Rosie Cooks A Nice Chicken Dinner.

I picked up a nice hen yesterday at Food Lion and found these little suckers in the Hispanic aisle. They're Tamarindus indica . So, I'm thinking about a nice arroz con pollo en salsa de tamarindo.

Of course I have no idea what to do with this but that's never stopped me before.

First, I got out the ingredients for my chicken: basil, garlic, and ginger.

With the edge of a spoon, I peeled the ginger.

Minced garlic, ginger, and basil get mixed into the creamy butter.

And the butter mixture gets inserted underneath the chicken skin.

Here, you can see the butter through the skin. I massaged the skin to push the butter as far as I could. This makes for a very moist, flavorful chicken. And a happy chicken as well, since I'm sure she enjoyed the massage.

Here are my tamarind pods. Ooh, I like that shot.

The shell comes off quite easily and inside is this sticky sweet pulp with stringy fibers that I pulled off.

I steeped the pulp in hot water for a few minutes.

Then, instead of mashing them to a paste, I used them whole in my baking dish, thinking they would impart their flavor to the chicken broth as they baked. Preparation and Storage If using the tamarind slab, steep a little in hot water for ten minutes, mash into a paste and pass through a sieve. The fine pulp and juice will go through, leaving behind the fibrous husk. Tamarind slabs and paste store well and will last for up to a year. Tamarind pods will last indefinitely as they require maceration to release their juice. I should have done a bit of research before heading blindly into a culinary quandary. Now, I thought I had a can of tamarind nectar in the cabinets and I tore the cabinets apart looking for it. It was nowhere to be found. I wanted to add the tamarind nectar in the baking juice with the chicken for extra flavor. It wasn't until today that I realized I had already used the tamarind nectar in a regretabbly, forgetabble dish. Unfortunately, not everything I make is a home run.

Close up of my tamarinds. Now, if this doesn't make you want to dig right in, I don't know what will. Hmmm. They look like something. Just can't put my finger on it. The chicken went into a 350 degree oven and baked until the probe registered 165 degrees. After removing the chicken, I put a tent over it and let it sit while I prepared the side dishes.

I sliced mushrooms and green onions for the giblet gravy.

I also chopped up some white onions for a pea dish. The giblets are chopped at the bottom, and next to them is what's left of my veal stock which is the consistency of thick, rich jello.

I have 2 pans of mushrooms sauteeing in extra light olive oil and butter.

I added the giblets to one pan.

Cooked them a bit, then added the onions.

Poured in a bit of sherry to deglaze the pan.

Then I added in a cornstarch slurry.

Stirred until thickened.

Then I added some of the tamarind pan juices from the chicken.

Finally, I added a bit of the veal stock.

And garnished with a sprinkling of green onions.

In the other pan, after sauteeing the shrooms, I added in frozen peas.

Then the onions.

Salt, pepper, and a tiny bit of sugar.

Add in lettuce leaves, turn off heat, and cover pot. Just let the lettuce wilt a bit.

And here's dinner. At the top is my peas/onion/mushroom/lettuce mix - a favorite flavor combination of mine. Then moist, juicy chicken. At the bottom is a delicious, rich mushroom/giblet gravy. On the left is some nutty brown basmati rice with pan drippings. I'm looking at the color of this plate and it's just not one of those colors that stimulates the appetite nor does it set off the food that well. I think I need to buy some plain white dishes.

OK. So I still don't know what tamarind tastes like.

But this was really good. I went out today and bought another can of tamarind nectar and I'm thinking about doctoring the leftover chicken broth and mashing the bits of tamarind tur ... er ... bits. Maybe cooking it down somewhat to concentrate the tamarind flavor and trying it over the rice. Ahhh. Sounds like a plan.