tamarind bbq sauce Archives | CaribbeanPot.com

While I did plan to share this recipe a while back, it was only after I received a request via Instagram did I actually get in the kitchen with chicken wings and camera in hand. The person who made the request was looking for a chicken wing idea to prepare for her Super Bowl party.. but she wasn’t a fan of the typical “Buffalo Wings”. With that in mind, I decided to give her and her guests a true taste of the Caribbean by using a tamarind glaze with a slight kick, to finish off the wings.

You’ll Need…

3- 5 lbs chicken wings + veg oil for frying

Brine:
– 1/4 cup salt
– 1/4 cup brown sugar
– 3 cups water
– 1/2 teaspoon black pepper
– 1 scallion
– 2 slices ginger
– 4-6 allspice berries
– 4 sprigs thyme

Tamarind Glaze
– 1 cup tamarind pulp
– 3 cloves garlic
– 4-5 cups water
– 2 slice ginger
– 2 scallions
– 1 cup brown sugar
– 1/4 cup tomato ketchup
– juice of 2 oranges
– 1 scotch bonnet pepper
– 1/4 teaspoon salt
– 1 tablespoon olive oil
– 2 tablespoon honey

Note: While I used 3 lbs of wings, this recipe will work for 3-5 lbs of chicken wings.

Cut your wings into 2 parts (if they came attached) and trim off any extra skin and fat. Then place all the ingredients for making the brine in a pot and bring to boil. Reduce the heat to a gentle simmer and let it go for 2-3 minutes. Put the brine in the fridge (I placed it on my porch as it’s wintertime here). You can put some ice cubes in the brine to chill it faster, but I didn’t as I didn’t want it to be diluted. The brine MUST be chilled before you pour it over the chicken wings. Place the wings in the brine in the fridge for 1 hour. Do NOT go beyond the 1 hour or they could turn out to be salty.

As the wings brine, it’s time to get started on the glaze. Place the tamarind pulp (you can get it at Asian, Latino, West Indian and many everyday supermarkets) in the water and bring to a boil. Reduce to a gentle boil and using a spoon, break it up to get the pulp to release the tamarind goodness. As it simmers, add the slices of ginger and smashed garlic cloves. After about 5-7 minutes, you should have a smooth consistency (except for the seeds of the tamarind). Take it off the stove and strain.

In a saucepan heat the olive oil on a medium flame, then add the chopped scallions.. turn the heat down to low and cook for 2 minutes. Now it’s time to add the diced scotch bonnet pepper (use as much as you can handle, NO seeds unless you want that raw heat and be sure to wash your hands with soap and water after handling the pepper) and stir well.

Add the strained tamarind liquid and all of the other ingredients for the glaze. turn up the heat and bring to a boil.. then reduce to a simmer.

After about 7 minutes you can take out about 3/4 cup and set aside as a dip. Continue reducing (stir well.. the sugars will cause it to want to stick and burn) until you have a thick glaze. Takes about 15 minutes in total. Remove off the fire and set aside. You’re looking for a glaze which is tangy, relatively sweet and a bit spicy from the scotch bonnet pepper. Do adjust the sugar to your liking.

I forgot to mention that you should remove the wings out of the fridge to bring it up to room temperature before frying. Drain the brine and rise with cool water. Try to rise well so we get rid of most of the salty brine. Drain and pat-dry with paper towels.

Heat your veg oil on a med/high flame (to about 375 F) in a pot with high sides, so you don’t splash and dirty your stove. I used about 3 cups of veg oil. You’re free to bake the wings off or grill them. Gently place the dry wings into the heated oil and cook for about 15 minutes or until golden and fully cooked. I did mine in two batches so the pot wasn’t crowded – yes you can use a deep fryer. Once fried, place on paper towels to soak up any extra oil.

You now have two options, you can place the wings in a large bowl and pour the glaze over them – toss! Or you can do as I did.. I placed the pan with the glaze back on a low flame and tossed the wings directly in the pan. This gives me more of a glazed/sticky texture to the wings.

Top with some chopped scallions, cilantro or sesame seeds and serve warm. These wings will excite your taste-buds and I guarantee you that your friends will be begging you for the recipe. it’s ok to fib and say it’s a family secret (smile).

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Meat & Poultry

BBQ Chicken Wrapped In Bacon Glazed With Tamarind BBQ Sauce.

May 27, 2025July 28, 20137 Comments

When it comes to BBQ and grilling in the Caribbean, we usually stick to more traditional things, like ‘jerk” and your everyday grilled chicken and other meats glazed store bought bbq sauce. However it’s not due to a lack of creativity, but more sticking to what you know. The new generation are experimenting with different flavors, techniques and approaching food in general as a painter would a blank canvas.

