Chicken Teriyaki - Grilled Chicken with Asian flavours

I’ve not been able to blog the past few days because I was busy with work. You see, got to work on work also in office. To all those millions who were eagerly waiting for my next recipe, here it is – Chicken Teriyaki. This chicken teriyaki is a hot and sweet grilled chicken - zesty, succulent and full of wonderful Asian flavours – ginger, soy and brown sugar. This teriyaki marinade is a delightful combination of flavours and a great alternative to tandoori chicken or plain roasted chicken (a la prime roaster, what happened to prime roaster?). The brown sugar is important, so don’t omit it. The brown sugar beautifully balances the heat from the red chillies and tartness of the tamarind and makes the marinade what it is. There are many like my husband who don’t like to taste “sweet” in their main dishes. To them, only desserts can be sweet. Food conservatism!

But don’t worry, the chicken teriyaki doesn’t taste sweet. My husband really liked it. You could serve these grilled beauties as they are. It really doesn’t need any chutney or dip. It makes for an impressive starter for a dinner party. You could marinate these the day before in the refrigerator and grill them just before the party.

Prep time: 10 mins
Marinating time: 1 hour to overnight
Grilling time: 20-40 mins
Serves: 5

Ingredients

Chicken – 5 Leg pieces or any cut of chicken

Marinade
Ginger – 1 inch peeled
Garlic – 5-6 cloves peeled
Tamarind – small marble sized
Dry Red chillies - 5 soaked in a small cup of hot water for 20 mins
Soy Sauce – 1 tbsp
Vinegar – 1 tsp (I used white distilled vinegar)
Brown sugar – 1 tbsp
Salt to taste
Water as necessary

Method

1.      Clean chicken and make oblong cuts in the chicken so that the marinade can sink in. Pat dry and set aside.

2.      Grind together the ginger, garlic, tamarind and soaked red chillies in a mixer grinder to a fine paste. Transfer the ground paste to a large bowl. Add the soy sauce, vinegar, brown sugar and salt and mix well. Add a little bit of water if necessary to thin the marinade.

3.      Rub the marinade on the chicken pieces making sure all the pieces are well coated. Cover and let marinate for a minimum of 1 hour. You could let it marinate overnight in the fridge also.

4.      Grill on a barbecue for 20 minutes or in an OTG at 200 degrees Celsius for 40 minutes or till done. Serve hot as a starter.