As promised ladies & gents… tamarind gets a taste of the sweet life. For my overly ambitious attempt at French macarons, I had made tons of tamarind caramel for the filling. I should have known better is all I have to say about that. Bad baker plus finicky recipe equals one giant culinary disaster. Yikes.
Out of that nightmare, my batch of tamarind caramel was the only thing good that came out of it. I was ready to experiment. I liked the flavor combination. The tangy tamarind was toned down by the buttery caramel. I also added a good sprinkling of fleur de sel and five spice powder just to heighten the flavor of the tamarind. It’s addicting, especially right when it comes out of the oven.
Sorry for the mini-post. Lunar new year is approaching quickly and according to Chinese tradition the house (bad luck) must be cleaned out to make room for the good luck. What can I say? I’m superstitious. I just cleaned off the steps and now it’s time to replace the foil under the gas burners. How Chinese is that? 
Try this recipe. People will ask you if you put crack in it.
Tamarind Caramel Popcorn
The Caramel:
200 grams sugar
3 tablespoons butter
200 grams of heavy cream
1/4 cup of tamarind paste
1 teaspoon of ground cinnamon
pinch of five spice powder
6 to 8 cups of popped popcorn (I do mine in a wok with a few teaspoons of canola oil)
fleur de sel, to taste
Heat the sugar in a heavy bottomed pan on moderate heat. Have everything else on hand since this is all gonna happen really quick. You’ll start to see the edges of the sugar begin to liquefy/color. At this point, begin slowly stirring the sugar so that it can melt evenly. Once it has turned a nice caramel brown add your butter and step back. Beware. Making caramel is dangerous. The boiling sugar is hotter than boiling water, so I’d wear long sleeves if I were you. After the butter is incorporated, add the cream. Scary. It’ll seize up for a second. If you heat your cream up or bring it to room temperature beforehand, it won’t be as scary. Add your tamarind paste and spices and you’re all set to coat your popcorn. You can also jar up your caramel at this point and save it for later. Impatient eaters, should preheat their ovens to 250 degrees. Pour the caramel over the popcorn and fold it until evenly coated (or not. Sometimes I like having pieces that are extra coated with caramel and some pieces that just have a hint of flavor. Up to you). Spread it evenly on a baking sheet lined with parchment. This allows for easy clean-up. Give it a generous sprinkle of fleur de sel. Bake for about an hour, giving it a stir every 15 minutes. Allow it to cool, if you can stand it, and then break it apart and enjoy!
Now that I’ve had my blogging fun, I really must get back to those chores. I feel like Cinderella.
6 Comments
hp
06 Feb 2008 07:02 pm
That looks fabulous! Will have to try this. I hadn’t made caramel popcorn in years, but made some on New Years Day to take to a party. So fun and tasty!
shippouchan
06 Feb 2008 08:02 pm
Mmm, that looks absolutely delicious. ^__^
And, Happy New Year! And now that you’ve reminded me… I need to go clean out my place too… -__-””’ *runs after the dust bunnies*
Purplesque
07 Feb 2008 03:02 am
[this is good] If this is not the most brilliant recipe I’ve read in a while, then I don’t know what is. Tamarind and caramel over popcorn, I’m salivating at the mere thought!
Great pictures.
Lucy
07 Feb 2008 06:02 am
mmm what a fun way to use tamarind! I’ve been meaning to make some authentic pad thai with tamarind, it’s good to know that there are other treats that it could be used with!
Selera
08 Feb 2008 09:02 am
This is the first time I heard of Tamarind Popcorn.. very adventurous…lol. Sounds like potential market out there….
ps: thanks for adding me =:O)
bold as love
08 Feb 2008 06:02 pm
[this is good] that sounds really great, i’ll have to try it sometime
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