Last Updated on December 14, 2020 by Chef Mireille
Indonesian Canteloupe Barbecue Sauce Chicken – Give your grilled or roast chicken a little Asian flair with this fruity barbecue sauce. It goes great with pork chops or shrimp kebabs also.
This has been sitting in my drafts for a few months and when I needed a Bake-a-thon post for today, this fit the theme perfectly, so you are not over saturated with only sweet things for Bake-a-thon. Hope you like this BBQ chicken as much as I did, when I made it this summer.
Two cantaloupe’s had been sitting on my table for about a week. That’s the problem with summertime. I see all this delicious looking fruit and especially if I’m not in a neighborhood I frequent often, I can’t resist getting fruit that is not always available. I had stopped by Brighton Beach, the Russian enclave here in Brooklyn, and saw lots of fruit we don’t get in other parts of the city like sour cherries, fresh figs, gooseberries and every variety of plum you can think of. If you’d like to see a little window into the Russian enclave of NYC, see my #TravelTuesday post here. Since these fruits are more perishable, I started snacking on these fruits and the cantaloupe’s purchased at Costco on the previous weekend were ignored.
Before they were rendered completely perished, I came up with this oh so good BBQ sauce with some inspiration from the Indonesian part of my family.
My family is from Suriname. As both Suriname and Indonesia were both Dutch colonized countries, Suriname has a large Indonesian population and some of them are in my immediate family. Many traditional Indonesian dishes like Bakabana (Plantain Fritters) and Bojo (Cassava Cake) are part of Suriname cuisine. Eating and cooking Indonesian food is very familiar to me because of this family connection so I took inspiration from that side of my family to create this BBQ Sauce.
IN THE MAKING – MAKING CANTELOUPE BARBECUE SAUCE
This fabulous BBQ sauce is very versatile and will work just as good on pork chops or shrimp kebabs. Try it at your Memorial Day or July 4th Barbecue!
Indonesian Cantaloupe Barbecue Sauce Chicken
Ingredients
- BBQ Sauce Ingredients:
- 2 cups cantaloupe puree
- 3 tablespoons grated ginger
- 3 tablespoon fish sauce
- 3 tablespoons kecap manis
- 1/3 cup firmly packed brown sugar
- 1 tablespoon Sambal Olek Indonesian chili paste
- juice of 2 limes
- 2/3 cups water
- 1/2 cup heavy cream
- 2 tablespoons tapioca starch
- Chicken Ingredients:
- 5 boneless and skinless chicken thighs
- 1/3 cup Cantaloupe Barbecue Sauce plus extra for serving
Instructions
- In a deep skillet, combine cantaloupe puree and ginger. Bring to a boil and cook for 10 minutes, until some of the water content has evaporated.
- Add fish sauce, Kecap Manis, brown sugar, sambal olek, lime juice, water and cream. Bring to a boil. Reduce to a simmer and cook for 15 minutes, stirring occasionally.
- In a small bowl, whisk tapioca starch and 2 tablespoons water until combined. Add to sauce and simmer another 5 minutes.
- To make chicken, preheat oven to 375 F.
- Toss chicken in the sauce. Place in an aluminum foil coated dish. Bake for 40 minutes.
- Brush chicken pieces with sauce that will be pooled underneath the chicken. Transfer to broiler on high and cook for 5 minutes. Flip chicken pieces over and broil another 5 minutes.
- Serve with extra sauce.
Nutrition
This barbecue sauce is spicy and savory, with fruity undertones. It’s like a fine wine, if I do say so myself 🙂
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Barbecue sauce must have been flavorful with chicken.
Never heard of cantaloupe being used in BBQ sauce but Chicken looks delicious.
Omg, this sauce sounds absolutely new to me.. those chicken looks irresistible.
Cantaloupe sauce is new to me,nice way to use the over ripe cantaloupe..
Looks like a treat for chicken lovers!
I do remember reading your travel post on the Russian enclave. Chicken looks delicious though I do not use fruits when baking or cooking chicken. Got to try it some time.
Wow, BBq sauce with cantaloupe sounds interesting. Very exotic and delicious.
The sauce sounds interesting…and I am sure that chicken was very tasty!