Puliankottai vadai

Having gone lengthily about making use of the shell of the tamarind seed, the puliyankottai [புளியங்கொட்டை], the part that’s usually discarded–it’s time to talk about what to do with the nutritionally rich, but tough little seed kernels themselves.

For starters, here’s Julia Morton’s summary and a bit of science from her encyclopedic Fruits from Warm Climates (1987):

Tamarind seeds have been used in a limited way as emergency food. They are roasted, soaked to remove the seedcoat, then boiled or fried, or ground to a flour or starch. Roasted seeds are ground and used as a substitute for, or adulterant of, coffee. In Thailand they are sold for this purpose. In the past, the great bulk of seeds available as a by-product of processing tamarinds, has gone to waste. In 1942, two Indian scientists, T. P. Ghose and S. Krishna, announced that the decorticated kernels contained 46 to 48% of a gel-forming substance. Dr. G. R. Savur of the Pectin Manufacturing Company, Bombay, patented a process for the production of a purified product, called “Jellose”, “polyose”, or “pectin”, which has been found superior to fruit pectin in the manufacture of jellies, jams, and marmalades. It can be used in fruit preserving with or without acids and gelatinizes with sugar concentrates even in cold water or milk. It is recommended as a stabilizer in ice cream, mayonnaise and cheese and as an ingredient or agent in a number of pharmaceutical products. [Morton 1987: 115-121]

Indeed, tamarind seeds possess “the characteristic property of forming sugar-acid-jellies” [Bhat 1955: 9]; the polysaccaride jellose present in TKP forms jells with sugar. “Unlike fruit or other sources of pectin,” however, “the seeds comprise nearly 60% of the gel-forming polyose. The gel strength is so high, that it is not suitable for use as such in food industries.” The patented process referred to in Morton’s summary above “relates to a modification in the gel-forming constituent [jellose] of TKP so as to give a product comparable to fruit pectin in its jellying properties and thus provides a cheap substitute for fruit pectins” [Bhat 1955: 9].

The part that’s important for the home cook-forager-eater to understand: unless you are using jellose derived from tamarind seed, beware of the seed’s gelling capabilities. They are indeed terrifically strong. This explains why even the whole seed, well-cooked for several whistles in a pressure cooker after overnight soaking, will still have a rubbery-chewy-sticky mouthfeel. This means also that your vadas will never break apart if you add tamarind seed to them–the seed in ground batter will act like a powerful binder. And the corollary: adding tamarind seed makes for a dense vada, which will need to loosened in one of many ways to make it palatable.

I tried each method, one at a time, and wound up with three vada possibilities, with the last one being my favorite.

Processing the tamarind seed

Extracting the kernel is a process that involves roasting the whole seeds, then pounding them in an ural or “bashing” them with a stone and using a winnow to separate kernels from seed coat. Save the seed coat to dye some fabric, and pick out the kernels. They’ll be hard as nails as they are so don’t try to eat them–you’ll risk a visit to the dentist for a broken tooth.

Instead, soak the kernels overnight. Drain them the next morning (they’ll still be rubbery, but you can pinch them into bits at this stage) and powder in a blender. Yes, they will powder even though they’ve been sitting in a water bath for 12 hours or so. Thirsty little devils.

You could if you want also pressure cook–drain–and then powder. But with this route, you won’t get a dry powder but more of a meal. This stores well enough, refrigerated so it’s an option if you prefer to ensure that your kernels are cooked really well before using them to make vadais.

Three kinds of tamarind seed vadais

1. Embrace the density, make a masala vadai.

The classic masala vadai is a combination of three dals: chana, toor and urad in equal measure (though there are many who will just use chana). These are ground with no/very little water into a rough batter, and onions, green chillies, curry leaves, ginger (all minced) plus jeera, hing and salt added in. To this, I added about 1 cup of ground tamarind seed. To loosen? Well, baking soda. No Indian cook likes this option, but many secretly use it on occasion, just to ensure that all the effort that goes into making vadais isn’t ruined with hard, unpleasurable outcomes.

