Honey Tamarind Orange Chicken

 

This recipe was fun for me because I was able to work with two different ingredients that
I have never used before. I used a tamarind paste and coconut palm sugar.

The other day while aimlessly walking through whole foods and stealing chocolate covered
raisins, I ran across coconut palm sugar. After reviewing a few cites on it I thought I
would try and incorporate it into a few recipes.

What I found with coconut palm sugar is that coconut PALM sugar, is not from the actual
coconut. It is simply the coconut palm sap (nectar) from the coconut palm flowers, boiled,
dried, and pulverized into granules. It's not processed other than boiling and drying.
Coconut palm sugar seems to be similar to maple sugar, which is simply boiled, dried and
granulated maple syrup.

Tamarind is the fruit of a tropical evergreen tree.  It produces pods filled with dark brown,
seed-laced, bittersweet pulp. It is the pulp that is consumed. The pulp is very tangy and
very sweet. Even though this is apart of the legume family – I theorize that a caveman
would have noticed a tree filled with sweet nectar pods and probably would have really
enjoyed it!  But it is a legume so it technically isn’t paleo.

This recipe came from an episode I saw on FoodNetwork...with a few changes to make it more Paleo.   It reminded me of a modern tangy Caribbean BBQ sauce.  I find that I am not a fan of that many Paleo BBQ sauces..... So if your wanting something different and taste bud challenging... try it out!

But if I had to make this again I would have chose using wing style chicken or a basic chicken breast... my pieces of chicken were too big and it annoyed me.  

Ingredients

• Chicken Wings/choice of chicken cut
• 1/4 cup canola oil
• 1/4 cup Coconut Palm Sugar
• 1 tablespoon ground allspice 
• 2 teaspoons ground chile
• 2 teaspoons ground black pepper
• 2 teaspoons kosher salt

Honey-Tamarind  Sauce

• 1 cup orange juice
• 1/4 cup clover honey
• 1/4 cup ketchup
• 1/4 cup tamarind concentrate
• 1-inch of smaller piece ginger, thinly sliced
• Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
• 1 tablespoon red wine vinegar( optional)

Directions

For the jerk chicken wings- Brush the chicken with canola oil. Combine the sugar,
allspice, Chile, black pepper and salt. Generously coat the chicken with the spice mix.
Heat the grill to medium heat. Place the chicken on the grill over medium
heat, and cook until golden browned and crisp, about 5 minutes. Cover the grill. Grill until
the chicken is brown and crisp and just cooked through, about 15-20 minutes. Remove from
grill and place the chicken in a large bowl.

Meanwhile, for the honey-tamarind sauce- Combine 1/2 cup water, the orange juice,
honey, ketchup, tamarind and ginger in a small saucepan and bring to a boil. Reduce the
heat to medium and cook until slightly thick, about 15 minutes. Remove from the heat and
remove and discard the ginger. Season with salt and pepper. Whisk in the vinegar. Keep
warm.

Add the honey-tamarind sauce to the bowl of chicken and toss to coat. Sprinkle
with salt and transfer to a platter.