Thai Chicken legs with a sweet, salty and spicy marinade

I made these chicken legs following a recipe I found in a Food and Wine magazine and I was really surprised at how salty it all tasted as I was preparing it.  In the end, I made a few minor tweaks as I went along (which I have included in my recipe below) but it was still overwhelmingly salty for me and I didn't have highs hopes for this dish at all.  I was so shocked at how the cooking process brought out the freshness of all these flavors and the chicken was cooked to perfection.  Everything going on with the marinade and dipping sauce married together well in the end, and it was totally yummy.  A delicious chicken wing recipe for a lunch with friends or a casual evening at home.  It wasn't overly spicy but you could crank that up if you wanted by adding some chili to the marinade as well.

serves 4

Marinated chicken:
4 whole chicken legs, skinned
1/4 cup chopped coriander/cilantro
2 tblspn fish sauce
11/2 tspn ground pepper
2 tblspn lime juice
1 sml clove garlic
2 tspn sugar

Dipping sauce:
1/2 tspn tamarind concentrate (disolved in 1 tblspn water)
1/4 cup fish sauce
juice of 1 lime
1 chili, seeded and minced (keep seeds for more heat)
2 tspn sugar
1 tblpsn water
1/2 cup coriander

Method:

• In a mini food processor or bamix, process the coriander, fish sauce, garlic, sugar, lime and pepper to a course puree. 
• Rub and coat the chicken pieces in the marinade and let stand at room temperature for 20mins or refrigerate until needed, up to 6 hrs
• Prepare the dipping sauce - in a bowl mix all the ingredients together, except for the coriander and let sit
• Preheat the oven to 400'F.
• Heat a grill.  
• Rub the chicken with vegetable oil and rub the grill plate with the oil also.
• Cook the chicken over moderate heat, turning until charred - approx 10mins
• Transfer the chicken to a baking tray and continue to cook for 30mins, until cooked through
• Mix the coriander into the dipping sauce just prior to serving.
• Serve with the dipping sauce on the side as part of a BBQ meal with salad, noodles or rice.