• 1/2 cup chana dal
• 1/2 cup toor dal
• 1/2 cup urad dal
• 1 small onion, minced
• green chillies to taste, minced
• 1″ginger minced
• a sprig of curry leaves, torn into bits
• 1/2 teaspoon jeera
• generous pinch of hing
• salt to taste
• 1 cup or thereabouts ground tamarind seeds
• 1/2 teaspoon of baking soda (optional)

Soak the dals for an hour or so, until each lentil type can be bitten through. Grind with no water or very very little water into a coarse paste. Add in all the other minced ingredients and spices; mix well. Add the baking soda, if using, just before frying. Shape into patties and fry in hot oil.

2. Break the gelling bonds completely, make a medu vadai.

This method is akin to what happens when you add flour to light, fluffy, whipped egg or egg whites while making some kinds of meringue-based cakes. Urad dal is soaked well and ground until a blob of it floats–there’s no fermentation, but the mucilaginous, hydrophobic nature of the dal itself is what is employed to create fluffiness.

• 1 cup urad dal, without skins–soaked for an hour or so and then ground with minimal water into a fluffy and light batter.
• green chillies to taste, minced
• 1/2 teaspoon crushed black pepper (not powder)
• 1/2 teaspoon jeera
• salt to taste
• 1 cup ground tamarind seed (same proportion as the urad dal kept to soak)

Soak the urad dal for an hour or so, and grind with just enough water to make a smooth batter. The griding process is also a whipping, so the batter incorporates air and becomes light. The test of aready urad batter: a small blob of batter floats on water. To this, we add 1 cup (about the same proportion as dal used) of ground tamarind seed. Some green chillies, some lightly pounded fresh black pepper, some cumin seeds and salt. Mix well, drop in small tablespoon-sized handfuls into hot oil. Enjoy just like that or with a coconut chutney on the side.

3. Loosen things up with chickpeas and jackfruit seeds, make a desi falafel.

I love adding jackfruit seeds to hummus. Chickpeas provide just the right creaminess to complement the jackfruit’s more robust nature, and absorb it perfectly. This vada is a bit of a riff off that idea, but here we’re adding cooked jackfruit seeds and cooked-and-pulverized tamarind seed kernels to merely soaked chickpeas. Grind them all together with garlic, coriander, cumin seeds. Deep fry into little balls — and now you can have them as the are, or stuff pitas with them. Whatever route you pick, make sure you have them piping hot. They’re crunchy and soft and just the most delicious pulled straight out of the fryer.

• Equal proportions, or 1/2 cup each chickpeas (soaked overnight), jackfruit seeds (cooked; see here how to prep them), and ground tamarind seed
• a few cloves of garlic
• green chillies, to taste
• fresh coriander leaves, chopped
• 1-2 spring onions, green tops included, chopped
• 1 teaspoon roasted and powdered jeera
• 1 teaspoon roasted and powdered coriander seeds
• salt to taste
• 2 tablespoons maida or white flour

Soak dry chickpeas overnight or until softened. Prep and cook the jackfruit seeds in a pressure cooker for 1-2 whistles. Drain the water (reserving the cooking liquid), allow to cool, and transfer to a blender jar. Add the soaked chickpeas and all the other ingredients (except flour) one by one pulsing to obtain first a coarse paste and then pulse again to make the paste as smooth as possible. Add very little of the reserved cooking water only if needed to make a thick, smooth batter. Now transfer to a bowl and add the flour. Shape into small balls and fry in hot oil.

Make sure you enjoy these piping hot!

Sources

1. Bhat, S.G. 1955. “Tamarind Seeds—an Indigenous Material” The Bombay Technologist, Vol. 5 (March), pp. 8-11.
2. Morton, Julia F. 1987. “Tamarind.” In: Fruits of warm climates. Brattleboro, VT: Echo Point Books and Media. p. 115–121.