Tamarind chicken skewers with coriander chutney
- Published: 2 Jul 24
- Updated: 30 Jul 24
A sticky, tangy and tart tamarind coating helps to keep these chicken skewers super juicy, with a fresh, fiery chutney for drizzling and dipping. Amazing piled high onto parathas or other flatbreads.
Easy to make, endlessly versatile and great for a crowd, skewers are one of the best thing you can put on your barbecue. Browse our full collection of fantastic skewer recipes, including chipotle pork and pineapple skewers.
- Makes 6-8
- Hands-on time 30 min, plus at least 4 hours marinating. Barbecue time 12-15 min
Before you start
Cooking on skewers is all about layering – but if you’re grilling ingredients prone to drying out over a high heat (that’s most meat and fish), make sure you pack them tightly together as you load up each skewer. This will give you a charred, smoky crust and juicy centre.
Wooden skewers need a half-hour soak in water to stop them burning; they’re also single-use, which is fine for street food vendors but a bit wasteful at home. We’d almost always choose metal, which can be used again and again, and has the bonus of cooking from the inside out, as it heats up. If you’re using metal skewers, it’s best to slide the food off it onto a platter before serving, to avoid burnt lips and tongues.
Ingredients
- 4 garlic cloves, finely grated
- 20g ginger, finely grated
- 1 green chilli, finely chopped
- 2 tbsp tamarind paste
- ½ tbsp light brown soft sugar
- ½ tbsp tomato ketchup
- ¼ tsp ground turmeric
- 1 tbsp gram (chickpea) flour
- 450g free-range chicken thigh fillets
- 2 limes, cut into 2cm thick wheels
- 2 tbsp sunflower or vegetable oil
For the coriander chutney
- 2 tbsp desiccated coconut
- ½ tsp ground cumin
- 2 garlic cloves
- 1 green chilli
- 30g coriander, roughly chopped
- Juice 1 lime
Specialist kit
- Metal or soaked bamboo skewers (soaking in water for half an hour helps stop them burning)
Method
- In a large bowl or lidded container, combine the garlic, ginger, chilli, tamarind, sugar, ketchup, turmeric and gram flour. Season with salt and pepper. Cut the chicken into bite-size pieces and stir into the marinade. Cover and chill for at least 4 hours, ideally overnight.
- To make the chutney, toast the coconut in a dry frying pan for about 8 minutes, stirring, until golden. Whizz to a paste in a blender with the cumin, garlic and chilli. Add the coriander, lime juice and 1 tbsp water, then whizz to a smooth sauce, scraping the sides of the blender now and then and adding a splash more water if needed. Season.
- Take the chicken out of the fridge 30 minutes before you plan to barbecue. Thread onto skewers, shaking off the excess marinade. Add a slice of lime to the top of each skewer. Stir the oil into the leftover marinade and use it to brush the skewers as they cook. Grill for 12-15 minutes, turning every 4 minutes, until the juices run clear and the chicken is charred in places.
- Serve drizzled with the chutney, squeezing over the charred lime wheel as you eat.
- Recipe from July 2024 Issue
Nutrition
- Calories
- 168kcals
- Fat
- 10g (3g saturated)
- Protein
- 16g
- Carbohydrates
- 3.5g (1.9g sugars)
- Fibre
- 1.2g
- Salt
- 0.5g
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