Vegan tamarind recipes from round the world

A collection of easy vegan tamarind recipes from round the world that span from curries, to noodles and drinks.

Bowl of vegan pad Thai noodles with tamarind sauce.

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Types
Where to buy
Substitutes
Curries
Without coconut milk or cream
Drinks

Tamarind, also known as tamarindo in Latin America, is a pod commonly used in many Singaporean and South East Asian dishes such as mee siam and Assam fish. It has a tart and tangy taste & is also widely used in Indian food, which has many naturally vegan dishes: tamarind is a great ingredient for vegan and vegetarian food, as tamarind brings that savoury element that plant-based dishes sometimes lack.

This collection of plant-based vegan tamarind recipes includes international recipes from Sri Lanka, Thailand and Mexico.

P.S. If you're actually flexitarian, here are 35 non-vegan tamarind recipes.

Types

Tamarind can be found in its:

unripe green form (rare)- there's no need to de-seed, just chop and add to tamarind chutney or pickles
ripe brown form, with a hard shell which you break open. You will need to remove the seeds before you can use the pulp, which can be made into tamarind syrup or paste.
processed into tamarind pulp (usually sold as a block)
paste form- this is the easiest way to use tamarind and also the most common in Singapore. The seeds have been removed and the pulp pressed into blocks. Usually, Singaporeans add water to the paste, then squeeze it through a sieve or cheesecloth to get assam water (tamarind juice).
powder form (dehydrated tamarind)

Note: ripe brown tamarind and tamarind paste have long shelf lives in the fridge

Where to buy

In Asian countries, tamarind is commonly available in supermarkets but outside of Asia, you may need to check out the local Asian grocery stores or order it online.

When living in London, UK, I used to get fresh tamarind and tamarind paste from the Chinese supermarkets at Chinatown. A little goes a long way as the flavour is so strong!

Note: In South East Asia, some people grow tamarind trees in their backyard. For other easy to grow Asian herb and vegetable recipes, click here.

Substitutes

There isn't a perfect substitute but some people use lemon juice or Worcestershire sauce (which contains tamarind) as alternatives.

Curries

This delicious jackfruit curry also uses turmeric- if you don't have it, here are some of the best alternatives to turmeric (or recipes that use turmeric, if you have extra to use up!)

Naturally vegan Sri Lankan Jackfruit curry

Jackfruit is a tropical fruit that is a great vegan alternative to pulled pork (it has a similar texture). We used to have a tree by our pool and each fruit is ginormous- we were pretty much begging people to take some fruit off our hands every time we opened one! You need to use young jackfruit in this recipe (which is available canned) as mature jackfruit has a very strong smell! Sri Lankans and many South Asians make some of the best vegan food around, as they traditionally eat a veg-heavy diet 🙂

Click here for Jackfruit curry