This is one special handy-dandy item I always gotto have in my freezer. In our household, pulusulu/vegetable stews are cooked pretty often. When growing up, I thought that my mother made pulusu every other day; she really did not – my dislike for those dishes probably made me feel that way. Well, she might have made them once or twice a week. After I got married and my in-laws came to visit and my mother-in-law took over the chef hat, she beat my mother at serving pulusulu. I began wondering if I got married into “Pulusuvari” family 
. When you eat something so often, sooner or later you would begin to like it. It happened to me – I started to develop a liking for pulusulu. Mildly sweet and widely sour, loaded with vegetables and the best part is, just a spoonful of oil to temper a potful of stew. Their visit ended but the pulusu tradition continues in our house. And the main ingredient in there, T A M A R I N D!
For some reason, I always hated squeezing juice out of tamarind. Also, good tamarind is hard to find at the local Indian grocery. I always bring it from India during our visits. So, it is very precious to me. Over the years I learnt to minimize the wastage and eliminate the squeezing part as much as I could. Here is the formula – soak, pick, grind, freeze.
Once in six months or so, I soak a big pack of tamarind in a big stainless steel vessel over night. I pick out seeds and strands out of the soaked mush. Then I blend it in a food processor in batches. Might require addition of water when grinding. After a while it grinds into a silky smooth paste. We do not mind an occasional (which is very, very rare) skin in our sambar or pulusu. I freeze in small containers if possible. If it is not possible or would not work in my freezer space at times, no worries. I freeze in one big container. As and when needed, I put it out in the refrigerator for a few hours to soften. Later, I scoop out just as much I would need and put the big one back in the freezer. I usually take enough, in a clean bottle, to last me a week.
