5 Hot Wings for Your Hot Valentine Date

I remember someone once told me, “Love is about how you earn your wings”. It is about opening your heart fully, allowing yourself to feel that ever-expansive feeling from the heart and let yourself experience the feeling wholly.

And then it suddenly struck me, for Valentine’s Day, I am going to serve up hot and spicy wings. The type which ignites fire of passion deep within your belly! After all, who doesn’t like a great chicken wing recipe? So here I am, with 5 carefully curated chicken wing recipes cooked in different spicy style to excite your night with your valentine.

For that extra punch of taste, it would be best to marinate your hot wings of love overnight. But if time is of an essence, give it at least a good 3 hours to soak in all the flavours. My choice of wings are from the wet market, rather than the frozen ones at the supermarket. I personally find there’s a great taste different; wings from the wet market tend to be tastier and juicer.

For any of these 5 recipes, feel free to up the heat if needed. If not, what is created is good for an average person’s taste.

Hope you enjoy these recipes and be sure to make hot wings for your ‘hot’ date on this Valentine’s Day.

Let’s start cooking with love and kisses….

1. Spicy Korean Chicken Wings 

Spicy korean chicken wings
Spicy korean chicken wings

Ingredients 

Chicken Wings

  • 6 chicken wings
  • 1/3 corn starch
  • 1/2 milk
  • 1 tsp salt
  • 1tbsp black pepper
  • Vegetable oil for deep frying

Sauce

  • 3 tbsp fine ground red chili pepper
  • 4 tbsp soya sauce
  • 3 tbsp sugar
  • 2 tbsp rice vinegar
  • 6 cloves of peeled garlic (blend)
  • 1 inch peeled fresh ginger (blend)
  • 4 tbsp korean red pepper paste (gochujang)

Garnish

  • Spring onion
  • 1 tbsp toasted sesame seeds

Method

  1. Lightly salt and pepper the chicken wings. Leave aside for 10 to 15 minutes. Place wings in a large bowl and pour milk over them, place in refrigerator for about one hour, turning three to four times.
  2. For the Sauce: Place the ginger and garlic into a blender with just enough water to liquefy the mix. Pour into a small mixing bowl and add all other sauce ingredients & mix well. Finely chop the green/spring onion and set aside.
  3. Chicken Wings: Discard the milk and let wing section drain until just damp. Heat oil in a large cooking pot. (350ºF or use the bread test) Roll wings in starch and deep fry until golden brown then drain.
  4. Transfer the chicken to a large stir fry pan or wok over medium to medium high heat, add the sauce, and stir fry until all liquid is gone.
  5. Place onto a serving tray and garnish with the green onion and sesame seed. Ready to serve.

 

2. Fried Curry Sesame Chicken Wings by Chef Mural

Curry2(r)
Fried curry chicken wings

Ingredients 

  • 8 Chicken wings
  • 2 tbsp ginger garlic paste
  • 2 tsp red chilli powder
  • 2 tsp curry powder
  • 1 tbsp white sesame seeds
  • 1/2 cup refined flour
  • 1/2 cup corn flour
  • 2 raw eggs
  • 1/2 cup water
  • 2 tbsp lime juice
  • Salt to taste
  • Vegetable oil (for deep fry)

Sauce

  • 1/2 cup mayonnaise sauce
  • 2 tbsp olive oil
  • 1 tbsp crush red chlli flakes
  • 1 tbsp finely chopped garlic

Method

  1. Wash the chicken wings, pat dry with kitchen towels.
  2. Put the wings in a bowl, add ginger garlic paste, red chilli powder, curry powder, white sesame seeds, salt, lime juice, eggs and water.
  3. Mix well with marinate. Set aside in chiller for 3 hours or more.
  4. In a glass bowl, prepare mayo sauce. Mix mayonnaise sauce, olive oil, crush red chilli flakes and chopped garlic.
  5. Heat oil in a large cooking pot. (350ºF or use the bread test). Deep fry until cooked and crisp then drain.
  6. Serve with fried chicken wings with chilli garlic mayo sauce.

3. After School Fried Chicken Wings by Chef Iskandar Latiff

IMG_7304
After school fried chicken wings

Ingredients for chicken

  • 8 large chicken wings
  • 1/2 cup tamarind pulp
  • 1 tsp fish sauce

Spice blend

  • 1 tsp cumin powder
  • 1 tsp tumeric powder
  • 1 tsp chili powder
  • 1 tsp salt
  • 1 tsp fish curry powder
  • Oil for frying

Method

  1. Wash and clean- wipe dry the chicken wings
  2. In a large mixing bowl add in the spice blend
  3. Add in the chicken wings and gently give it a good rub
  4. Add in tamarid pulp – mixed well and marinate for 2-3 hours
  5. In a large pot heat up oil enough for deep frying
  6. Deep fry the chicken until cooked to golden brown
  7. Ready to serve.

