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Sweet and Crispy Chicken Wings
Serves 12 Prep 10 min Cook 15 min Total 25 min Type Starter Origin Thai

Sweet and Crispy Chicken Wings

Thailand's sweet crispy chicken wings: wings marinated in fish sauce and rice flour, deep-fried till the skin shatters.

Serves 12 Prep 10 minutes Cook 15 minutes Units Rate

Overview

These sweet and savoury chicken wings are a Thai restaurant and takeaway favourite. I use palm sugar when I make this recipe, but you could just use equal amounts of white granulated sugar or honey if you like. The palm sugar is more authentic and also gives a deeper colour to the dish. Although the crispy fried garlic garnish is optional, I would encourage you to take some time to make it for this recipe. I love fried garlic and it really takes this recipe up a notch or two in my opinion.

Ingredients

Protein

  • 12 chicken wings, bony ends cut off

Aromatics

  • 3 generous tbsp black peppercorns
  • 150g (1 cup) shallots, peeled and thinly sliced
  • 2 tbsp finely chopped ginger
  • 3 spring onions (scallions), roughly chopped, to garnish
  • 1 red spur chilli, thinly sliced, to garnish
  • 3 tbsp crispy fried garlic , to garnish (optional)

Seasoning

  • 150ml (⅔ cup) Thai fish sauce*

Sweeteners

  • 135g (⅔ cup) granulated sugar or finely chopped palm sugar

Method

Stage 1 - Prepare Wings

  1. When you purchase whole chicken wings and lay them out, you will see that there are three parts to them: two meaty pieces and then the wing tip that has very little, if any, meat on it. Place your finger over the first joint and you will feel a small ridge. Take a sharp knife and slice through that ridge. Move to the second joint and do the same. Keep those meaty wing pieces for this recipe and use the wing tips in stocks.

Stage 2 - Make Paste

  1. Place the peppercorns, shallots and ginger in a pestle and mortar or food processor and pound or blend into a coarse paste. Set aside.

Stage 3 - Cook Sauce

  1. Put the sugar into a saucepan with 70ml (¼ cup) of water and place over a medium heat.
  2. Bring to a simmer so that the sugar dissolves into the water, and continue simmering over a low heat until the sugar is light brown in colour and beginning to caramelize and become syrupy. Be really careful not to burn the sugar or you will have to start all over again.
  3. Once you have a nice syrup, remove from the heat and very carefully add the fish sauce. Do this slowly so that it doesn’t splatter when you add it.
  4. Add the chicken and the peppercorn, ginger and shallot paste and stir well to combine.
  5. Place back over a low heat, cover the pan and simmer for 8-10 minutes, or until the chicken is cooked through. The chicken will take on the delicious golden colour of the syrup mixture.

Stage 4 - Bake

  1. Preheat the oven to 230°C (455°F/Gas 8) and line a baking tray with parchment paper.
  2. Using tongs or a slotted spoon, transfer the chicken wings to the lined baking tray.
  3. Brush each wing with a little more of the syrup, making sure that each has a bit of the paste on top.
  4. Bake in the oven for 10 minutes, or until the chicken is beginning to get crispy.
  5. Transfer the wings to a serving plate and drizzle with a little more of the sauce.
  6. Garnish with the spring onions, red chilli slices and crispy fried garlic (if using).

Notes

  • Many Thai fish sauces contain gluten but there are gluten-free brands available.

Serving

Serve hot.

Storage

  • Best served immediately; can be refrigerated for 1 day.

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Tom Yum Gai Soup (Hot and Sour Chicken Soup)

Tom Yum Gai Soup (Hot and Sour Chicken Soup)

When you go out for Thai food this is sure to be on the menu. I love the spiciness of this soup, you get a good hit of spice but it doesn’t linger. Some chefs add sugar to it but, for me, this is a spicy, savoury and tart soup with only a hint of natural sweetness from the fried shallots and tomatoes. Do, of course, taste the soup and adjust the flavour to your liking, adding sugar if you want. It makes a delicious starter but you could bulk it up by adding other ingredients such as noodles to make it a light main. The word ‘gai’ means chicken, so this is a chicken tom yum soup. You could substitute prawn (shrimp) stock and prawns to make a delicious tom yum goong, or go vegetarian and use water and tofu.

Soups 30 minutes Serves4-6