Asian-Style Chicken Wings

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I think my favorite charcoal grilled snack or appetizer would have to be chicken wings. I enjoy them fried, but I really love them cooked over the coals for two reasons. First is the grilled flavor – charcoal grilled chicken is probably my favorite meat behind a perfectly cooked ribeye steak. Second is the endless amount of sauces or spice rubs that can be applied to take their flavor to a different level. I rarely make my wings the traditional way, or buffalo style, and douse them in a hot sauce and butter mixture. I like to get creative with the sauce.

For this recipe, the wing coating features the fruity and sweet hoisin sauce, spice from sriracha and the aromatic ginger and garlic that all together provides an Asian-style flavor.       Like most chicken wing recipes, they’re messy! I ate them by myself for lunch, and I’m glad I was alone because the site of it would have given small children nightmares for years to come. I practically needed a fire hose to clean up the delicious mess.

BEHIND THIS BITE

Asian-Style Chicken Wings

It seems that boneless wings are becoming more and more popular at restaurants. They’re easy to devour with no worries of a bone getting in the way and they're just as tasty as traditional bone-in wings with the same type of white meat. For some reason though, I still lean toward the traditional bone-in style wings.

There is something much more interactive about having to pick all the meat from the bones rather than just tossing them back like popcorn. The effort to eat them seems to create a more enjoyable culinary experience for me. I could be crazy, well, in fact, I know I’m crazy – but that is just how I like my wings. Also, when cooking them it’s easy to tell when the wings are finished because the meat will recede a little from the bone making for a nice visual cue announcing the wings are ready to scarf down.

Now, I’m not gonna kick someone out of the kitchen for making boneless wings, I just have a slight preference for the traditional variety.

Eat well, cook often ...

THE RECIPE

Asian-Style Chicken Wings

Appetizer for 4, main course for 2; 35 minutes
1 1/2 to 2 lbs Chicken wings
2 tsp Ginger minced
2 tsp Garlic minced
2 Tbs Hoisin sauce
1 Tbs Honey
1 Tbs Sriracha sauce
1 tsp Sesame oil
1 tsp Rice vinegar

Grill wings
Prepare grill for cooking.
Season wings with salt and pepper to taste, then grill wings until cooked through, turning two or three times during cooking, 20 to 25 minutes. Remove wings from grill and let rest 5 to 10 minutes.

Make sauce, toss wings
While wings rest, in a sauce pan over medium heat, saute garlic and ginger in a little olive oil for 1 to 2 minutes. Stir in hoisin sauce, honey, sriracha, sesame oil and rice vinegar, heat to a simmer then remove. In a bowl, toss the wings and sauce together. Pile on a plate and serve.

Crock-Pot Chicken Stir Fry

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I realize that slow cooker stir fry is really an oxymoron. I guess I could call it slow cooker chicken and vegetables with stir fry flavors, but that's just not fun. This pot of yummy goodness tastes like a plate full of stir fry from a fast-food Chinese joint. I could have pumped up the flavors a little by adding some sautéd ginger and garlic but for a dish that will serve fifteen at a pot luck, this totally does the trick.

I made this in the afternoon and didn’t have to serve it until that evening, so for the purposes of the event, I mixed the rice together with the vegetables and reheated the two together before serving. I recommend this method if you’re taking it on the road just for the ease of travel.

BEHIND THIS BITE
This is yet another dish to add to my collection of recipes made to serve a crowd. It’s the first to be Asian inspired and I think I’m going to refine this in the future, like I mentioned in the beginning, I could do a few things that are relatively simple to punch up the flavors but this simple mix really does the trick. It's a low maintenance crowd pleaser.

I served this with srirach on the side.

A friend of mine at the get together put a fair amount of sriracha on his stir fry and that's when the fun began. I love to watch people eat really hot stuff. It seems that as they eat the dish the bites get quicker and quicker, the spicy heat is addicting and it's almost as if they're stoking the fire. Sometimes they’ll even sweat or have a runny nose. I can always tell when someone is indulging in something spicy and hot.

Sriracha is one of my favorites to eat and observe being devoured, it makes most domestic sauces labeled “hot” seem like a mild salad dressing – And it really hits the spot if you love the spice.

Eat well, cook often ...

