Another tropical chicken experiment

[labradors]

Here's something I've wanted to do for several years, but it's easy now that I live in the tropics and can get so much fresh fruit.

This turned out very good, and the neighbour whose grill I borrowed loved it.

Ingredients

• 1 Whole chicken cut into four parts
  
• 1 C Puréed Kiwi
  
• 1 C Puréed Mango
  
• 1 C Puréed Orange (seeds removed beforehand)
  
• 1 C Puréed Papaya (seeds removed beforehand)
  
• 1 C Puréed Passionfruit (including seeds)
  
• 1 C Puréed Pineapple
  
• 1 C Peeled Tamarind (including the seeds, but don't try to purée, since the seeds are like rocks but are also difficult to remove.)
  
• 4 tsp Salt
  
• Honey for glazing

Instructions

1. Combine all the fruits and the salt.
   
2. Make several deep slices into the chicken to exposed more surface area to the marinate.
   
3. Marinate the chicken in the fruit mixture for 24 hours.
   
4. Heat up a good, enclosed barbecue grill.
   
5. Leaving a good amount of the marinate on the chicken, place the chicken on the top rack of the grill, or highest position of a single grill. Lower the heat (if possible). Close the grill.
   
6. Cook for 15 minutes keeping an eye on the grill and chicken, and putting out any flare ups, as necessary. After the 15 minutes.
   
7. Turn the chicken over and repeat step 6 twice (i.e. total of three 15-minute times periods).
   
8. When five minutes are left in the third time period, spread a generous amount of honey on top of the chicken.
   
9. After the third time period, turn the chicken over one more time, and spread a generous amount of honey on the part of the chicken that was just moved to the top. Cook for 15 minutes more, or until done.

Note: Unless you first boil the marinade for at least five minutes, do not use it to baste the chicken since, of course, the raw chicken had been in it. I just discarded it. Cooking time may vary, depending upon your grill.

[Harborwitch]

OOOOOOeeeeeee! That sounds to die for - we'll have to make that soon. Around here we're always looking for a new way to cook chicken. Thank you for sharing that.

[labradors]

Since it was my first attempt this way, there is one other note I should add.

I'm not sure just how well the tamarind really mixed in with everything else. Certainly, it imparted SOME flavour, but I'm thinking it could have been more.

Because the seeds of tamarind are like rocks, I didn't want to try to purée the tamarind. Also, the tamarind is like a very thick paste around those seeds, and it is very difficult and messy to try to discard just the seeds.

In Latin America (especially here, in Honduras), the pulp and seeds are boiled, then strained, sweetened and cooled to make a wonderfully refreshing and delicious drink. Maybe, the next time, I'll boil it as I would for making the drink, but using a minimal amount of water so as not to dilute everything else. That way, the flavour of the tamarind will be more evenly distributed within the marinade.

That, or I'll try a different fruit - maybe lemon, since we have such wonderful lemons here, too.

P.S.: If your regular grocery store doesn't have tamarind (it may be in the "ethnic," "Mexican," "Latin," or "Hispanic" aisle, or however your store classifies such things), then see if you can find a Mexican (or the like) store or market. There, you should have no trouble, and you will probably be able to get some Jamaica (pronounced "Hah MY Kah"), which are dried hibiscus flowers. Boil them in water for a while, then strain, sweeten, and chill, and you have another wonderful drink. That and some drink made from any tamarind you have left (if it was in a larger package) would be great accompaniments for this, and are just very refreshing to have on hand, anyway.

[cjs]

love fruit marinades and this one sound very good!!

I have Sadaf Tamarind Paste - what do you think, 2 to 3 tsp. for the marinade? (I'm thinking half the marinade amount)

[labradors]

Never used tamarind at all until I moved here, and here I've always been buying fresh. I imagine the paste is not much more than the pulp without the seeds, since tamarind is very paste-like, anyway.

Sure. Give it a shot. I probably could have used less marinade if I really packed it closely in Ziploc bags, but this was a first effort, so I chose easy proportions and just covered the chicken with the marinade in a large pot in the fridge.

[Harborwitch]

You asked my question.

We found our paste in an Asian store.

[vannin]

Sounds really good Labs, and even we can get tamarind. Little unsure of your second ingredient though. Unsure you could get one in the blender, most are quite big, even the immature ones, and they would have to co-operate I'm thinking. Worth a whirl I suppose....

[labradors]

Quote:

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Little unsure of your second ingredient though. Unsure you could get one in the blender, most are quite big, even the immature ones, and they would have to co-operate I'm thinking. Worth a whirl I suppose....

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Everything was peeled and diced so it would work in the blender. If, by "second ingredient" you meant the second fruit, or mangos, then you would peel them, cut the good flesh away from the cores, and even scrape as much juice from the cores as you could.

If you were referring to the kiwis, just peel them, dice them, then toss them into the blender. I got that idea from a Beef Bulgogi recipe I use, in which part of the sauce consists of one kiwi and one onion - and nothing else - puréed in the blender.

As far as the sizes are concerned: here, the papayas are MUCH larger than the mangoes. In fact, some are even slightly larger than American footballs. Of course, pineapples are larger than mangoes, anyway.