hello this is chef john from food wishes calm web chennai chicken wings that's
right it's been a while since we posted one of our epic oven fried spicy chicken
wing recipes in fact it's been so long no one uses the term epic anymore but i
think that word is pretty appropriate here not only used to describe the
technique but also the taste which was inspired by an appetizer called chennai
chicken served at one of my favorite indian restaurants in town and i'll let
you know who i'm ripping off this time in the blog post but for now let's go
ahead and get started with our spicy coating and we'll begin that with equal
parts of corn starch and rice flour so yes in case it matters these wings are
gonna be gluten free and then to our starchy base we'll go ahead and add a
ton of spices beginning with a big old spoon of cayenne oh yeah we're not gonna
be shy here with the seasonings we will also toss in some paprika as well as
some ground cumin and a spoon of something called garam masala which is
sort of like a curry spice blend it's got a lot of different things in there
and I will also give you more info about that on the blog but anyway we'll
continue on with a spoon of turmeric as well as some freshly ground black pepper
and then last but not least a very generous amount of salt and we'll go
ahead and take a whisk and mix this thoroughly and that's it our tonight
chicken spicy coating blend is done and we'll simply set that aside and move on
to the second thing we should prep ahead of time and that would be our spicy
onion ginger rice vinegar which not surprisingly is going to start with rice
vinegar too which I'm gonna add some very finely sliced ginger and red onions
and by the way feel free to grate that ginger if you don't want to show off
your knife skills I also tossed in a little bit of chive and then finished up
with some hot pepper in two forms we will do some dried flakes as well as a
spoon of sambal which is basically a sauce made from
crushed chilies and we'll go ahead and stir that together and if we want we can
add other things of this such as garlic or chopped green onions or maybe an herb
like cilantro alright so don't be afraid to tweak this you are after all the
Buddy Guy of your tonigh so add whatever you think strikes the right chord
and then what we'll do once our vinegar sauce is mixed up is set it aside and
move on to final production so into our spice blend we'll go ahead and dump our
split wings which as you know are simply whole wings that have been cut in half
into what we call in the business the drum is in the flats and we'll go ahead
and give that a mix until they're all thoroughly coated which you could do
just by tossing them with the tongs but if there was a recipe that ever called
for the old flipping toss this is it so don't be afraid to grab that bowl and
repeatedly toss those ingredients into the air you know like you just don't
care until like I said you are confident they are thoroughly thoroughly coated
and what we'll do once that set is go ahead and transfer this on to some kind
of baking sheet and this time I decide to try one of these pans with the
nonstick coating but you can certainly use a regular baking sheet lined with
parchment or foil or even a Silpat but anyway able to go ahead and place those
down evenly spaced and of course not too too close to each other and then once
those are panned up before we pop them in the oven what we'll do is drizzle
over just a little bit of vegetable oil right just literally a few drops on each
and by the way in case you're wondering this is only half a batch that I will
cook for filming purposes and I will finish off the rest later
so we'll go ahead and drizzle on just a little bit of oil at which point these
are ready for the first half of the baking so we'll go ahead and transfer
those into the center of a very hot 450 degree oven for 15 minutes at which
point we're gonna pull them out and turn them over and brush them with a little
bit of ginger oil which will make right now it only takes a couple seconds since
it's nothing more than some grated ginger with some vegetable oil stirred
in it sure you probably could have applied that ginger right to the chicken
but I decided to use this approach instead and thought it worked out very
well and what we'll do once that set is pull out our wings which would now cook
for 15 minutes and we'll go ahead and turn those over and yes they're already
looking pretty good but it's gonna get even better here's what we're going to
do once those are flipped just go ahead and brush on that ginger oil we just
freshly made and I'm actually only going to brush it on one side and the reason
for that is that's how I did it the first time and it was so perfect I
didn't want to change so we'll go ahead and brush that over
at which point we will pop our wings back in the oven for another 15 to 20
minutes or until they're completely cooked through and look a little
something like this oh yeah those look good and very spicy and then what I like
to do as soon as these come out is go ahead and flip them over so that that
dry side facing up is now facing down into that extremely flavorful oil and I
will let them sit resting like that for maybe three or four minutes at which
point we are ready to serve right after we check to see if we got a
nice crust using that oven fry method
so that sounds very nice and like something I would enjoy eating which I
will do now and like all oven fried wing recipes
there's two ways you can enjoy these dry or wet and for the web method what we do
is throw some still hot wings into a bowl and then spoon in some of the sauce
and then toss those around until coated at which point we can go ahead and plate
up maybe scattering some of those pieces of
onion and ginger over the top and that's it that would be our Chennai chicken
wings wet style so let me go in for a taste which really was amazing and by
the way do not even think of making this recipe without the vinegar sauce since
that's what really activates all the spices in the chicken all right without
that kick of heat and acid these would not even be close to as delicious so be
sure to make plenty of that stuff but anyway that's me enjoying these wet or
of course if we want we can enjoy these dry which simply means we serve them up
on a plate with the sauce next to them and what I find so fun about this recipe
and what drew me to the original appetizer I base this on is the way the
spices and flavors build as you eat it I mean it's spicy and tasty when you
first start but as you eat these that just builds and builds and builds into a
huge crescendo until you almost think it's too much but then you realize there
is no such thing as too much there is only not enough and if you're thinking
man those look good and I would enjoy those but my friends and family are kind
of picky and they'll just want regular buffalo style chicken wings well you
know what too bad you make these anyway and anyone that doesn't like them does
not get invited back next year hey that's just tough love but it's actually
not going to be a problem because when people taste these and realize how
addictively delicious they are they will very much appreciate you turning them on
to it but anyway wet or dry whether you make these for a Superbowl party or some
other festive occasion I really do hope you give these a try soon so head over
to food wishes calm for all the ingredient amounts of more info as usual
and as all enjoy
you