Chicken Wings in Hot Garlic Sauce

I am house-sitting for my sister. Well, sort of. My parents are also present and I have a feeling that I am here just to unwind while they looked after my toddler. But, I will cook. 

Now, here is the problem. Sis and family will be leaving India soon and so her kitchen is kind of…un-stocked. I took a look at her shelf and planned to make her signature dish of crumb-fried whole chicken legs, a super tasty and super easy recipe with hardly any ingredients required. But as luck would have it, the shop ran out of whole legs. 

“Will chicken wings do?” the husband spoke over the phone from the shop.

Why not, maybe I could make honey-drizzled grilled chicken wings. But I did not want to use my sis’s oven. I am very scared of using others’ kitchen gadgets. What if my clumsiness resulted in some fuse or blow-out? Quite possible. 

So, what do I cook? The husband was getting restless and I had to say something. 

“Okay, get the wings.”

I will have to think of something quick.

I again rummaged through her kitchen cabinets and refrigerator and finally decided to make ‘Chicken Wings in Hot Garlic Sauce’ based on the sauces that I found. I felt like a contestant on Masterchef Australia where one had to prepare a meal out of limited ingredients! 

I say ‘sauces’ but there were actually just some dark soya sauce, tomato sauce and vinegar. Back at my home, I had oyster sauce and Worcestershire sauce as well, which would have definitely gone into the pot. Anyways, let’s get on to the chicken wings recipe with possibly the least ingredients. Do not let the length of the ingredient list fool you.

Chicken Wings in Hot Garlic Sauce

Ingredients:

5 chicken wings (I kept the tips, you may choose not to)

For the marinade

1 tablespoon dark soya sauce

1 tablespoon tomato sauce

1 tablespoon white vinegar

Pepper to taste

For the sauce

One teaspoon garlic, minced

2 chopped green chillies

2 dry red chillies, torn/broken into pieces

1 tablespoon dark soya sauce

1 tablespoon tomato sauce

1 tablespoon white vinegar

1 teaspoon cornflour, dissolved in a little water to make a thin paste

A pinch of salt

1 teaspoon refined oil

Method:

Marinate the chicken wings in the soya sauce, tomato sauce and vinegar, seasoned with some pepper. I did not add any salt at this stage as the sauces already had some. Keep aside for around 2 hours, turning them over every now and then.

After the wings are sufficiently marinated, transfer them to a pan, along with the marinade, and cook covered in low heat till they are done. I did not put any oil as there was enough marinade. Alternatively, you can roast the wings in an oven. Now, lift the wings from the sticky marinade/juice and keep aside. Do not discard the pan yet.

If you are a glutton like me, you will chomp on the wings even before adding the hot sauce, straight from the pan. But you are not like me, so you will wait for the sauce.

Take another pan/wok, and heat a teaspoon of oil. Pop in the minced garlic and the chillies (both green and dry red ones) and fry them till the garlic turns crisp and brown. Now, add the sauces and the vinegar and stir well. Also, scrape off the remaining marinade from the pan where you had cooked the wings and add them to the wok. The marinade had stuck to my pan and I swirled some water around in it before pouring it into the wok.

Next, tip in the cornflour paste and stir some more till the sauce thickens and begins to bubble. Season with a pinch of salt and pepper. Finally, add the chicken wings and mix them with the sauce well so that it coats the wings. Switch off the gas and serve the chicken wings hot.

You can do a lot more with this recipe. You can add a dash of honey if you want more sweetness, or you can garnish with white sesame seeds, spring onions and other greens/herbs of your choice. 

In my case, this was the best I could do. But the delight on my parents’ face when they relished the dish made up for all the apprehensions I had about it. You know what I realized just now? It gives me the same pleasure to see my son enjoying his food as it does to see my parents love my cooking. 

Anyways, do try out this minimalistic version of chicken wings in hot garlic and sauce and tell me if you really liked it, as much as we did. See you!

PS: Please, please don’t go by the horrible, messy pictures. I had only my phone camera with me and all of us were in a hurry to have dinner.