Have you ever thought up a recipe on the fly with the sole intention of using up left over things in your fridge and the recipe becomes a runaway hit? So much so that your food critic of a son wipes his fingers clean after gorging on the food and exclaims, “Amma, this is a keeper. When I grow up and open a restaurant I’m going to put this on the menu and call it ‘Mom’s Wings’!” If you know anything about the 2 food aficionados (the boys of course) in the family you know that recipe praises are hard to come by especially with Monkey#1 who critiques any food as if he is a judge on ‘Chopped’! This statement is the most he’ll ever give and so far he has commented such for 3 things I have made. Yeah really! So rest assured, these sweet and spicy Asian chicken wings are the BOMB!
I tell ya one bite of this and you are never going to buy another chicken wings take out from your local Chinese shop.
So all of this started with some stalks of left over Lemon Grass from my Tom Ka Gai soup. Not wanting to make yet another round of this yummy soup (we make it pretty often) or letting the wonderfully flavorful lemon grass go to waste I ransacked my freezer and found a pack of wings. And the rest is history!
Ideally you’d marinate the chicken overnight. I have made this recipe by marinating the chicken anywhere from 15 mins to overnight and have found that the longer it is marinated the tastier the meat is as more flavors from the marinade are absorbed.
I save any left over marinade and the juices that oozes out of the wings when it cooks to make the basting sauce.
When done cooking toss the wings around in the sweet and sour sauce and garnish with white sesame seeds and scallions.
And yes it much healthier and tastier than take out!
PS: I’ll be on Spring break next week. So see you back on the 6th of April!
- Marinade
- 6 Wings (full)
- 1.5 Tsp Ginger Paste
- 1 Tbsp Brown Sugar
- 2.5 Tbsp Light Soy Sauce or 2 Tbsp Dark Soy Sauce
- 2 Tsp Minced Lemon Grass
- 2 Sprigs of Spring Onion chopped
- 1 Tsp Cayenne Pepper Powder or less if you like less spicy
- Basting Sauce
- 1 Tsp Sesame Oil
- ¼ Tsp Vinegar
- 1 Tsp Honey
- Salt and Pepper to taste
- Any left over marinade or cooking juices in the baking pan
- Garnish
- 1 Sprig of Spring Onion chopped
- ¼ Tsp White Sesame Seeds
- Cut each wing into 3 pieces.
- Marinate with the above ingredients for ideally overnight, at least 30 mins. I have made this recipe by marinating the chicken anywhere from 15 mins to overnight and have found that the longer it is marinated the tastier the meat is as more flavors from the marinade are absorbed.
- Place the chicken on a greased baking sheet and bake at 400F for 30 mins.
- Save any left over marinade for later.
- At about 20 mins check on the chicken to see if a lot of cooking juices have oozed out. I find that when I use wings that have been frozen and then thawed at room temperature they give out a lot of liquid.
- If there is considerable liquid take the tray out, carefully pour the juices into a bowl, and return the tray to the oven.
- Heat a small frying pan and pour the cooking juices from above.
- Add the sesame oil, vinegar, and honey and bring to a boil.
- Add the left over marinade, a teaspoon at a time. Wait for it to come to a boil and taste to see if it needs more seasoning. Keep adding the marinade till you get the sauce to your liking.
- Season with salt and pepper as needed.
- Simmer till the sauce thickens.
- At 30 mins the chicken should have browned edges on the top.
- Switch the oven off, with tongs turn each wing.
- Broil on High for 3-4 mins until the edges are browned.
- Take the tray out of the oven and while the wings are still in the hot tray pour the sauce over the wings.
- Gently toss the wings around so that all the wings are coated with the sauce.
- Serve with a garnish of white sesame seeds and scallions.
This looks good Vidya. I earlier thought these are wings means they must be deep fried but oven baked wings seem so healthy!! Will definitely give it a try!!