The ultimate umami wings!
Known as “cánh gà chiên nước mắm” in Vietnamese, these wings are a party pleaser, easy to prepare and cook. Just make sure you make enough, as you’re guaranteed to want seconds!
Servings
2
Prep time:
15min
Cook time:
15min
Difficulty:
Easy
Ingredients
- 1 dozen chicken wings (whole)
- 1 cup rice flour or cornstarch
- Sunflower oil (for deep-frying)
For the marinade:
- 8 cloves garlic (medium size)
- 125ml fish sauce
- 125g sugar
- 100ml water
Notes:
Although the prep is fairly simple and quick, you need to take into account marinating time (at least 4 hours or overnight).
This recipe appears in most Vietnamese cookbooks we have, but also in Andy Ricker’s “PokPok” cookbook where he calls them “Ike’s Vietnamese fish sauce wings”. The recipes vary slightly from one book to another but the general idea remains: fish sauce & garlic sugar marinade, coat the wings and deep fry, then deglaze the marinade and toss the wings in it.
The fish sauce and garlic is what makes this dish, and make sure to not skimp on the amount of sugar, otherwise your marinade won’t caramelize at the end!
Step by Step Instructions
Step 1
chop the garlic thinly (or minced), lay it in a bowl and pour 50ml warm water over it. let it steep for about 10 to 15 minute. You want to keep the garlic water for the marinade, and keep the chopped garlic aside for later frying, if using chopped garlic)
Step 2
In a separate bowl, combine the fish sauce, sugar and the garlic water and stir until all of the sugar is dissolved.
Step 3
In a large bowl, add the chicken wings and pour the marinade over them, making sure every wing is coated properly with it. let it marinate for about 4 hours or overnight if you prefer.
Step 4
Once the wings have marinated, take them out of the marinade (keep the marinade!) and pat them dry with a paper towel.
In a shallow bowl, add the flour and coat each wings with flour making sure every piece is lightly coated. You can do them one by one and shake them a bit before deep frying them. This will make the skin crispy.
Step 5
Heat up a large saucepan with the oil to 160-170C. To make sure the oil is at the right temperature, you can toss a piece of garlic and if it starts to bubble up, then it’s ready.
Fry up the garlic first for a couple of minutes until golden brown, this will give the oil some flavour.
Set the garlic aside for serving.
Step 6
Now it’s time to fry the wings, you can do this in batches depending on the size of your saucepan, but 3 or 6 at a time should do.
Step 7
Once your wings have cooked, heat a large pan with and pour the marinade, reducing it for about 5 minutes or until starting to caramelise and toss your wings in it.
Step 8
You’re ready to serve, lay them on a plate, sprinkle with the fried garlic (if using) and serve as is, ideally with a fresh salad of cucumber, tomatoes and lettuce with a nuoc mam dressing or with white rice!
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