Recipe: Spicy & Sweet LINGHAM’s Chili with Garlic Chicken Wings

It’s an ode to the craze of chicken wings! I can never resist chicken wings, grilled or fried. The lure of seeing a lush rich and amber lacquered grilled wings or simply golden deep fried crispy wings have me weak in the knees. Sinking my teeth into sinful tasty skin with smooth and tender flesh of the wings seasoned in many ways never fails to satiate my appetite.

I’ll take it any way all over the world. From Buffalo wings served with pungent blue cheese and celery to Korean fried wings to Chinese street grilled chicken wings, it’s quite the universal favorite for snacking. Heck, even when I am having a bowl of noodles from a kopitiam and I spied a BBQ chicken wing stall, I would order 2 pieces for extra treat.

So when it comes to home cooking, chicken wings are versatile and easy to prepare in lots of cooking methods. One weekend, I was craving for chicken wings and Thai food. Glancing at my favorite Lingham’s Chili Sauce, I decided I was going to whipped up some crispy wings and glazed them with versatile and delicious chili sauce. That sparked off my persistence of pursuing my chicken wing craving and a quick visit to the market seeing herb and spice stall triggered off the light bulb of making a Thai chicken wing treat.

First thing first, I grabbed lime, lemongrass and ginger torch flowers, thinking of all the aromas and flavours from these fruit and plants and some wings of course. Then went home, grab a bottle of Lingham’s Chili Sauce with Garlic and started preparing. Other ingredients came to mind like sesame seed and fish sauce since these were readily available in my kitchen. The recipe took form like a breeze. It’s also quite quick and requires under an hour to prepare.

I like how Lingham’s incorporate ingredients like garlic, ginger and others into their classic chili sauce. Their original chili sauce is already darn yummy and incorporating other ingredients to create a new range of chili sauce seemed to be a no-brainer in boosting more flavours into the much beloved sweet and spicy chili sauce made with natural ingredients.

Since I couldn’t wait to eat the wings, I took the shortcut and season with salt and pepper before coating the wings in some sweet potato flour to be deep fried. I knew that I could use the sauce to boost the flavours so while deep frying the wings, I quickly minced both lemongrass and ginger torch finely. Add in Lingham’s Chili Sauce with Garlic, lime juice, fish sauce and toasted sesame seeds. I double fry them to achieve a crunchier texture. After the wings are golden, crispy and cooked, I dunked them into the mixed sauce and coat them till every wing is nicely smothered with the sauce. Took the wings to the living room and plonked myself in front of the tv to sink my teeth into these babies. Well… after I took some photos that is… LOL.

It’s got all the elements of sweet, savory, tangy, spicy, subtle hints of bittersweet and loads of umami flavours. The crispy wings were juicy too. So they were messy to eat but who cares, I was truly happy with the dish. Craving satiated!

Thai Chicken Wings with Lingham’s Chili Sauce with Garlic

Ingredients

4 pieces       Chicken Wings (cut into two – drummette and wing)

8 Tbsp         Lingham’s Chili Sauce with Garlic

1 stalk         Lemongrass (minced finely)

1 stalk         Ginger Torch (minced finely)

2                 Lime (grate some rind and squeeze the juice)

1 ½ Tbsp     Fish Sauce

12 Tbsp       White Sesame Seeds (toasted)

                   Sweet Potato starch to coat

                   Salt & Pepper

                   Oil for Deep Frying

Method

Heat oil for deep frying.

Wash and clean the wings and cut them into two.

Season with salt and pepper before coating them with sweet potato starch.

When oil is hot enough, deep fry the chicken wings using the double frying method for crispiness.

Deep fry the wings on medium heat till almost done, remove and turn up the heat to high.

Add the wings back for a second deep fry for 2 to 3 minutes and remove.

While wings are frying, placed all the Lingham’s Chili Sauce, lemongrass, ginger torch, fish sauce, lime rind, lime juice, sesame seeds and season well with salt and pepper.

Add the hot crispy wings to the sauce and coat them evenly.

Sprinkle on more toasted sesame seeds and serve.

Extra Notes and Tips

• Use other parts of the chicken if you don’t like wings
• Use any of your favorite Lingham’s Chili Sauce from its range if you cannot find this garlic one
• Substitute sweet potato starch with mixture of regular flour mixed with cornflour or rice flour
• Use lemons or oranges instead of lime
• Add any herbs you like or omit them if you don’t
• Make sure to enjoy them hot for full deliciousness