Ingredients for kecap manis dip

  • 1/2 cup kecap manis
  • 1 whole chopped chili padi
  • 3 whole sliced shallots – 3 whole
  • 3-4 whole calamansi juice
  • Chopped coriander leaves

Method

  1. Add in all the ingredients into a bowl and mix well
  2. Ready to be serve with chicken wings

4. Tom Yum Chicken Wings

tomyum
Tom Yum Chicken Wings

Ingredients

  • 10 chicken wings
  • 4 stalks of lemongrass (only use the white portion)
  • 6 kaffir lime leaves (finely cut)
  • 4 tbsp tom yom paste
  • 2 tbsp light soya sauce
  • 2 tbsp  cooking oil

Method

  1. Blend all ingredients except chicken. Marinate on the chicken wings for 3 hours or more.
  2. Preheat oven for 10 minutes 210 C
  3. Brush off the marinate before putting into the oven.
  4. Lightly grease the wings and place the marinated chicken wings under 210 C for 40 minutes.
  5. Ready to serve

5. Fried Mala Chicken Wings

mala

Ingredients

  • 4 chicken thighs
  • 1 small bowl of chili peppers (remain some of them as whole to reduce the spicy taste)
  • 2 inches ginger, sliced
  • 1 scallion, cut into small round sections
  • ½ teaspoon sugar
  • 1 tbsp Sichuan peppercorn, rinsing in clean water and drain
  • Cooking oil for deep frying around 3 cups
  • 1 tbsp sesame seeds
  • 1 tbsp sesame oil

Marination

  • 1 tbsp soy sauce
  • 1 tbsp rice wine
  • ¼ tsp white pepper powder
  • 3 tsp cornstarch
  • 2 slices of ginger
  • 10 shreds of scallion
  • 1 tsp salt or as needed

Method

  1. In a large bowl, marinade the chicken wings with all the marinating sauce. Mix well and set aside for around 10 minutes.
  2. In a large pot heat up oil enough for deep frying. Deep fry the chicken until cooked to golden brown. Drain.
  3. Lightly grease the wok. Add Sichuan peppercorn until you can smell the taste. Then add dried chili peppers, followed with ginger and scallion, to continue fry for around 1 minute with slow fire.
  4. Turn up the fire, put deep-fried chicken wings in. Add ½ tablespoon rice wine and salt according to taste.
  5. When the wings become crisp and bright, sprinkle sesame seeds, add sugar and sesame oil. Mix thoroughly.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

5 Great Chinese New Year Steamboat Soup

With the Lunar New Year gears cranking in action, I was invited to not one, but two steamboat home parties at the start of this month. Off the cuff, we all have to concur that steamboat is the easiest to prepare and the best way to feast when you have a large group of friends coming together.

Well, both steamboat parties I had were a great success. We had fun brainstorming what ingredients we should have (let’s just say my WhatsApp group chats were sounding non-stop!). It’s a dish that allows you to think out of the box and go wild with your creativity, plus its forgiving nature allows you to throw in just about any ingredient which cooks well in stock. Just to share a few of my must-haves, luncheon meat – surprisingly good in steamboat, quail eggs – unknowingly you would have popped no less than 10 into your mouth by the end of the meal, lastly there’s cheese tofu – it adds so much taste dimension and that playful squirt in your mouth. Oh, and how can I forget the best part, throwing in some home-made noodles to slurp up all the soupy goodness with.

But what differentiates a good steamboat party from a Great steamboat party, it’s the base S.TO.C.K. So being the very helpful and sharing person that I am, I have gathered five different family steamboat stock recipes from my close friends. Each with its own unique flavour – something spicy, something traditional and something nourishing.

So this Lunar New Year, I have armed you with five different stock recipes, for five days of steamboat parties. And even if you have the same ingredients each time, I promise you will enjoy a different experience all together. So gather your friends and each can take on one recipe, because all five are worth trying! At the end of it all, let me know which you enjoyed best.

Wishing you and your loved ones a prosperous Lunar New Year, and a wonderful time feasting with family and friends!

