Tamarind Cocktail

It's the weekend, and temperatures are rising. This is a refreshing cooler that will hit the spot. I love tamarind, and really enjoy tamarind nectar. I found some tamarind, and blackberry pulp in the freezer section at Winn-Dixie and snatched it up. I already have guava, guanabana, mango, papaya and passion fruit (parcha) . I love having these in my freezer, they are perfect for making sorbet, smoothies, and drinks. They are handy to have on hand, and store very compact. I think I am going to try to see if I can make some tamarind ice cream....hmm... it could work!

My daughter loves to make herself a smoothie anytime she wants. We have a Magic Bullet and this is a quick and easy way to make a drink for yourself and a different one for someone else. She usually adds some of the fruit pulp, mango juice, some ice cubes and milk or cream, and whizzzz.

I love the tang of tamarind so I decided to whip up a cocktail using the pulp. In the bullet blender dump ingredients and blend....I used sweetened condensed milk instead of sugar. After seeing Megan do this Vietnamese Iced Coffee drink on her blog Megan's Cookin' I have been using sweetened condensed milk in more blender drinks. I didn't have any rum, but I had some vodka that I have been flavoring with vanilla beans so I used that instead.

Now this is difficult, because I just dumped, but I'll try to break it down for you:

3 oz tamarind pulp

1.5 oz vodka or rum

3 T sweetened condensed milk (or to taste)

4 oz tamarind nectar (or ginger ale)

5 oz ice

As always the ingredients are adjustable to your liking. You can make it as thick as you like, or as strong.

Mine was just right....mmmm....enjoy!

Thanks to the suggestion by Ann from Anncoo's Hobby I am submitting this recipe to the 5 Star Makeover, that is brought to us by Natasha at 5 Star Foodie Culinary Adventures.