THE RECIPE
12 to 15 servings; 2 hours, 30 minutes
3 lbs Chicken thighs, boneless and cut in pieces
3 lbs Stir fry vegetables, frozen
1 jar Stir fry sauce (12 oz)
2 C Rice
4 C Water

Brown chicken
In a large skillet over medium-high heat brown chicken thigh pieces in a little olive oil. Salt and pepper to taste. Cook in batches if necessary. Once browned move to crock-pot.

Cook vegetables
Mix vegetables and stir fry sauce with the chicken in crock pot. Cover and cook on high until vegetables are heated through and chicken is fully cooked, 2 hours. Serve over rice, see below.

THE RICE
In a large pot over medium-high heat toast rice in a little olive oil for 2 minutes. Add water and bring to a boil, cover and remove from heat. Let sit at least 25 minutes. Remove lid and fluff rice fork. 

Thai Curry Chicken

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The is my first attempt at creating a Thai recipe of my own. I love chicken thighs in anything, so using them as the protein was a good start for the dish.

I used 2 tablespoons of red curry paste and a sliced and seeded jalapeño for heat. I thought that would be enough but I should have used more curry paste and left the stems and seeds in the jalapeño. I would have liked more kick, which means the spice in this recipe is probably spot on for most people because, like I have said before, mild heat to me is most people’s hell fire.

The coconut milk really does a good job of mellowing out the dish. I really like working with it because of the balance it provides. I hope to utilize it in my savory cooking more. The ginger opens up the taste buds and gives the entire dish a great aroma and flavor.

All in all, I really liked this recipe. It was good for a first attempt. In baseball terms I will call this a double into the gap, which I’ll take every time I’m at the plate. It needs a little more love before I can call it a home run though. I would like for the sauce to be a little thicker and I’ll have to experiment with how to accomplish that.

BEHIND THIS BITE

I started this recipe the day before I actually created and finished it. I was working on the ginger when a simple slip of the knife while mincing it led to a gnarly cut on my index finger. No stitches were required but, I had to quit for a while to get it cleaned up and bandaged.

Every so often that happens when you work with sharp objects. Luckily, it wasn’t bad enough to warrant a trip to the emergency room. The entire day leading up to the knife incident was a fiasco - I took the cut as a sign to give up on the cooking and instead move onto working at the computer.

Some times a change of pace is all it takes to make a bad day better, and giving up on the recipe was the right move – the rest of the day went smooth and easy. I made the Thai chicken for lunch the next afternoon and all of my fingers made it through unblemished.

Eat well, cook often ...

THE RECIPE

Serves 4; 40 minutes
1 1/2 lbs Chicken thighs, boneless, skinless, cut into chunks
1/2 C Onion diced
1 Jalapeno seeded, sliced
3 Tbs Ginger, minced
1 Tbs Garlic, minced
2 Tbs Red curry paste
1/2 C Chicken broth
1 Can Lite coconut milk
1 Tbs Fish sauce
1/2 C Cilantro, chopped
1 Jalapeño, sliced
2 C Rice
4 C Chicken broth

Brown chicken, sauté vegetables; paste
Start rice, see below. In a large pan over medium-high heat brown chicken in a little olive oil on all sides, 3 to 4 minutes. Season chicken with salt and pepper to taste.  Remove to a plate. Add some oil to pan if necessary, cook onion and jalapeño until soft, 4 to 6 minutes. Stir in ginger and garlic, cook until fragrant, 1 to 2 minutes. Stir in red curry paste cook 30 seconds.

Add liquid, finish, serve
Add chicken broth and a little of the coconut milk scrapping up any brown bits and dissolving curry paste. Stir in rest of coconut milk and fish sauce, return chicken to pan lower heat to medium and simmer until chicken is cooked through. Serve over rice, garnish with cilantro and fresh jalapeño slices.

THE RICE
In a large sauce pan over medium-high heat toast rice in a little olive oil for 2 minutes. Add chicken broth and bring to a boil, cover and remove from heat. Let sit at least 25 minutes. Remove lid and fluff rice with fork. 

Pork Fried Rice

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The Thai Pavilion in Astoria, Queens has the best pork fried rice I have ever eaten. I used to eat buckets of the stuff at their 30th Avenue location which is now closed and moved to another spot in the neighborhood.

Whenever I eat pork fried rice I compare it to the Pavilion. It has become my standard barer of all things fried rice. A single order would cost $9, which is a bit expensive, but it was enough for two people. The only bad thing about the price was that I had to get two orders for them to deliver because they required a minimum purchase of $10 to bring it to your door. (It is now a $15 minimum) It was light and spicy and perfectly prepared every time. Even cold leftovers directly from the fridge were good and didn’t clump up.

