Arabian Sweet Tamarind(Tamr Hindi)

Arabian Sweet Tamarind Drink..Popularly called as Tamr Hindi, a well known Iftar Drink in the Middle eastern Countries..The word 'Tamr' refers to 'dates', and so, 'Tamr Hindi' refers to 'Indian dates', which means Tamarind. Since the drink was made of tamarind, it is named as such..I found this recipe a couple of weeks back, when I was searching for some Arabian cool drinks without fruits..Tried it the next day itself..

The taste was too good filled with a tangy n sweet taste with a nice aroma as well..It is a very good option if you are bored with fruit juices, and wanted to try something unusual for iftar. It can be served as a summer drink as well. The recipe sounds similar to our SouthIndian Paanakam, but here, instead of Jaggery, sugar is used;tamarind is used in place of lemon;to give aroma, the spices are replaced by essence. Now moving on to the recipe..

RECIPE:

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Preparation Time: 7 mins

Soaking Time: 2 hrs to overnight

Cooking Time: 15-25 mins 

Serves: 6 persons(approx.)

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INGREDIENTS: [1 cup=240 ml]

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Tamarind - 1 cup

Sugar - 1 3/4 cup or a little more or less

Water - 2 litres

Rose water - 30 ml

METHOD:

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1. In a vessel, add the water, and allow it to boil. At this stage, add the tamarind pieces, followed by sugar, and mix them very well.

2. Keep on cooking the mix until the tamarind becomes very soft. Take a piece of tamarind and check if it is easily mashable. If yes, switch off the stove, and set the vessel aside closed with a lid. Allow the tamarind to get soaked very well in the hot water for minimum 2 hrs so that it comes to a room temperature, to a maximum of overnight. I soaked overnight.

3. Now, mash the tamarind very well with your clean hands to extract the juice as much as possible. Strain the juice in a strainer, and use the pulp for some other purposes. Store the extracted juice in the refrigerator.

4. While serving, add the rose water to the strained tamarind juice, dilute with water if required, mix very well, and serve chilled with ice cubes. DONE!!

Your tangy Sweet Tamarind is ready to be served!!Njjoy!!

NOTE:

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1. Add rose water only just before serving.

2. If you are not using the entire tamarind juice, add rose water accordingly.

3. You can store the tamarind juice for a few days in the refrigerator.
4. If you are using seedless tamarind, you can grind them too after cooking and strain to get the juice, instead of soaking them.