Here’s an example of our creativity…

You’ll Need…

12 chicken drumsticks (skinless)
pinch salt
1 teaspoon orange zest
pinch black pepper
juice 1/2 orange
1 tablespoon olive oil
12 strips bacon
2 birds eye pepper
1 teaspoon Caribbean green seasoning

10 strips of your fav bacon as well as some toothpicks.

* 3/4 cup tamarind bbq sauce.

Please click on the links above if you need help making the Caribbean green seasoning and/or the homemade tamarind BBQ sauce.

Wash and drain the chicken, then season with the all of the ingredients mentioned above, except the BBQ sauce. Cover and allow to marinate for about two hours.

Shake of the pieces of pepper (leave it it you want the kick) and wrap each piece of chicken with a strip of bacon, then use a toothpick to secure it on.

On a relatively hot grill (brush some vegetable oil on the grilling grates) place the bacon wrapped chicken pieces away from direct heat. On my grill there are 3 burners, so I left the one in the middle off, but had the ones on either sides going. The idea is to grill with indirect heat so you don’t char the outside and have it still raw inside.

Grill as you would normally grill.

Tip: Place you tamarind BBQ sauce (or any fav sauce you decide to use) in a metal cup and let it gently heat on top of your grill, so you’re not basting your chicken pieces with cold sauce.

The last five minutes of cooking is when you’d place the chicken on direct heat (low) and start brushing them with that lovely tamarind BBQ sauce.

Remember to remove the toothpicks before serving or at least warm your guests that they’re there. This will be an avalanche of flavors, from the herb marinade, the freshness of the orange zest and juice, the smokiness of the bacon and the delightful flavor of that homemade tamarind BBQ sauce will be brilliant. You’ll notice that I didn’t use much salt as the bacon is typically salty.

Before you go, don’t forget to check out the latest cooking videos, connect with me on twitter and join our community on facebook. oh yea! leave me a comment below – it’s appreciated.

Mango Honey Mustard BBQ Sauce

May 29, 2025August 29, 20125 Comments

After posting the Homemade Tamarind BBQ Sauce recipe a while back, I got a message from the Crucian Contessa (a talented Caribbean food blogger) that she had an out-of-this-world mango BBQ sauce and it turns out she was willing to share it with me/us. In the past we’ve been guilty in the Caribbean of not being as creative with the abundance of fresh local ingredients we’re blessed with, but I’m seeing a huge shift in the culinary culture of the islands, which is very positive. The trouble with that is, we’re now seeing a lot of traditional recipes being lost to more modern fusion type cooking. It’s always an interesting balancing act when I try to keep traditional recipes alive and at the same time let my creative side go wild.. but with a Caribbean twist.

I urge you to check out the tasty offerings the Crucian Contessa stirs up on a regular basis on her website at: http://www.cruciancontessa.com/ But please don’t visit when you’re hungry as her creativity in the kitchen, along with her beautiful pictures will surely get the drool on.

This mango bbq sauce is excellent on grilled meats and fish and we quickly found out that it was just amazing as a dipping sauce for chicken strips. I tried to stay as close to the original recipe to show respect for the work CC put into developing such an exciting sauce… but in true Wicked Chef fashion, I tweaked a couple things to give it a sort of personal touch.

You’ll Need…

3 Sweet Seasoning Peppers
1 tablespoon butter
2 cups chopped mango (ripe)
1 Tablespoon freshly grated ginger
3 green onions
A pinch of allspice
1 Teaspoon of Black Pepper
3/4 teaspoon sea salt
½ cup Lime Juice
¼ cup Dijon Mustard
¼ cup Honey
2 Tablespoons Ground Mustard
¼ cup Light Brown Sugar
1 Tablespoon Worcester Sauce
1 Tablespoon Molasses
2 Stalks Shado beni (aka culantro)
½ cup Apple Cider Vinegar (organic)
1 Tablespoon White Vinegar
1 cup mango juice
1 teaspoon paprika
1/2 scotch bonnet pepper (no seeds)

Notes: If you’d like to add a bit of a smoky undertone, you can add some chilli powder or chipotle peppers to the sauce. I used the paprika for the rich colour and I like the smokey element it brings. To add a kick to this mango bbq sauce, use an entire scotch bonnet pepper and include the seeds. If you can’t get shado beni, use about 5 tablespoons of chopped cilantro.

Wash, peel and dice your mango (you can probably use frozen mango chunks as well) and set aside. Then give your green onions (aka scallions or spring onions) and peppers a fine chop. Now heat the butter in a heavy pot (distribute heat better) and start building a flavor base. Add the green onion, peppers, spices, black pepper and grated ginger to the pot and turn your heat down to low so it cooks very slowly. Stir and cook for 4-5 minutes.

Turn up your heat and start adding the mango chunks, give that a stir and add everything else to the pot. It’s important that you stir well and bring up to a boil.

