Tamarind Cream Pie

Name: Tamarind Cream Pie
Total time: 1 h
Yield: 8 servings
Ingredients: 2 cups/170 grams graham cracker crumbs (from about 11 sheets of crackers); 6 tablespoons/85 grams unsalted butter (3/4 stick), melted; 1 large orange; 4 large egg yolks; 1 (14-ounce/400-gram) can sweetened condensed milk; 1/2 cup/120 milliliters tamarind paste, extract or concentrate (see tip); 1 to 2 tablespoons lemon or lime juice, to taste (from 1 lemon or lime); Pinch of fine sea salt; 1 cup/240 milliliters heavy cream; 1 tablespoon confectioners’ sugar

By Melissa Clark

Total Time: 1 hour, plus cooling and chilling
Rating: 4(296)
Comments: Read comments

With its bright, fruity acidity and a bittersweet depth, tamarind makes for an especially complex cream pie that’s a bit like Key lime, but with a molasses-like edge. This is a good dessert to prepare ahead: You can bake and chill the pie up to 3 days ahead, then add the whipped cream and orange zest up to 6 hours before serving. Keep the pie refrigerated until just before you cut it.

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Ingredients

Yield:8 servings

For the Crust

2cups/170 grams graham cracker crumbs (from about 11 sheets of crackers)
6tablespoons/85 grams unsalted butter (¾ stick), melted

For the Filling

1large orange
4large egg yolks
1(14-ounce/400-gram) can sweetened condensed milk
½cup/120 milliliters tamarind paste, extract or concentrate (see tip)
1 to 2tablespoons lemon or lime juice, to taste (from 1 lemon or lime)
Pinch of fine sea salt

For the Topping

1cup/240 milliliters heavy cream
1tablespoon confectioners’ sugar

Ingredient Substitution Guide

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Preparation

Step 1
Prepare the crust: Heat oven to 350 degrees, and place a rack in the center of the oven. In a large bowl, stir together graham cracker crumbs and butter. Transfer mixture to a 9-inch pie plate, and press it into an even layer on the bottom and up the sides.
Step 2
Place pie plate on a rimmed baking sheet, and transfer to oven. Bake until golden brown, about 10 to 12 minutes. Transfer to a wire rack to cool.
Step 3
Meanwhile, prepare the filling: Halve the orange and squeeze the juice from one half. You should have ¼ cup. If not, squeeze some juice from the other half. Reserve squeezed halves for zesting for garnish.
Step 4
In the bowl of an electric mixer, using the whisk attachment, beat egg yolks until pale and fluffy, about 5 minutes. Turn the mixer to low and slowly add condensed milk, scraping sides if needed. Whisk in tamarind and orange juice until just combined, then whisk in the lemon or lime juice and salt.
Step 5
Scrape mixture into cooled pie shell, then return to oven and bake until filling has just set, 15 to 20 minutes. Transfer to a wire rack to cool to room temperature, then refrigerate until completely chilled, at least 2 hours and up to 1 day.
Step 6
Just before serving, make the topping: In the bowl of an electric mixer, using the whisk attachment, beat together cream and confectioners' sugar until thick and fluffy. Dollop whipped cream on cooled pie. Finely grate the zest from one of the reserved orange halves over the top of the pie, and serve.

Tips

There are two distinct products that may be labeled tamarind extract, concentrate or paste. One is syrupy and nearly black, without any pulp. (Tamicon tamarind concentrate is one brand.) The other is lighter in color and pulpy; it looks like apple butter. (Swad is one brand.) Try to use the pulpy kind here: It’s fresher-tasting. But if you can get only the concentrate, use ⅓ cup and skip the lemon or lime juice.
You can also make your own paste out of pure dried tamarind fruit that’s either pulled directly from the pods or sold as a sticky brick. Soak the fruit in boiling water for 30 minutes to 1 hour, then drain. Use your hands or rubber spatula to mash it into a paste. Strain it through a fine mesh sieve. The fruit will vary a lot in its acidity, so use ½ cup of it for the pie, along with as much lemon or lime juice as you need to make you pucker.

Ratings

4 out of 5

296 user ratings

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Comments

Su-Mei6 years ago

Beware when using large amount of tamarind as in this recipe. It will cause diarrhea, known in Asian countries as cure for constipation. You can buy tamarind purée in Indian market.

Patrick6 years ago

I've been sort of jonesing for a Key Lime pie, but I think I'll try this instead. Ginger snaps instead of graham crackers make a good crumb crust and would probably work nicely here.

Ed6 years ago

The intro says this can be made up to 3 days ahead, but the directions say 2 hours up to 1 day. From personal experience having made many graham cracker crusts, if you like crunchy crust, make the pie in the morning and eat all of it before bedtime. Otherwise, you will have an increasingly soft and eventually soggy crust. There are good packaged graham cracker crumbs in supermarkets. Using them eliminates the step of "crumbing the crackers." The usual boxed crumbs make exactly three crusts.

Frances4 months ago

Adding fermented black lime powder (a Guatemalan spice) gives this a nice funky tang. I sweetened the whipped cream with date sugar instead of bland confectioners sugar. I was worried that it might affect the texture but it wasn’t a problem.

Daphne6 months ago

I made this gluten free using a choco-buckwheat aran goyoaga pie crust recipe, was perfect.

Anne-Marieke9 months ago

Why not a meringue on top using the left-over egg whites? Or is the cream important on top?

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