Air Fried Hawker Style BBQ Chicken Wings

Today marked the 9th year we made Melbourne our home. Can't believe how time flew by. As the saying goes, time flies when you are having fun! Can't agree more!

Bought some really good sized chicken wings to make hawker style BBQ wings the previous week for a new year get together. Kids loved them so much that they requested to have them again. Very lucky to get the same size wings again from the same shop over the weekend so got them prepped and ready to cook for dinner tonight.

These wings were marinated overnight and the flavors of the marinate permeated through the wings and they are extremely flavorful. You can grill them in the oven or even on the BBQ pit... charcoal heat will be even better especially with some charring! Squeeze some calamansi limes over them and you are good to go! If you like your wings spicy... dip with some sambal belacan!

This recipe is modified slightly from here.

Ingredients

2 kg        Chicken wings (12 to 15 pcs)

70g         Shallots

30g         Ginger

8 cloves  Garlic

3tbsp      Sesame seed oil

1tbsp      Cooking oil

2tbsp      Caramelized dark soy sauce

4tbsp      Light soy sauce

2tbsp      Fish sauce

2tbsp      Oyster sauce

2tbsp      Honey/Golden syrup

½tsp       Chili powder

½tsp       White pepper

1tsp        Salt

Satay sticks/Skewers

Methods

1. Wash and pat dry chicken wings with paper towel.
2. In a blender, blend together shallots, ginger, garlic, sesame seed oil and cooking oil into fine paste.
3. In a mixing bowl, mix shallot paste with the rest of the ingredients and pour over chicken wings. Turn them around to coat them well. Cover and let them marinate overnight in the fridge.
4. Push skewer through each wing so they are straighten before arranging them in the air fryer. Only 1 layer at a time as stacking will not achieve even browning.
5. Air fry at 175°C for 5 minutes, brush with the remaining marinate sauce and continue to air fry for 5 mins. Brush with the marinate sauce again and air fry for another 2 mins (adjust cooking time accordingly depending on size of chicken wings).
6. Serve warm with squeeze of calamansi limes or limes and sambal belacan.

* You can grill in the oven at 200°C for 20 mins or over charcoal BBQ pit.

Lemongrass Chicken Skewers with Special Dipping Sauce

I was working on a project to use chicken as the main protein which is easy to prepare and decided to use one of the recipes found in my book. As I seldom like to copy other bloggers' recipes, I will try to mix and match recipes from books, internet or from cooking shows that I've watch to come out with something. The initial protein used for this recipe was pork but using chicken is just as good.

The recipe from my book does not have any dipping sauce as it was meant for kids' bento. However, I felt that it will be good to add additional flavors to make the dish taste even better. My kids agreed that the dipping sauce did elevate the entire dish to a different level.

Ingredients

500g         Chicken thigh
2 stalks     Lemongrass
4 cloves    Garlic
2 tbsp       Fish sauce
½ tsp        Salt
1½ tbsp    Raw sugar
1 tsp         Cooking oil
1 tbsp       Dark soy sauce
a dash of black pepper
A couple of cilantro with roots (coriander)
Bamboo skewers/ satay sticks

Methods

1. Cut chicken thigh into 1" cubes without skin.
2. Pound lemongrass and garlic with a pestle and mortar into fine paste.
3. Mix the chicken cubes with salt, sugar, fish sauce, dark soy sauce, cilantro (with roots), pepper, pounded paste and cooking oil. Marinate for at least 2 to 4 hours.
4. String marinated chicken cubes with bamboo skewers.
5. Heat grill pan with some oil and grill the chicken skewers till cooked.

Special Dipping Sauce

3 tbsp     Rice vinegar

3 tbsp     Lemon juice

1 tbsp     Fish sauce

3 cloves Garlic (minced)

1             Red chilli (chopped finely)

1             Bird eye chilli (optional for spicier taste)

½ tsp      Salt

1 stalk    Cilantro (chopped finely)

Methods

Mix all ingredients together.

Pork Jerky / Bak Kwa / Long Yuk

Among all the Chinese New Year food that I like most is definitely the pork jerky or bak kwa (Hokkien) or long yuk (Cantonese). It is also a must have for the festive season especially when it comes to gift giving. For that, it command a high price when we purchase from the shops. The last time I bought, I paid RM26 for just 300 grams! Very expensive meat indeed!

I remembered that people actually queued for hours just to buy a few kilos in Singapore! It is insane but these bak kwa guys are reaping big money during CNY just like those mooncake guys during Mooncake festival! Well, I was never that crazy to queue for a few slices of fragrant meat :P Probably they are hard to make thus the high price?

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Actually, I can get them in the Asian grocers here in Melbourne but I decided not to since it is just as expensive as back home. Thought I can live without a few slices of meat :) Then, one fine day, a friend shared a link on how to make these fragrant meat slices and it has been home made since! Yeah! At least I know now what are being mixed into the meat that made them so addictive!

