BAKED MANGO CHICKEN DRUMMETTES

There are lot of words to describe food and 3 words for this chicken, 'FINGER LICKING YUMMY'.

A few years ago, I had some mango puree sitting in the fridge after the mango lassi I made yesterday. Then there were some chicken drummettes. Why not some Mango Chicken? Sounds great, Genius!  After making a quick sauce and cooking the chicken, I gave it a try, and guess what??? It was absolutely tasty, and I gave a pat on my shoulder for coming up with this amazing recipe(I am not vain, please read through). Took another bite...and it was DEJA VU. I've met this chicken before...

It was almost 10 years ago when I was visiting my home town.  We went out to a nice place for dinner, and this was on the appetizer menu. Of course, I had to have it. Small little drummettes came to our table, steaming hot, topped with  almonds and drenched in sauce. It did not disappoint me, was yummy, sticky fingers and all. 

The foodie in me had to talk to the chef. After praising his creation, I almost begged him for the ingredients that went into it. He vaguely gave me some details.  I rushed home and wrote it in my Burgundy diary.

Guess that I subconsciously kept  looking at that scribble as I flipped through the book for years. The ingredients stuck to me, and I used a bit of this and a bit of that. I've made this chicken a few time times before,so here is the chicken for you. You'll have to try it to know how damn good it is.

OVEN BAKED MANGO CHICKEN DRUMMETTES

Ingredients:

Rub for the chicken:
Chicken drummettes - 6-8
2 tbsp dark brown sugar
1 tbsp paprika
2 tsp salt or accordingly
2 tbsp oil

For the Mango Barbecue sauce:
1/3 cup vegetable oil
1/2 tsp cumin seeds
1/2 tsp fennel seeds
1 small red onion finely diced
2 tbsp minced ginger
1 tsp garam masala
4 Serrano pepper thinly sliced
1 1/2 cup mango puree(I used canned alphonso mango puree)
4 tbsp lime juice
4 tbsp cider vinegar
2 tbsp molasses
2 tbsp Worcestershire sauce

Method:

1. Marinate the chicken with the rub for at least 2 hours to overnight.
2. In a sauce pan, add oil and let it get little hot.  Add the fennel, cumin, onion and saute well.
3. Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
4. Add all the other ingredients and let it simmer for 15-20 minutes or until it is almost reduced to half it's original quantity.
5. Put the chicken on a baking tray and bake for 15 minutes or until it is browned.
6. Take out the chicken and add it in the sauce and let it cook through and get dry. If you think you have a lot of sauce, take out some sauce and then you can baste the chicken every once in a while.  It should be another 15-20 minutes.

Note: I used Alphonso mango puree. You could use fresh sweet  mangoes when in season.  
ENJOY!