Chicken wings

The other day at work I was boning out some chickens for roasting. We usually make stock from the carcass and throw the wings away, or pop them in the wood oven for a 'kitchen snack'. Right now all the guys are going through a fat stage (??) and are all on diets, so I decided I'd take the wings home for dinner the following evening. The next morning I dropped both boys at school and felt like experimenting so I decide to bone out the wings and stuff them (anything to get out of mopping the floors!). Half an hour went by and I had only boned out 10 wings- it takes longer than I think, knowing I had to pick up Alex in 20 minutes I decide to marinate the rest of the wings and figure out the 'stuffing' later.

OK people, if there is one marinade you try this year let it be this one. I wasn't really thinking about what I was doing, just throwing spices and herbs together when I saw them. I have to say this marinate was -DIVINE!! The kids devoured there's in a matter of seconds (I can't say the same for the broccoli) and asked for seconds- there wasn't any sadly.

Chicken marinade

I am sorry I didn't measure anything this time around but when I make them again I'll pay more attention to measurements. In the mean time if you feel like giving it a go, do as I did:

In a mortar and pestle add about one inch of roughly chopped peeled ginger, two cloves of garlic, about 1 and a bit teaspoons of whole black pepper corns (have to be the whole pepper corn for full flavor) a good splash of fish sauce, 1/4-1/2 teaspoon of turmeric powder, a hand full of cilantro (coriander) leaves and stems chopped up and 1-2 Tablespoons of vegetable oil.

When you have all these ingredients in the mortar begin crushing and pounding them until the pepper corns are all broken up, the leaves and stems of the cilantro (coriander) are bruised and mashed and it all looks to be a rough paste- you can try doing it in a small blender also.

Pour the paste onto the wings and rub with your fingers to get good coverage. Place covered wings back in the fridge for at least 6-8 hours (up to a day) then preheat your oven to 500 (220) and lay them on a tray. Place them in the oven for 6 or so minutes, turn to brown evenly. Once done (approx 10-15 minutes) serve with plain rice and stir-fry veggies- I did broccoli, onion and peppers in oyster sauce.

 For the 'stuffed' wings I grabbed a hand full of pork mince, chopped two little HOT chile's into thin slices, minced one garlic clove, added a whoosh of fish sauce and cut up one green onion (spring onion), finished with seasoning and then stuffed the wings. 

To cook them I had the oven on 500 (to cook the other wings). I heated up some vegetable oil in the wok- about 1/2 an inch. Lightly coated the stuffed wings in corn starch and then quickly fried the skin. Once brown I placed the wings on a tray and finished them in the oven for 5-7 minutes. 

We didn't give these to the kids because they were loaded with chile's and I have to say they were more than happy with the marinated ones. The kick of the chili and texture of the pork made these little beauties finger lickin' good. 

I don't know when I am going to bone out chicken wings again (if ever??) but I do know I will make the marinade over and over...

Let me know if you give it a go, I am still thinking about the flavor this morning!