Date and Tamarind Loaf

Date and Tamarind Loaf | ZoeBakes photos by Zoë François

When I flipped through Nik Sharma’s new cookbook, Season, the Date and Tamarind Loaf struck me with an air of comfortable familiarity. I’d never had this particular dessert before, but the exotic ingredients are some that I adore. I was introduced to tamarind from my husband, whose family is from Trinidad, where this fruit appears in many foods. Tamarind is sticky and sour and used in all kinds of dishes from sweet desserts to savory Indian chutneys and stews. If you have never seen or used tamarind before, you can see them below. You can always use the paste or even pureed tamarind, but it is always fun to start with the real fruit. When I read that Nik’s inspiration for this cake was a sweet chutney, I had to make it and that my family would find it comforting.

If you are not familiar with Nik’s work, I do hope you will check out his book. It is stunningly beautiful visually (he has a photography style that is all his own), but he is also a master at telling his story, which is both smart and compelling. The food is the main event, but the book is really so much more.

Date and Tamarind Loaf | ZoeBakes photos by Zoë François
Ingredients from top: Tamarind in the pod, Dates and Jaggery (a type of raw sugar).
Date and Tamarind Loaf | ZoeBakes photos by Zoë François

Date and Tamarind Loaf

from Nik Sharma’s book Season

Find the RECIPE for Date and Tamarind Loaf on Nik’s website The Brown Table.

Date and Tamarind Loaf | ZoeBakes photos by Zoë François

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One thought to “Date and Tamarind Loaf”

  1. This page caught me when reading the story. Tamarinds are so popular in the Caribbean, but my husband and some of his siblings were born in Trinidad and this looks delicious. So it is on my list of things to make in the very near future.

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