! tamarind margarita just before summer’s end!