How do I use whole fresh tamarind? On a whim I bought some tamarind at the grocery store this week. I'm most familiar with it from the dish Pad Thai. My idea at the time was that I would "do something" with it and a pork chop. Pork chops being my canvas of choice for much experimentation.

However I'm now stumped as to what I actually do with this thing. I cracked the flimsy shell/skin to expose the sticky fruit inside. I licked it; it tastes good. I'm not sure what to do next though. 

I've looked at some recipes online, but they all work with tamarind paste. I'm assuming I need to process the meat somehow to turn it into a paste. 

Questions


Do I have to turn this into paste? 
How do I clean/prepare it? (besides obviously throwing the skin away)
Do I need to add oil, water, or other ingredients to make it a paste?
Are there seeds? Do they need to be removed?
1- Remove the hard shell,

2- simmer them in a little liquid until the meat can be easily removed from the seeds.

Tamarind is very sweet and very sour. Tamarind chutneys are delicious for a starting point. You can find recipes but not many other ingredients are required.

You asked if you have to make it into a paste- I suppose not but cooking them is required to get the seeds out and cooking turns the meat into a paste.

Carmi is correct that you can add them directly to liquid but you need to be able to get the large, hard seeds out.