Chicken with Tamarind Ginger Sauce

Picture
Ingredients
4 6-ounce chicken breasts, boneless, skinless
2 tablespoons lemon juice
1 tablespoon lime juice
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
all-purpose flour, for dusting
2 garlic cloves, minced
2 cups onions, 1/4 inch dice
2 teaspoons ginger, grated
2 tablespoons tamarind paste
1/2 cup chicken stock
3/4 cup red bell pepper, finely julienned
3/4 cup yellow bell pepper, finely julienned
1 tablespoon olive oil
salt and black pepper as needed

Directions
  1. Pound chicken breasts flat to uniform size all over.
  2. Rub the chicken breasts with lemon and lime juices; let marinate for at least 15 minutes.
  3. Heat the vegetable oil over medium heat.
  4. Season and dust the chicken breasts with flour, shake off excess flour and saute until lightly browned, 2-3 minutes per side.
  5. Remove browned chicken and pour off excess oil.
  6. Reduce the heat to low, add the garlic and onions, and cook until onions are lightly colored, 3-5 minutes.
  7. Add the ginger, tamarind, and stock. Return the chicken to the pan and bring to a simmer. Cover the pan and reduce the heat. Simmer until the chicken is cooked.
  8. In a separate bowl, toss the peppers in the olive oil and season with salt and pepper.
  9. Once chicken is cooked, blend sauce in food processor.
  10. Serve the chicken breast coated with the sauce and topped with the pepper julienne.

Critique
Chef: chicken is cooked all the way through, but still moist, good consistency with the pepper size on the garnish, texture of the sauce is nice, likes that it is on top because you can see the flavors and pieces of tamarind.

Personal/Team: good flavor on the sauce, looks better blended (we adjusted that part of recipe), chicken was moist and flavorful.

Lessons Learned: This is the first time I've worked with tamarind paste. It is kind of messy and you have to be careful of pods and large bits in the paste; you need to pull out or food process larger bits. As it cooks, and when mixed with liquid, it will soften, but you need to mash it with a spoon to evenly distribute through the sauce (blending sauce helps).