This tamarind and Thai basil dipping sauce for seafood comes out thick, gently sour and a striking deep green. The tamarind and basil together suit steamed clams, steamed mussels or plain boiled pork. The hardest part is judging the acidity, since too much tamarind makes the sauce sharp enough to bury the seafood.
Blending the basil together with the fish sauce mixture is what gives the deep green color and spreads the aroma evenly. Only the tamarind pulp goes in, as the fibers and seeds would leave the sauce gritty.
This batch weighs about 536g, at roughly 133 calories per 100g.
Method
Peel the tamarind, remove the seeds and keep only 100g of pulp.
Pick over the Thai basil, discarding yellowed leaves and tough stems, wash it and chop it. Wash, peel and mince the garlic and chilies.
Put 162g kOBE Monk Fruit Blend, 130ml fish sauce and 85ml water in a bowl and stir until fully dissolved.
Pour the mixture into a blender, add the minced garlic and chili, 20g Thai basil leaves and the tamarind pulp, and blend smooth.
Pour into a clean bowl and it is ready to serve with steamed clams, steamed mussels or boiled pork.
Tips
Blending the basil together with the fish sauce mixture is what produces the deep green color.
kOBE Monk Fruit Blend dissolves slowly, so the fish sauce mixture is stirred again after 5 minutes before it goes into the blender.
Semi ripe tamarind is gentler in acidity than fully ripe, and careful straining of fibers and seeds is what makes the sauce smooth.
Short pulses work better than one long blend, as over blended basil leaves turn harsh.
Leftover sauce keeps in the fridge for 3 days and needs a stir before serving.
The sauce tastes best cold, since served warm alongside steamed seafood it turns pungent.
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The recipe above is sweetened with kOBE Monk Fruit Blend, measured 1:1 like sugar. See the product page or send us a message.