Skewered Chicken with Tamarind Sauce

Skewered Chicken with Tamarind Sauce

Ingredients:

For Sauce:

• 8 to 10 fresh tamarinds

• 1 1/2 cups water

• 1 or 2 small hot peppers (wiri-wiri), seeded and chopped

• 1 tsp grated ginger

• 2 garlic cloves, finely chopped or grated

• 1 tbsp brown sugar

For Skewered Chicken:

• 3 cups large diced chicken breast

• 2 tsp dried thyme

• 2 tsp olive oil

• 1/2 tsp garlic powder

• 1/2 tsp onion powder

• 1/2 tsp paprika

• 1/4 tsp black pepper

• 1/8 tsp cayenne pepper

• salt to taste

1. Shell the tamarinds, discarding the stringy membrane inside. Rinse and place in a small saucepan. Add the water along with the rest of the ingredients for the sauce. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat to simmer and cook for 10 minutes.

2. As the sauce cooks, season chicken and set aside. If using bamboo skewers, soak in cold water. These are best soaked for 30 minutes. If using metal skewers, rub a little oil on before threading the chicken pieces through. This will ensure easy removal after cooking.

3. After sauce is done, remove from heat and mash with a potato masher or the back of a spoon. This will separate the pulp from the seeds. Discard the seeds and strain the sauce through a strainer. Use the back of a spoon to push through as much pulp as possible. Any hard pieces or stringy membrane should be discarded.

4. Taste sauce and add more salt and pepper if desire.

5. Heat an electric grill on high. Place skewered chicken on grill, cover and cook for 3 minutes per side. Place on a platter and brush with tamarind sauce.

6. Serve chicken with remaining sauce on the side.

Serves: 4

Notes&Tips:

• At this time of the year, when it is cold outside and we have had snow already on the ground, I would grill on my electric table top grill which is like a George Foreman Grill. You can certainly grill on your charcoal or gas grill outside. Remember chicken breast cooks quickly, so they do not need to stay on the heat long or they will become dry and chewy.

• This tamarind sauce has a nice sweet and sour taste. It paired well with the grilled chicken. I have even used it as a dipping sauce for fried chicken and liked it.

• I grew up eating lots of tamarind, mostly in the raw. We also made tamarind balls; basically you separate the individual sections of the tamarind and roll it in brown sugar with some hot minced pepper. Tamarind chutney was also a common thing to make with these tangy fruit. The chutney was spicy hot and made thicker than the sauce I've made for this chicken.

• Two large breasts yielded the amount of chicken for this recipe. For smaller breasts, you made need to use three.

• I used two wiri-wiri peppers for this tamarind sauce recipe and it was not too hot. If you'd like your sauce spicier, use more hot peppers.