Tamarind and Honey Glazed Chicken Thighs

These chicken thighs turned out even better than I had thought they would. The last time I needed tamarind concentrate, all I could find in the grocery store was tamarind paste, and I have been keeping it in the freezer.

Combining the tamarind, which is sour, with my crystallized honey and some orange juice made a lovely glaze for the chicken. As it cooked it caramelized a bit, and we ended up with crispy, sticky, sweet and sour chicken thighs. Together with coconut rice, and stirfried red, yellow and orange peppers, it was delicious.

The tamarind paste is quite thick and chunky, so I softened it first.

In a small pot, combine:

2 ounces tamarind paste
1/4 cup water

Heat over medium low heat, mashing and breaking the tamarind up with a fork.

Remove from the heat and
leave it to soak for a couple of hours. Puree with a hand blender, as smooth as you can get it.

Combine:

the tamarind puree
1/4 cup honey
1/4 cup orange juice
2 tablespoons olive oil






Heat the oven to 375F. Place 9 bone in, skin on chicken thighs on a rack, inside a roasting pan.

Spoon a bit of the glaze over each chicken thigh.

Place into the oven to roast.

Roast until the chicken is fully cooked, about 45 minutes to an hour, depending on the size of the thighs. Glaze with the tamarind mixture every twenty minutes.







Serve the chicken thighs hot, passing napkins for the sticky fingers and faces! I served coconut rice with steamed green peas, as well as stirfried mixed bell peppers, diced mango and avocado. The leftover chicken was used to make wraps the next day.

• If you have tamarind concentrate, use half the amount, and there is no need to soak it. Just combine it with the water, honey, juice and oil.
• Tamarind is quite acidic and sour, so taste the glaze before using it and adjust it if you want to by adding more honey. I found these amounts gave a good balance, and the sour taste was diminished once it was cooked.
• The glaze can be used for pork, beef, other cuts of chicken or sablefish.
• Add more liquid, such as water, juice or chicken stock and the glaze can be turned into a marinade or sauce.
• Instead of olive oil, use vegetable oil or 2 teaspoons sesame oil with 4 teaspoon vegetable oil.
• Sprinkle sesame seeds over the chicken after the last application of glaze and they will stick and toast as the chicken finished cooking.