Dulce de Tamarindo Costeño Afromestizo

Ingredients

Equipment Needed

• •Clay cazuela or heavy 3-quart saucepan
• •Wooden spoon with a flat edge
• •Coarse sieve
• •Comal for toasting chile
• •Molcajete or spice grinder
• •Lightly oiled tray or banana leaf

Instructions

1. 1

   Clean the tamarind

   Crack the tamarind shells and pull away the brittle peel and the stringy veins. Keep the sticky pulp with the seeds inside. If the pods are dry and smell dusty, they are old. Good tamarind smells sharp, fruity, and a little brown-sugary before it ever touches the pot.

2. 2

   Soften the pulp

   Put the tamarind pulp in a clay cazuela or heavy saucepan with 3 cups water. Bring to a gentle simmer and cook for 15 to 20 minutes, pressing the pods with a wooden spoon until the pulp loosens from the seeds. Do not boil it violently. You want the fruit to relax, not scorch.

3. 3

   Press out seeds

   Set a coarse sieve over a bowl. Pour in the softened tamarind and press hard with the back of a spoon until the thick pulp passes through and the seeds and fibers stay behind. Scrape the underside of the sieve. That pulp is the candy. Add a splash of water only if it is too thick to press.

   Do not use bottled tamarind concentrate for this. It is usually sweetened, thinned, and flat. A substitution is a compromise, not an upgrade.
4. 4

   Toast the chile

   Toast the dried chile costeño rojo on a dry comal for 10 to 15 seconds per side, just until fragrant. Do not blacken it. Let it cool, then grind it fine in a molcajete or spice grinder. Chile costeño belongs to this coast. Chile piquín works in other sweets, but here the costeño gives the right dry warmth.

5. 5

   Cook with piloncillo

   Return the tamarind pulp to the cazuela. Add the chopped piloncillo, canela stick, 1/2 teaspoon sea salt, lime juice, and half of the ground chile costeño. Cook over medium-low heat, stirring constantly with a wooden spoon, until the piloncillo dissolves and the mixture turns glossy and dark. This takes 25 to 35 minutes. When the paste pulls away from the sides and you can drag the spoon through the bottom for two seconds before it closes, it is ready.

6. 6

   Cool the paste

   Remove the canela stick. Scrape the hot tamarind paste onto a lightly oiled tray or a piece of banana leaf if you have it. Let it cool until you can handle it without burning your fingers, about 20 minutes. Do not refrigerate it to hurry the job. Cold paste firms unevenly and fights your hands.

7. 7

   Prepare coatings

   For a sweet coating, put the finely grated piloncillo or raw cane sugar in a shallow clay bowl. For a chile-salt coating, mix 1 teaspoon ground toasted chile costeño rojo with 1/4 teaspoon sea salt and 3 tablespoons of the sugar. If using coconut, grate it fresh and spread it on a plate. Fresh coconut is soft and fragrant. Desiccated coconut tastes like a drawer.

8. 8

   Roll the candies

   Lightly oil your palms. Pinch off pieces of tamarind paste and roll them into walnut-sized balls. Roll each one in piloncillo sugar, chile-salt, or fresh coconut. Set them on a tray to firm for at least 1 hour. Wrap in small squares of wax paper or cellophane if storing. Recetas probadas y garantizadas.

Chef Tips

• •Buy tamarind pods from a market stall with turnover. At the Costa Chica markets, the pods are sold loose and the vendor will know if they came from local trees or from farther south. Pregúntale a las señoras del mercado.
• •Piloncillo gives mineral depth and bitterness that white sugar cannot give. White sugar makes sour candy. Piloncillo makes dulce de tamarindo costeño.
• •Chile costeño rojo is the right chile for this Guerrero version. If you cannot find it, use chile de arbol only as a backup and use less. It is sharper and hotter, and the flavor will move away from the coast.
• •The paste thickens more as it cools. Stop cooking when it pulls from the cazuela but still looks glossy. If you cook until it is stiff in the pot, it will set too hard.
• •This candy is sour, sweet, salty, and warm from chile. It is not supposed to taste like supermarket tamarind paste. That version has trained people badly.

Advance Preparation

• •The tamarind pulp can be cooked, pressed, and refrigerated up to 2 days ahead before adding piloncillo.
• •Finished candies keep for 10 days at room temperature in an airtight tin, separated with wax paper.
• •For humid coastal weather, roll the candies the day you serve them or wrap them individually so the coating does not melt into the paste.

Frequently Asked Questions

Nutrition Information

1 serving (about 23g)