Korean fried wings

Some like it hot and some do not. 2 choices in a bowl.

Never underestimate the power of media. After the hugely popular Kdrama “ My Love from the Star’, the preferred TV snack is no longer just KFC. Korean chicken wings and beer is all the rage in Singapore now.  

The long crazy queue for fried wings at Chir Chir Somerset 313 was too much for me. So I decided to take matters into my own hands with the help of Maangchi.

Perhaps I will try the commercial Korean wings one day for benchmarking purposes. This recipe, I give it a good 3.5/5 for crunch. The loss of the 1.5/5 is because of the hard work and washing up after the dish. That part, I can postpone it for another day.

1 kg of wings , enough for 3.

Adaptations from Maangchi.

Ingredients :

1 kg of chicken midwings

4 cloves of minced garlic

1 knob of ginger, grated

pinch of sea salt flakes

dash of black pepper

Method :

Wash the chicken mid-wings until the water runs clear.

Marinate the wings in salt, black pepper, minced ginger and garlic, 30 minutes.

Coat the wings in potato starch. shake off extra starch.

Preheat a pot of oil, deep enough to cover the wings.

Fry the wings once, 10 minutes, high heat.

Drain, rest wings on a strainer.

Fry again on medium heat, 10 min until crunchy.

Reserve.

While resting the cooked wings, prepare the sauce.

Sauce :

2 T cooking oil

4 cloves, minced

1 tsp dried chilli, deseeded

¼ cup soya sauce

½ cup corn syrup

1 T vinegar + 1 T mustard

1 T brown sugar

Fry garlic, chilli over medium heat.

Add corn syrup, vinegar, mustard. Mix and cook.

Add sugar to caramelize.  Turn off heat.

Add chicken.

Toss to coat wings with the sauce.

Garnish with sesame seeds and fried peanuts ( optional )

Italian chicken midwings using sensor cook

Anything goes, Because I am boss.

I cooked this just because. I am the boss of my kitchen and everyone eats what I feel like cooking. It is called dish of the day. My day. Most days should be like this. Free and liberated. 

Ingredients :

1 kg of chicken midwings

1 cup of parmesan

1 cup of garlic poweder

¼ cup of red pepper flakes

1 tsp volcanic rock salt

¼ cup of olive oil

½ cup of balsamic vinegar

Method :

In a big plastic bag, shake all the ingredient except the vinegar.

Bake on sensor cook according to weight.

Just 10 minutes before it is done,  pour the vinegar over the chicken wings.

Bake again until the sensor cook session ends.

Let the wings rest for 10 minutes before serving.

Shimeji-bean puff miso soup and katsu-oyakodon

A Japanese themed TV dinner from top,clockwise : Edamame,Katsu-oyakudon,shimeji miso soup

Hubby's craving for sashimi weeks ago  snowballed into a collective Japanese food frenzy.

A Japanese wind has been blowing over my household. How else can I explain the non-stop craze for Japanese fare for the last few weeks. It is simply uncharacteristic of this household which goes on ethnic rotation on a weekly basis.

Except for the fresh ingredients, Daiso has supplied me with almost every condiment I need in this full Japanese meal without visiting Meidi-ya or Isetan. I am most thankful to whoever that brought Daiso into Singapore making Japanese food so accessible and affordable ! Hubby may beg to differ because I also bought egg-mold, nori cutters, bento boxes and many others. He still does not know how much the peripheral purchases cost. And I am not telling. Ha!

The greatest beneficiary of this Japanese craze is girl-girl, who can rattle a long list of food names in Japanese though it is not her third language. The love of food breaks all language barriers!

It may seem like a lot of work, especially for two persons,  but everything here can be completed in slightly less than one hour.

Shimeji-bean puff miso soup for 2.

Ingredients :

1 packet Shimeji mushroom, stumps removed

3 long bean puffs, cut to small sections and rinsed in hot water.

1 T miso paste

1/2 cup bonito flakes

2 rice bowls of water

Together with the bonito flakes, bring water to a boil. Strain stock and discard bonito.

Reserve 1/3  cup of hot bonito flavored stock in a separate bowl and dissolve miso paste thoroughly. Set aside. This will be added to the main stock later.

Reserve another 1/3 cup of strained stock for onion  omelet later.

Reheat strained stock, add bean puff and mushroom.

Bring stock to a boil.  Turn off heat.

Stir in prepared bowl of dissolved miso into the main stock pot. Set aside until ready to use.

Japanese rice for 2.

Ingredients :

1 cup Kohuko rice

1.5 cups water for cooking

Rinse rice for about 5  times until water clears. Strain rice on strainer. Leave it to dry for 30 minutes.

Transfer rice to a microwaveable container, add 1.5 cups of water.

Microwave for 11 minutes. Let it stand for another 10 minutes.

Fluff the rice with chopsticks. Cover until ready to serve.

Katsu-oyakodon for 2.

Ingredients :

1/2 chicken, cut to bite size

2 T plain flour,  in plastic bag 1

1 egg, lightly beaten

1 cup Japanese bread crumbs, in plastic bag 2

Heat a pot of canola oil at medium heat.

Place chicken into bag 1 and flour the meat pieces by shaking it vigorously in the bag.

Shake off excess flour from chicken, then dredge chicken in egg.

Transfer to bag 2 and coat the chicken with bread crumbs.

Fry breaded chicken, at medium heat, for about 10 minutes. Meat is cooked when the thickest part of the meat can be pierced through by a toothpick.

Important : Take care to cook chicken thoroughly to prevent salmonella poisoning. Wash all contact surface with boiling water and soap. 

Onion omelet for 2.

Ingredients :

2 eggs, beaten

4 onions, sliced thinly

1/3 bowl of reserved bonito flavored stock.

1 T shoyu

In a heated pan, fry onions until soft but not browned. I prefer it to brown for its smoky flavor.

Stir in shoyu ( light sauce ) into the reserved 1/3 of bonito stock and pour it over the onions in the pan.

Add eggs and cover pot to let eggs cook. Turn off heat.

Assembly :

Scoop rice to the dinner plates. Add chicken pieces and top with  onion omelet.

Present miso soup in a miso bowl.

Serve with edamame or fresh soy pods.

Itadakimasu !

Chestnuts braised with chicken wings in soy sauce

Chestnut is associated with winter for those living in temperate places. In Singapore, I  associate chestnut with MRT stations. Strange, isn't it ? Food at MRT premises is not allowed until recently but the chestnut man somehow has managed to circumvent rules by running his business from a stove-cum-cauldron-scooter all this while.

If you have no idea where the link way between the Bukit Batok MRT and Bus interchange is, just follow the aroma of roasting chestnut.

To celebrate chestnut and entrepreneurship, I have whipped up a chestnut and chicken dish.  So, let's go !

For 3 :

3 cups of chestnut, shelled.

6 chicken mid wings

1 finger of ginger, smashed with the back of a cleaver

1/2  cup black soy sauce

1 cup of water

Sesame oil, cooking wine

Method :

This is the pesky part but essential. Remove skin of chestnut. This is best done by toasting and rubbing with a clean cloth. Freeze remainder chestnut to prevent oxidization. It's freezer to stove if you wish to cook them.

Alternatively, buy prepared chestnut that is vacuum packed and hope no one knows the difference.

Fry ginger in a pot of oil until fragrant.

Add chicken. Sear skin.

Add chestnut.Toss.

Add a dash of sesame oil and wine

Braise, covered, in premium black soy sauce and water until meat and chestnut is soft in about 30 minutes.