Thai Chicken wings with fish caramel sauce

This recipe is a follow on from a recipe I made on MasterChef UK. Fun fact — it’s the last thing I cooked before I was eliminated but, we learn, we grow, we move. On the show I double dipped the chicken in flour which is the complete wrong thing to do which resulted in some flabby, chunky wings and an early taxi home.

Here's the sexy single-dipped version which are slimmer, crispier and tastier then their hench famous cousins. It’s also a simpler spice mix in the batter to for less faff and better flavour. And if the caramel fish sauce throws you, just imagine you’re on an over-sauced night somewhere in Koh Phi Phi and give into your inhibitions. It’ll be worth it.

For the wings

• 6 whole chicken wings (drummette and wingette)

Brine:

• 50ml white wine vinegar

• 2 tbsp red pepper flakes

• 3 tbsp salt

• 3 tbsp sugar

• 700ml water

• 2 tablespoons freshly ground black pepper

Coating

• 300g plain flour

• 1 tbsp onion powder

• 1 tbsp garlic powder

• 1/2 tsp paprika

• 1/2 tsp tumeric

• Salt and pepper

To cook:

• 1 liter sunflower oil 

Garnish

• Pickled mooli or radish

• Fried Thai basil leaves

For the fish caramel sauce:

• 150g of light brown sugar

• 200ml  water

• 75ml of fish sauce

• 50ml of soy sauce

• 8 Kaffir lime leaves

• 4 garlic cloves, bashed

• 3 star anise

• 1 cinnamon stick

• 1 shallot

• 2 lemongrass stalk

Method:

1. Combine all of the brine ingredients in a bowl and mix until the sugar and salt dissolve. Put the chicken wings in the bowl and cover with clingfilm in the fridge for at least an hour but preferably over night.

2. For the fish caramel sauce, slice the shallot, bash the lemongrass stalk and garlic cloves and set to one side. Mix the brown sugar and 50ml of water in a saucepan and heat until dissolved. Once the sugar has dissolved, bring the mixture to the boil. When the mixture changes to golden brown and starts to thicken, take the pan off the heat.

3. Add the remaining water to the caramel along with the rest of the aromats. Return it to a medium heat to reduce then set aside. Pour the mix through a sieve into a measuring jug until needed. 

4. Fill a large casserole dish with oil and heat to 190 degrees. Prepare a large mixing bowl and add all of the ingredients for the wing coating. Take the wings out of the fridge and rinse under cold water.

5. Dredge the wings in the flour then lightly bash them together two by two to shake off any excess flour. Gently lower two wings into the oil so the oil comes half way up. Wait for five seconds then let them submerge fully in the oil, this will stop them from slicking to the bottom. Cook the wings for 8 minutes, the safe internal temperature for chicken is 74 degrees on a temperature probe. Take the wings out and rest them in a low temperature oven until serving and repeat the remaining wings.

6. Serve with a Som Tam salad, steamed Pak Choi or an asian vegetable of your choosing. You also want something fresh to contrast the saltiness of the sauce, I’d recommend pickled mooli or ginger. For a final garnish, flash fry some thai basil in a frying pan on a high heat for 5 to 10 seconds, be careful they make the oil spit! Wash it down with a Singha beer and you can nearly feel that tropical Thai air.