Let’s start cooking!

gxfc

1. Steamy Mala by Chef Shen Tan

This recipe is inspired by a wonderful hot pot session I had in Taiwan at a famous restaurant, Elixir Hotpot. The stock has many spices, herbs and dried longans in its shell, which give the soup a subtle sweet flavour. Although it is flavoured with many spices, the stock is not spicy hot. When used as a hot pot stock, the various vegetables, meats and seafood add wonderfully complex layers of flavour.

Enjoy your Chinese New Year hot pot with this Steamy Mala Soup Stock!

Ingredients:

  • 3 litres chicken stock
  • 10 dried chillies, cut into 3-cm pieces
  • 6 green cardamom pods
  • 2 dried bay leaf
  • 50g wolfberry
  • 6 large dates
  • 1 whole nutmeg
  • 10 dried longans in shell
  • 1 tsp cumin seeds
  • 10 cloves garlic
  • 6 Thai cardamom pods
  • 50g ginger
  • 1 tbsp white peppercorns
  • 1 tbsp Sichuan peppercorns
  • 60g spring onion, cut into half, including the bulb
  • 1 tbsp salt

Method:

Boil all the ingredients in chicken stock for 1 hour.


 

2. Tom Yum in Vietnam Style by Stylist Ky My

prawns

In Vietnam, this is referred to as Thai hot pot. Perhaps the reason is that it originated from the infamous Thai Tom Yum Soup. You can choose to buy the concentrated sauce or make the sauce at home. Depending on individual’s taste, the ingredients may change, but the distinctive sour taste is its selling point.

This is a great option for Chinese New Year steamboat, especially if your steamboat ingredients are mainly seafood.

Ingredients:

  • 2 litres pork stock
  • 1 kg prawns (remove the prawn heads for stock)
  • 2 tomatoes, cut into small pieces
  • 1 tbsp ginger, grated
  • 1 tbsp galangal, grated
  • 3 stalks of lemongrass, chopped
  • 10 pcs lime leaves
  • 60ml lime juice
  • 1 large onion, chopped
  • 2 tsp chilli sauce
  • 2 tsp chilli oil
  • 2 tsp fish sauce
  • 100g coriander, blended
  • 100g culantro (saw-leaf herb), blended
  • Cooking oil
  • Sugar and salt, to taste

Method:

  1. Prepare pork stock in a pot.
  2. Heat pan with 2 tsp oil.
  3. Add chopped onion and saute for 1 min.
  4. Add prawn heads,1 tsp salt and cook for 5 minutes.
  5. Add paste into pork stock.
  6. Using the same pan, add 1 tsp oil and add tomato pieces. Saute for 5 mins.
  7. Add 1 tsp sugar, fish sauce, chilli oil, chilli sauce, grated ginger and galangal with a bit of water.
  8. Cook for 5 minutes. Add everything into pork stock.
  9. After boiling the pork stock for 30 minutes, add chopped lemongrass, lime juice and lime leaves and simmer for 15 mins.
  10. Add some salt, sugar and lime juice to taste.
  11. Add blended coriander and culantro water into boiled soup and simmer for 15 mins.
  12. Sieve the pork stock to get clear soup.
  13. Add seafood, mushroom, vegetables and enjoy it with rice noodle!


shabu(Long)

 

3. Surf & Turf Fusion by Blogger Jeffrey Yeo 

Chinese New Year Steamboat stocks can be fabulously complicated and layered offerings, or simple and clean concoctions, which are then left to take on the flavors of whatever you put into the pot.

This is a recipe for a middle-of-the-road broth base, which is delicious on its own, and yet has the chops to take on bold flavors from the food that the family cook in it. It is a good mash-up of pork, chicken and seafood flavours with a refreshing root vegetable aroma.

Ingredients:

  • 2 pcs big pork bones
  • 500g pork ribs
  • 10 chicken wings, mid-joints
  • 6 chicken feet
  • ½ cup anchovies and ½ pc dried cuttlefish in a soup bag
  • 2 medium carrots, roughly chopped
  • 2 cloves garlic, chopped
  • 1 yellow onion, chopped
  • 2 stalks celery, sliced
  • 1 leek, whites only, sliced
  • 2 shallots, chopped
  • 1 sweet corn
  • 3 pcs dried orange peel
  • 1 tsp white peppercorns
  • 1 tsp light soy sauce
  • 1 tsp Teochew fish sauce
  • ½ tsp dark soy sauce
  • 4 litres simmering water
  • ½ tbs sesame oil
  • ½ tbs canola or other vegetable oil