After it comes to a boil, reduce the heat so you have a gentle simmer going and place the lid on the pot and allow to cook for about 25 minutes. You will have to stir every 4-5 minutes as it may start to stick to the bottom of the pot. Your kitchen will have a very intoxicating aroma and your sense of smell will get confused. The same will happen when you taste this mango bbq sauce… you won’t know if it’s the mango, the mustard or the mellowness of the honey that’s attracting all that attention from your taste buds.

After 25 minutes, you should taste for salt and adjust accordingly. Since no 2 mango are the same (can be tart at times), you may have to add a little more honey or mustard.. the goal is to have a wonderful blend of flavors, but keep the present of mango as the key subject of the sauce. By now your sauce should have started to thicken up and the mango should be dissolving. You can certainly play around with the consistency (if you want it chunky, runny or thick). I then turned off the stove and used a submersion blender to make my mango bbq sauce a bit smooth. You can use a wire whisk or potato masher as well with pretty much the same results. If using a blender as I did, try not to over work it or risk it going frothy.

Crucian Contessa was quite correct when she said that this mango honey mustard bbq sauce is out of this world..as we had it the same night with some Caribbean Style Chicken Fingers and Caron was raving how delicious it was. So delicious, she packed my share for lunch at work the next day.

Before you go, don’t forget to check out the latest cooking videos, connect with me on twitter and join our community on facebook. oh yea! leave me a comment below – it’s appreciated.

Meat & Poultry

Caribbean Tamarind Grilled Chicken.

May 27, 2025June 16, 20125 Comments

After sharing that wonderful recipe for making your own homemade tamarind bbq sauce, I though I’d quickly show you how to put it to use on some grilled chicken. BBQ or grilling in the Caribbean usually means making your own sauce or taking the commercial stuff and personalizing it with your own herbs and spices. Unlike grilling in other parts of the world where salt and pepper is king, in the Caribbean we love to ‘season’ our meats and have it marinate (soak) to infuse it with the herbs which are grown locally (usually in our back yard).

This grilled chicken will be unlike anything you’ve ever had and I assure you, you’ll have your guests asking for more (and the recipe). If you don’t own a BBQ or grill, you can certainly do this in your oven under the broiler. Contact me for more info on that.

You’ll Need…

2 chickens (cut in halves)
1 heaping tablespoon Caribbean style green seasoning
1/2 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup Tamarind BBQ Sauce
Juice of 1 lime or lemon

* The chickens were between 3-4lbs each.

Here’s a quick video showing how we make the green seasoning …

Cut your chickens in half (see video below), remove the wing tips and discard, then pour the lime juice over the chicken and wash with cool water. Rinse and drain. Now pour in the salt and green seasoning mix and give it a good massage to ensure every piece of the chicken comes in contact with the seasoning.

Cover and place in the fridge to marinate for at least 2hrs to really infuse the chicken with the exciting flavors of the green seasoning. Before you head out to the grill, allow the seasoned chicken to come back to room temperature (about 15 minutes). Have you grill nice and hot at about 375 F and place on the highest rack, off the heat. If you only have one level on your grill, do the indirect heat technique for the first 20 minutes. Which means the main source of heat will be away from the chicken… so it cooks slowly.

In the picture above you’ll notice that I left the marinade on the chicken as I love the little kick you get as you get slight hints of it when eating. After 20 minutes on my upper rack (or indirect heat), it’s time to place it on the main grill where the real heat is. In total I left it there for 30 minutes, flipping every 10 minutes or so, while keeping an eye for flare-ups. I love working with the skin on the chicken, so flare-ups is a real threat! I find that the skin helps keep the chicken very moist and it’s great for holding the bbq sauce when applied.

TIP: I usually keep my BBQ sauce in a small metal cup on top of the grill’s cover to heat up while grilling. This way the bbq sauce is warm and spreads evenly when brushed onto whatever you’re grilling.

Now it’s time to start applying the tamarind bbq sauce on the chicken pieces. Apply liberally and remember to keep flipping as you do so, to create a nice even caramelized color on the grilled chicken. After a couple coats of the bbq sauce you’ll start having a nice glaze… very appetizing! Here’s the video on making the tamarind bbq sauce if you missed it…

It took about 7-10 minutes after I started applying the bbq sauce onto the grilled chicken pieces before I achieved the look I was going for.

As I mentioned above, this tamarind grilled chicken will be the best chicken you’ll have all summer… try it and leave me a comment below!

Before you go, don’t forget to check out the latest cooking videos, connect with me on twitter and join our community on facebook. oh yea! leave me a comment below – it’s appreciated.

tamarind bbq sauce

Tamarind Glazed Chicken Wings.

BBQ Chicken Wrapped In Bacon Glazed With Tamarind BBQ Sauce.

Mango Honey Mustard BBQ Sauce

Caribbean Tamarind Grilled Chicken.

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