This recipe is my attempt at recreating the pork fried rice bliss of the Pavilion. The dish turned out delicious but I still think the Thai Pavilion has magic in their woks.

BEHIND THIS BITE
I took my Dad to eat at the Thai Pavilion during one of his visits and he agreed that the pork fried rice was outstanding. I was glad I got to take him to a nice restaurant that serves Asian cuisine. The majority of the Asian themed restaurants here in Fort Wayne are just run of the mill take-out joints or an all-you-can-eat buffet.

A good stir fry should come right out of a wok, to me, scooping beef and broccoli out of a hotel pan that has been on a buffet for two hours is low budget. Much like having a wine and cheese party with government cheese. It tastes ok but there is much better quality out there.

The best Asian restaurant experience that I’ve ever had was in Philadelphia. I don’t remember the name of the place but the beef chow fun I order was the best single Asian dish I have ever eaten and probably a top five meal of all-time on my list. I highly recommend finding a high-end Asian-style restaurant for special occasions - and I’m not talking about the Panda Express.

Eat well, cook often ...

THE RECIPE
Serves 4; 25 minutes
6 Tbs Vegetable oil, divided
1/2 C Green onions, sliced
1/2 C Carrot, shredded
2 tsp Ginger, minced
1 Tbs Garlic, minced
1 lb Pork, diced
2 Eggs, beaten
2 C Leftover rice, cold
2 Tbs Soy sauce
1 Tbs Sriracha sauce

Sauté vegetables
In a wok or large fry pan heat oil over medium high heat, add onions, carrot and ginger saute until soft 2 to 3 minutes, season to taste, remove from pan and wipe clean.

Cook pork
Add oil to pan and let it get hot, 1 to 2 minutes add garlic and cook until fragrant, 1 minute. Add pork, season to taste and cook through, 5 to 6 minutes. Remove from pan and wipe clean.

Cook Egg, rice, finish
Add remaining oil to pan, add eggs and scramble, 2 to 3 minutes. Stir in rice, cook until browned, 6 to 8 minutes. Add soy sauce, sriracha, return pork and vegetables to pan and combine. Heat through, then serve.

Spicy Chicken Stir Fry, Anytime!

It’s 5:10 p.m., I’m at the grocery store and looking for something to make for dinner. This scenario plays out ever day in America – What am I going to make for supper? Most of the time, I start by looking for meat and fresh vegetables that are on sale.

This time, I find a special on boneless chicken breast and decide to make a stir fry. I opt for a $2 bag of frozen vegetables to get a nice variety for a fraction of the cost of fresh ones. I then grab some fresh ginger on the way to the check-out. That is all I need at the store.

For this recipe, all other ingredients that will turn this into an Asian stir fry are at home in the pantry. At any time, I can turn meats and vegetables into a Mexican, Italian or Asian treat just by keeping a few items around in the fridge or cupboard. When I run out of a pantry item, I put it on the list just like bread or milk. All these items at once can be costly, but by planning and understanding the right ingredients to suit your taste, it is relatively easy to make a semi-gourmet meal like this whenever the urge hits.


BEHIND THIS BITE
I had made an entirely different recipe for this week's column when I was at the store getting the chicken, vegetables and ginger for the stir fry. On the way home it hit me – what I was doing at the moment – is what millions were doing at the same time. I love to make gourmet meals, but I don't cook like that every time I eat. Most of the time, I'm looking to make something quick, affordable, somewhat healthy and tasty.

I always have the pantry ingredients that are listed in this recipe. The hoisin sauce, sesame oil, rice vinegar and soy sauce help make a yummy stir fry – and I make it a lot. I also use this combination of ingredients to make a barbecue sauce. (find recipe here)

Building a well stocked pantry is expensive initially. It becomes cost effective over time, because the hoisin and soy sauce go in the fridge, like ketchup, and the rice vinegar and sesame oil go in the cupboard. The next time you make stir fry, these ingredients are ready – and should last for a while. For me, The hoisin sauce runs out first, but a 9 ounce bottle should last for a few meals at least.

From time to time, I am going to do more of these "stock the pantry" recipes. It's more about practical cooking rather than the newest take on mango-wango fondu. (Which is fun to create also) With these simple ingredients you can make an endless amount of meals with a delicious Asian inspired flavor.

Eat well, cook often ...