Method:

  1. Blanch the pork ribs and big pork bones in a pot of lightly salted boiling water for a minute to a minute and a half.
  2. Strain and set aside. This helps to get rid of some of the gunk from the bone, but doesn’t cook out the flavours.
  3. In a stock pot big enough to hold about 5 litres, heat up the sesame and canola oil. Add the garlic, onions, and shallots and sweat them out over medium heat, around 3 minutes.
  4. Add chicken wings and chicken feet and brown them for about 2 minutes.
  5. Add pork bones and pork ribs. Saute for 1 minute.
  6. Add vegetables – carrots, leeks, celery. Saute for 2 minutes.
  7. Add sweet corn and the soup bag with the anchovies and cuttlefish. Stir in the condiments at this point – light soy, dark soy, fish sauce, orange peel and white peppercorns.
  8. Top up with 4 litres of simmering water, close the lid, and bring to a rolling boil before turning down to a simmer. Simmer for an hour.
  9. Strain the stock over a sieve and reserve the liquids. Refrigerate and use over 3 days, or freeze and store for up to a month.
Other recipe by Jeffrey Yeo : Granny’s Chicken Soup

 

pot(r)
Cooked in Le Creuset 90th Anniversary Original Cocotte

4. Four Treasures Broth by Food Lover Joyce Khoon

Broth without MSG is perfect soup! This was my original intention before Four Treasure was born and inspired by threadfin. Threadfin was introduced to me when I was a toddler. Mum would feed me and shared that threadfin was an expensive fish, rich in vitamins and provide DHA. Ever since a child, l love fish.

Enjoy the freshness of this broth. It brings a totally unexpected oceanic delight, perfect for Chinese New Year!

Ingredients:

  • $2 pork short stick bones (from stomach)
  • 1 whole garoupa bones, fish meat removed and set aside as ingredient for hot pot)
  • 1kg threadfin bone (from Song Fish)
  • 2 slices of dried abalone
  • 10 cubes of yellow crystal rock sugar
  • 1/2 tsp salt
  • 2 tbs wolf berries
  • 5 litres water

Method:

  1. Blanch the pork bones, fish bones and dried abalone separately.
  2. Bring a pot of water to boil.
  3. Add pork and boil for 10 mins.
  4. Add fish bones – garoupa first. After 3 mins, add threadfin bones.
  5. When it boils, put in the dried abalone, wolf berries and simmer at low heat for 20 mins.
  6. Season with rock sugar and a pinch of salt.
  7. Ready to serve.

veg(long)

5. Nutritious Broth by Home Maker Mdm Tin

This recipe is inspired by a Cantonese auntie, who is a very good cook. This stock is packed with goodness, mainly from the yuzhu. It is said to nourish lungs, treats dry cough and dispels wind, just to name a few.

I like to prepare this stock and freeze it, so that I can take it out to use any time I need.

Since Chinese New Year is a time of feasting, this stock for steamboat is a great option. You do not need many ingredients to get a nutritious stock.

Ingredients:

  • Chicken bones, 2 packets
  • 1 sweet corn
  • 1 carrot
  • 6 ginger slices
  • 50g Solomon’s Seal rhizome (yuzhu)
  • 2 litres of water

Method:

  1. Boil all the ingredients in water for minimum 3 hours or more.

My Singapore Food, Preserving Our Heritage Through Home-Cooked Food

My Singapore Food (MSF, www.mysingaporefood.com) launches today in celebration of the 50th birthday of Singapore this month.

The website showcases short films of heritage home-cooked recipes by Singaporeans across diverse cultures, and shares the heart-warming personal story behind each individual recipe. The tutorial-style videos feature step-by-step cooking methods, which comes with detailed ingredients, guiding anyone of various levels of cooking experience through each recipe.

Home-cooked food, invokes precious memories, that make up a large part of what it is to be Singaporean. These dishes are Singaporeans’ comfort food, an integral part of heritage, culture and national identity. By documenting these recipes and their stories, MSF ensures their longevity and preserves the flavour of our home-cooked culinary heritage.

MSF boasts of a wide variety of home-cooked cuisines in its collection, from celebrity chef’s favourite steamed pork with prawn paste to grandma’s signature chicken soup for the soul. There are also recipes that have been passed down only within the family, and for the first time, these heritage dishes will be making their first public appearances on MSF.

For SG50 celebration, 50 recipes have been specially selected for release this year, from August through to December.

