Crispy Chinese Chicken Wings - Happy New Year!

Simple, crunchy, tasty - just yummy!

Crispy Chinese Chicken Wings

“Restaurant quality” my son announced, licking sticky spicy sauce off his chin.  These are so easy and so good, although they do require watching as the fat is very hot. The secret is a light cornflour batter and double-frying, but they don’t take long. Perfect for a lunch time meal, eaten with your fingers or made more substantial with a bit of rice on the side. I got the idea from Kwoklyn Wan (www.kwoklynwan.com) and have adapted his wonderful recipe a little. Thanks, Kwoklyn, I love your cooking!

Making your own sticky barbeque sauce is the work of a moment too, and so much better than the sugary salty gloop from the standard takeaway or the stuff in a bottle. Give these a go, your family will appreciate them! You don’t need a wok or any complicated equipment at all.
 
Serves 4 as a light meal or a starter. Timings – 20 minutes.

• 16 x Chicken wings – wing tip removed and each wing cut into two at the next joint.
• 3 tablespoons cornflour, salt and pepper.
• Cooking oil.
• 1 tablespoon of sesame seeds - optional

For the sauce:

• 2 garlic cloves, crushed
• 2 dried chillies crushed, or a teaspoon of chilli flakes
• 1cm piece of fresh ginger, peeled and grated or cut small
• 2 tablespoons clear runny honey
• 2 tablespoons soy sauce
• 1 tablespoon brown sugar
• 1 tablespoon Worcester sauce

 
Make the sauce first, in a large pan – you are going to tip the wings in later. Gently fry the crushed cloves of garlic, the ginger and the chillies for about a minute until they start to soften, but not deep fry. Add the rest of the ingredients, taste for seasoning, adjust, and leave on the side.

Toast the sesame seeds in a small frying pan with no oil for about 5 minutes until golden, tip onto kitchen paper.

Using a deep frying pan – or a deep fryer if you have one – heat up the oil till quite hot. Sorry, I don't use an oil thermometer, I just look at how the oil is behaving. For this, it's not quite smoking but you can see the oil moving about in the heat, and the wings will sizzle as they go in.

Mix the cornflour, salt and pepper in a bowl, add the wing pieces to the bowl and rub the cornflour into the wings, pressing the flour onto the skin.

Fry a few pieces at a time, don’t crowd the pan or you won’t keep the oil hot enough to make them crispy. The pieces take about 3 minutes per side, you want them cooked and light golden but not brown at this stage. Keep the cooked ones warm on kitchen paper in the oven and keep going until you have done all the wings once. Now start all over again and cook each batch of wings another time for about 8 minutes per batch. Take each batch out and keep warm as you do them. When you’ve done them all, tip the whole lot into the pan with the sauce and mix well. Scatter the sesame seeds over and serve.

Everyone can tear the wings apart with their fingers, enjoying the spicy sweet sauce. You could serve simple flatbreads or a little salad, or maybe some plain rice.