Believe me, it is not difficult to make these at all and imagine the amount of $$ you can save! Best of all, you can add or reduce the ingredients to suit your taste. The recipe I shared here is from another friend which I modified to suit my taste. You are free to adjust it yourself. Try not to press it too thin else it will not be nice... lack the chewy effects. :)

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Ingredients

• 1kg Minced meat


• 200 gm Sugar (sweeter taste nicer)


• 2 tbsp Black soy sauce


• 1 tbsp Light soy sauce


• 4 tbsp Chinese rice wine (glutinous rice wine or rose wine)


• 2 tbsp Fish sauce


• 1 tbsp Oyster sauce


• 4 tbsp Honey (more for glazing while baking/grilling)


• ¼ tsp Five spice powder


• ½ tsp Salt


• Pinch of white pepper


• Sprinkles of garlic powder


• Red food coloring (optional)

Marinade over night

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Methods

1. Spread a sheet of baking paper in the size of the baking tray/cookie sheet onto table and take a         chunk of the marinated meat and spread onto it, slowly pressing the meat around.

             

2. Using another piece of baking paper/clingy wrap to cover the meat, then use a rolling pin to slowly flatten the meat till about 2 to 2.5 mm in thickness. Keep adding more meat and flatten them with the rolling pin until you have filled most of the baking tray.

3. Try leaving a 1 cm gap from the sides of the tray as juices from the meat will ooze out during baking. You can also use the back of the knife to cut/mark some lines on the meat so you can easily fold or cut the meat later.

4. When you are done flattening the meat, remove the top baking paper/clingy wrap and transfer to greased baking tray (I greased with some oil) and remove the other baking paper as well.

5. Bake in preheated oven of 130ºC and bake for 15-20 minutes for both sides.

6. Take the meat out from the oven again, this time glaze them with some honey with a pastry brush as this will help to caramelise the surface to give it a nice charred effect and a beautiful shiny surface.

7. Then increase the temperature to 150ºC and bake/grill till brownish for about 10-15 minutes.

Notes:
You can add chilli flakes or chilli powder too if you like the spicy version.
If you are making beef, best to add some star anise powder to give it an extra kick.

Home Made Char Siew

When I was back in KL 2 months ago, my mom showed me how to do home made Char Siew (BBQ Pork) with the Lee Kum Kee Char Siew sauce. It was pretty delicious so I thought I'll try to make some when I'm back in Penang.

However, I did not have the Lee Kum Kee Char Siew sauce but I have some really nice pork belly sitting in my freezer so I thought, 'Why don't I concoct the Char Siew sauce myself?' It was pretty easy and only require a few ingredients.

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Ingredients:

• 300g Pork belly (get those that are not too lean or too fat)


• Black soy sauce (enough to cover the entire piece of pork belly)


• Light soy sauce (based on your own taste bud)


• 3tbsp Brown sugar


• A few dash of Fish sauce


• Sprinkle some pepper

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Methods

1. Marinade the pork belly with all the ingredients and leave it for about half a day or over night (if over night please put in the fridge)


2. Heat up the oven to about 200 degree Celsius  or you can you can heat up your frying pan with some oil and fry it on small fire till it is cook. For grilling, grill for about and hour, turning it every 20 or 30 minutes.


3. The sugar and black sauce will caramelize so do turn it every now and then so it won't stick to the frying pan and get burnt.


4. Cut them into slices. For added taste, I did some sauce of brown sugar, light soy sauce, black sauce sauce and a little corn starch which I cook them until sticky and glaze the Char Siew.

Grilled Turmeric Chicken Thigh

I bought some whole chicken thighs during one of the week and have wanted to cook some curry chicken but I forgot to buy the chili mix and coconut milk! I don't normally like to use premix curry powder as PiggyBeng said it is very heaty for him so I will avoid using unless it is absolute necessary...

The chicken thighs have been sitting in the fridge for almost a week and I forgotten about them totally until one day I was rummaging through my freezer. And since I have nothing much to cook, these chicken thighs come in real handy. The problem is, I don't have any ideas or a particular recipe in mind. So, what I do next?

Again I rummaged through my food cabinets trying to find any spices that I can make do with. The thing is, other than my Fried Nestum Chicken, I hardly cook chicken dishes as they may need ingredients that I do not have on hand. Therefore, it can be tough to think of any chicken recipes in a flash.

As I hardly use my oven, I decided to grill these chicken thighs. The outcome: YUMMY! I find them less oily and juicier... so it's healthier too! I even stir-fried some celery with garlic to go along with the rice too. The other good thing, it's little hassle and the kitchen is grease free!

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Ingredients

(Serves 2)

• 2 whole Chicken thighs (cut some diagonal lines so heat can penetrate)


• Turmeric and Cheyenne pepper - Enough to marinade both thighs


• Salt to taste


• A few squeeze of lemon juice


• Some basting oil (Olive oil + light soy sauce + sugar + lemon juice) - Optional

Method

1. Marinade the thighs with enough turmeric (fresh or powder), lemon juice and salt for at least 1-2 hours prior to baking. Best if it's over night.


2. Line baking tray with grease proof paper or silver foil. Place the thighs on the tray and bake at 200 degree Celsius, flipping occassionally.


3. Glaze with basting oil if you want the thighs to be more fragrant.


4. Grill for at least 40 minutes or till thoroughly cooked (when no more blood oozing out).

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