The contributors are from all walks of life, including the pioneer generation and youths. Even well-known bloggers like Kenneth Goh, and renowned culinary personalities such as Chef Eric Teo and Chef Bjorn Shen joined in with their favourite recipes.

Chef Benny Se Teo, Executive Chef of social enterprise restaurant Eighteen Chefs, says, “The significance of heritage home-cooked recipes is really under-estimated today. These dishes are what we grew up with and their tastes create some of the most important memories in our lives. I’m delighted that the importance and passion of home-cooked food will thrive through MSF.”

Karen Nah, founder of MSF, shared that her vision for MSF goes beyond the SG50 celebrations. She said, “I’ve met many inspiring Singaporeans, who are very generous and enthusiastic to share their heart-warming stories and delicious recipes. These special contributors are just as passionate as us in wanting to save their precious recipes so that they could pass them down to the future generations. We are going to continue contributing to this important part of Singapore heritage by furthering our cause with partners and many more contributors even after SG50.”

Interview with Karen Nah, founder of My Singapore Food

“There’s no food with as much depth as home-cooked food.”

~ Karen Nah, Founder of My Singapore Food

 

Karen, the founder of My Singapore Food, proudly declares herself an advocate for home-cooking and the preservation of family heirloom recipes. We bring you up close and personal to the lady on a mission to bring heritage home-cooked food back on everyone’s dining table.

Tell us about yourself and your passion.

If I can summarize my passion in one word, it has got to be food. My mum plays a big part in fuelling this excitement for all things culinary ever since I was a child. She is constantly innovating and exploring different ways of cooking in our home kitchen. The result of her experimentation and creativity was plates and plates of amazing home cooked meals everyday for our family, which in turn stirred up my burning desire and enthusiasm to present food in the most delectable way to the world.

Inspired by my mum’s ingenuity, I’m constantly stimulated with fresh ideas. I started Rolleyes in 2013 with the vision to present food in the most delectable way to the world. Since then, Rolleyes have been churning out cooking recipes in interesting and engaging styles, including thematic cooking programmes such as 30 Minute Cookin’ (www.30minutecookin.com) and My Singapore Food.

Share with us your inspiration for My Singapore Food.

My inspiration for My Singapore Food is almost everyone around me. I’ve always had my meals at home, but I realised that for most of my friends, eating out, to them, is the norm. Having home-cooked meals is becoming so rare that it is almost a big affair each time it happens.

For Singaporeans, a nation of food lovers, with so many diverse cultures and stories that are behind each home-cooked recipe, it was a great shame to see our authentic home-cooked dishes disappearing. In fact, most people I know love home-cooked food, but the effort that they think they need to invest in cooking the food has put them off the idea.

Heritage home-cook recipes are particularly important as they are part of our history, which plays a big part in who we are today. They are not just food that we grew up with, but also our connection to our past and life story. No other food in the world has as much depth and stories linked to it as home-cooked food.

Even though we may not be able to go back in time (unless someone has built a time machine already!), we can reminisce through food and share their stories with the next generation. So I started My Singapore Food to advocate the importance of home-cooking and recording the stories behind the precious recipes, so that we can be always be reminded of our heritage.

Share with us your favourite moments on the journey of My Singapore Food.

On this journey, I am very grateful to have met many inspiring Singaporeans, who are very enthusiastic to share their heartwarming stories and delicious recipes. They have been supportive in making this dream a reality, because they are as passionate as us in wanting to retain their precious recipes so that they could pass them down to the future generations.

One contributor was an eighty-plus-year-old Ah Ma, who shared her Teochew Soon Kueh recipe. When we arrived at her house for filming in the morning, she had already prepared one lot of Soon Kueh. The moment we stepped in, she served us one plate each and said that before we started work, we had to taste her Soon Kueh first – it was her family tradition. We were very touched as this old grand dame woke up in the wee hours to prepare her Soon Kueh for us even though we were strangers to her.

We also have stories of neighbourliness. Differences in age, race and religion surpassed the love and friendship between the two families, who used to live next to each other. Even after moving apart, they still kept in touch by inviting each other over for a hearty feast of home-cooked food. It is this kind of kampong spirit that we want to preserve in Singapore.

Can you share your wish for Singapore’s 50th birthday?

I hope that through My Singapore Food, we will preserve the Singaporean’s food legacy, heritage and community spirit that are strengthened through home-cooked food. In another 50 years, these heritage recipes will still be served piping hot on every Singaporean’s dining table.