Marriage Proposal Cilantro-Tamarind Dipping Sauce
My girlfriend swears that her fiance asked her to marry him because of this sauce. Maybe you will have similar results, maybe not, but I guarantee that you will find this sauce unbelievably tasty!
We use it for everything – as a dip, a dressing, a pasta sauce, etc. But our favorite way to use it is as a sauce for salad rolls – use a lettuce wrapper, and load up the ripe avocado, sliced red peppers, julienned carrots, sundried tomatoes, red onion, sprouts, etc., then slather on a generous portion of this sauce, roll it all up and serve.
This sauce keeps well for about a week, so you can easily double or triple the recipe if you find you like it.
Ingredients
- 2 tablespoons raw apple cider vinegar (or lemon juice)
- 2 tablespoons tamarind pulp, soaked and pits removed
- ½ cup raw honey
- ¼ cup olive oil
- ½ cup raw cashews
- ⅔ cup fresh cilantro
- 2 cloves garlic, peeled
- 2 green onions or scallions
- 1 teaspoon ground black pepper
- 1 teaspoon ground cumin
- ¼ teaspoon sea salt
- 1 pinch tumeric
Preparation
Place all ingredients in a food processor and process until combined. Keep refrigerated.
Comments
hleva writes: (February 07, 2007)
Where does one find tamarind pulp??
Crisyn writes: (February 08, 2007)
You can usually find tamarind pulp in the ethnic foods section of better grocery stores. The one I buy is in the East Indian foods section and comes in a hard brick. I have also seen it as a puree in a pouch. You might also try Asian markets.
I have never tried it, but tamarind pulp has a similar texture to dates, so you might try pureed dates if you can’t find the tamarind. Good luck!
humanimal writes: (February 08, 2007)
haha I love the name! :)
joseegonthier writes: (February 12, 2007)
Crisyn is right about the asian markets – I’ve seen some today, while shopping. :)
juleskess writes: (April 10, 2007)
I Love this sauce! Listen all of you out there, you will be so happy that you tried this recipe. It is sweet and tangy and spicy all at the same time. It is like a tropical thicker pesto. This sauce has it all: cheap ingredients, easy to make, keeps for days, full of leafy greens, low fat, can be used on everything. I is very versatile. I cannot find decent cashews or raw honey where I live so I used chopped up dates and sunflower seeds instead and I left out the oil and it was still very good. I cannot rave enough. It is a great sauce to have around a raw fridge. Thank you!
juleskess writes: (April 10, 2007)
Also, if you can’t find tamarind, I’ll bet a little mango puree with a little extra lemon juice would do the trick.
Crisyn writes: (April 10, 2007)
Juleskess, thanks for posting your variations. I think I will try it with sunflower seeds – yummy!
Marichiesa writes: (May 30, 2007)
This sauce sounds great! I have a question though… How do you think it would taste without the cashews? I’m not digesting nuts so well at the moment so I’m looking for creamy sauces/dips that can be made without them.
Crisyn writes: (May 31, 2007)
This isn’t really a creamy sauce or dip, at least not the way I make it :-) If you are trying to stay away from nuts, you could try the sunflower seed variation juleskess posted above. Or try a half recipe and just leave out the cashews, and maybe you’ll be pleasantly surprised!
RawLifestyle writes: (October 01, 2007)
What do you mean by soaked? How much water per tablespoon/cup of tamarind pulp? Also, do you keep the soaked water or do us strain it and only use the pulp? Thanks!
Crisyn writes: (November 03, 2007)
Hi Rawlifestyle. If you soak tamarind in a little water, it will turn to mush. I just break off a piece, put it in a small bowl with just enough water to cover it, then leave it sit for a few minutes. Then I mush it around with a fork, then I make sure there are no pits or bits left. Then I take out 2 tbsp of the mush and add it to the blender. Hope this helps.
bailaMariposa writes: (January 18, 2008)
This is the greatest! I barely even had all the ingredients and it was still yummy! When I was making it I kept, ‘my word, what kind of concoction is this?’ But it turned out great. It will definitely be a staple especially since it took about 5 minutes to make. Thanks!
Hippie Chick writes: (January 27, 2008)
Just made this…SO good! It reminds me a lot of honey-mustard sauce, although I didn’t measure exactly. I did add some cayenne pepper because I love it. I used agave instead of honey too. Just a half batch of this and snap peas in the pod and I was set for dinner!
carrie6292 writes: (March 17, 2008)
This is a nice, light sauce – i left out the nuts completely… next time, i’d 1/2 the ACV. I’m not sure what flavor Tamarind is supposed to add, but i pretty much just tasted the cilantro and ACV. I still liked it a lot – my veggies are marinating in it in the fridge for my “veggie rolls” for tomorrow ;) Oh, yes, and I did use Agave instead of honey as well… My sauce came out thick, so i just put some veggies in a container and then dolloped some sauce ontop and shook them up… tomorrow i’ll put the veggies in an endive leaf and roll it up!
lilmzmoyer@yahoo.com writes: (March 26, 2008)
OMG! I’ve died and gone to Heaven….....well, okay but close! I remember my mom having a recipe when I grew up called “Better than Sex Cake” ....well, move over, look out! Cuz, this tops them all!!!! Oh My Gosh!!! My family can’t get enough of it!!! No wonder your girlfriend’s boyfriend married her!!! I would too!! ;) Thanks soooooo much for sharing!!! :)
sabriya writes: (April 29, 2008)
I am going to try this tomorrow and dip it with dried plaintains!
artwings writes: (May 18, 2008)
yum, sounds good. And I love reading what everyone has tried with it!
DivineMissEm writes: (June 01, 2008)
This is super yum. I left out the nuts completely, used lime juice instead of acv and only used 1 tbsp of oil. I´m eating it now over some carrots, cucumbers and bok choy. I hope it´s like the original.. I can see how the cashews would make it super creamy and yummy but i´m trying to cut back!
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