Recipe: Garlic and Tamarind Chicken Thighs
If you’re looking for a ‘stir fry’ recipe with maximum flavour, look no further. This recipe is quick, easy, and comes with incredibly deep and complex flavours. Garlic, Tamarind, Mushrooms, Fish Sauce, Peppers, Shallots and Ginger all work in harmony and make this stir fry incredibly unique. As you’ll know if you've used tamarind before, it can be very sour – so if you’re cooking with it, you’ll need a little sweetness just to balance it out. I find a 1:1 ratio works well, but you may need to adjust this depending on your palate.
The key to this recipe is the gentle cooking. Don’t go mad and raise the heat too high, or the garlic will burn and turn bitter.
Recipe: Garlic and Tamarind Chicken Thighs
Author: Suz Crawt
Recipe type: Dinner
Prep time:
Cook time:
Total time:
Ingredients
- 1 tbsp coconut oil
- 4 skinless and boneless chicken thighs, diced
- 3 fat garlic cloves, finely chopped
- 3cm chunk root ginger, finely chopped
- 4 shallots, finely sliced
- 1 green pepper, deseeded and sliced
- 1 red pepper, deseeded and slices
- 8 mushrooms
- ½ cup chicken stock
- 2 tsp tamarind paste
- 2 tsp raw honey
- 1 tbsp fish sauce
- 1 tsp toasted sesame oil (optional)
- Handful fresh coriander, finely chopped
Instructions
- ) Gently heat the coconut oil in your largest wok. Add the chicken thighs, garlic, ginger and shallots, and cook gently for around 10 minutes, until the chicken is browned and the shallots start to caramelise. Add the peppers and mushrooms and cook for a further 5 minutes.
- ) Meanwhile, heat the chicken stock in a saucepan. Add the tamarind, honey, fish sauce and sesame, and mix together until thoroughly combined. Keep on the heat for a few more minutes, until it starts to reduce down. Taste, and adjust to your liking.
- ) Check the chicken is thoroughly cooked through. Add the tamarind sauce to the pan, and toss the ingredients together. Serve garnished with a little fresh coriander.
Next on my list is using fresh tamarind fruit, rather than the paste. I’d love to know if you've ever tried it, and how it turned out!