Tamarind cocktail for an Indian feast

For the Indian feast of Diwali, Manisha hosted our stitch 'n' bitch group for an awesome dinner. Nichole suggested I bring a tamarind cocktail to go with the Indian food. Good idea!

This cocktail is courtesy of Epicurious. It calls for tamarind concentrate, which you can find in any Asian market. Be sure to check the labels and get the kind that has only tamarind and water in it, not a bunch of salt and preservatives, too.

You start by making a "base" of

• 8 cups water,
• 1/2 cup tamarind concentrate,
• 2 tablespoons lime juice and
• 3/4 cup sugar.

Mix it all together and refrigerate. This mixture by itself is tasty over ice for a virgin cocktail.
You make two cocktails at a time in a shaker. Over ice, pour half a cup of the cocktail base, add 2 teaspoons tamarind, 1 teaspoon lime juice and 4 tablespoons of vodka. Shake it up vigorously, then strain into martini glasses and use a lime wedge as garnish.

(The Firestarter vodka is Moldovan, in an amusing dispenser, courtesy of the Sergeant's collection.)
These were fun and tasty cocktails, slightly astringent, slightly sweet. The vodka was smooth in them; I could have made them a little stronger.

The tendency of the tamarind to precipitate to the bottom of the glass was a little disappointing; next time I would serve these cocktails over ice with a swizzle stick instead of in a martini glass.