Hot and Spicy Wings, Onions and Potatoes

Hot and spicy wings, onions and potatoes

Who doesn't love chicken wings? They are tasty, succulent, satisfying, fun to eat - in fact, they tick all the important boxes and more when we are looking for something for dinner. If there is one downfall many people have, however, when it comes to particularly cooking wings at home, it is a failure to realise just how incredibly versatile they are as well as enjoyable. Do you maybe only eat them from your favourite fast food restaurant, always prepared in the same fashion? Do you cook them at home but always use the same spices and accompaniments? This is just one very straightforward idea to take wings out of any established comfort zone and hopefully and ideally get you thinking of other ways in which you can flavour and prepare these special treats.

Ingredients (Serves 2)

12 chicken wings
3 tablespoons vegetable or sunflower oil
1 teaspoon curry powder
1 teaspoon medium hot chilli powder
1/2 teaspoon garam masala
Salt
White pepper
8 baby potatoes
1 medium red onion
1 large green chilli
2 tablespoons chopped coriander leaf (cilantro), plus extra to garnish

Directions

If you have the time, you could prepare the spiced oil and marinate the chicken wings for longer than in this recipe but that is not absolutely essential.

Wash the potatoes and cut them in half, unpeeled. Add them to a pot of cold, slightly salted water and bring to a simmer for about twenty minutes or so until cooked. Drain, allow to steam off for a few minutes then cover and leave to cool completely (around half an hour should be sufficient). This is quite important as if you assemble the dish for roasting when the potatoes are still hot, they will tend to absorb some of the oil rather than roast in it.

Potatoes are firstly boiled before being roasted

When the potatoes are on to cook, measure out the oil in to a large glass or stone bowl. Add the curry powder, chilli powder and garaam masala and season well with salt and white pepper.

Spices and seasonings are added to oil

Take a wooden spoon and mix the spices and seasonings in to the oil to form a lump free light paste.

Spices are stirred in to the oil

Cut off and discard the tips from the chicken wings if they are still present. Cut the main body of each wing in half at the natural joint. Add them all to the oil and carefully stir fold them around to evenly coat. Cover with clingfilm and set aside to marinade while the potatoes are cooking and cooling.

Wings are stirred through spiced oil

Put your oven on to preheat to 200C/400F/Gas Mark 6. Empty the chicken wings in to a large, deep, ovenproof dish, being sure to include as much of the seasoned oil as possible. Add the potatoes. Peel the onion, cut it in half down through the core then lay each half flat and slice to around a quarter inch. Separate each slice in to strands before adding to the wings and potatoes. Top the chilli before slicing thinly in to discs and also adding to the cooking vessel.

Wings, potatoes and onion are added to baking dish

You can try to combine everything using a spoon but this can lead to spillage and take quite some time. The best and quickest way by far to combine everything well is to use your hands. Be sure to wash them especially well afterwards due to handling the chilli.

Combined wings, potatoes and onion are ready for the oven

Place the dish in to your oven for a total of forty minutes, removing it to stir briefly (with a spoon this time!) half way through cooking.

Wings and accompaniments are stirred half way through cooking

When the wings are ready, scatter with the chopped coriander/cilantro and carefully stir it through.

Coriander is added to roasted wings

Set the dish aside for ten minutes uncovered to let the wings rest. Garnish with the last of the coriander immediately before serving as a sharing platter for two.

Coriander is carefully stirred through wings, onion and poratoes

Wings in Black Bean Sauce with Noodles

Chicken wings meat and bell peppers in black bean sauce with egg noodles

Just like many millions of other people, I love wings simply roasted or fried and eaten straight off the bone. What I love even more, however, is experimenting with different ways of cooking and particularly serving wings. 

Black bean stir frying sauce

Ingredients (Serves 2)

8 to 10 whole raw wings
6 ounce foil pack black bean stir frying sauce
8 ounce pack fresh egg noodles (or two single serving nests of dried noodles)
6 ounce pack mixed sliced bell peppers
Vegetable oil (or similar) for frying

Chicken wings in black bean sauce ready for roasting

Directions

Start by getting your oven on to preheat to 400F/200C/Gas Mark 6.

Put the black bean sauce in to a large glass or stone bowl. Add the wings whole (removing the tips is optional) and carefully fold them through the sauce to fully and evenly coat. Lay them out on a roasting tray, skin sides up, in a single layer.

Roasted chicken wings in black bean sauce

When your oven is ready, put the tray in to roast the wings for half an hour. At this stage, remove the tray and set aside until the wings are cool enough to handle. This time period will vary person to person but do be careful not to burn yourself as particularly the inside flesh of the wings against the bones will stay very hot for at least fifteen minutes.

Meat is plucked from roasted wings

Carefully pluck all the crispy skin and succulent meat from the bones and add temporarily to a small holding dish. If you want to discard some or all of the skin on healthy eating grounds that's fine but do remember it is the skin which contains most of the black bean sauce flavour.

Reheating egg noodles

These fresh egg noodles required simply to be added to a bowl of boiling water for a few minutes to reheat. If you are using dried noodles, refer to the instructions on the pack.

Starting to stir fry bell peppers

Add a tablespoon or so of oil to a deep frying pan or wok and bring up to a high heat. Add the bell peppers and stir fry for a couple of minutes until they are just starting to soften.

Draining egg noodles

Drain the noodles through a large colander or sieve.

Wings meat is added to pan with stir fried bell peppers

Add the chicken pieces to the pan and carefully fold through the peppers over a medium heat for a minute or so just to fully reheat.

Lay the egg noodles on two serving plates and arrange the chicken and peppers on top/alongside.

Noodles are arranged first on serving plate

Chicken Wings Chop Suey

Chicken wings meat with noodles and Chinese chop suey sauce

I recently started a brand new food blogging project devoted entirely to chicken wings recipes and hopefully devising new ways to prepare, serve and enjoy what is the favourite fast food of millions. I thought therefore I would share here just one idea to show the types of dishes I have been and will be creating. I know that the idea of chicken wings chop suey may sound strange to many as it may sound as though it will be difficult and messy to eat - but as you'll hopefully see below, that's definitely not the case.

Chicken wings and chop suey sauce

Ingredients per Person

4 whole raw chicken wings
6 ounce sachet Chinese chow mein stir frying sauce
1 individual nest serving of dried egg noodles
1/2 medium white onion
2 tablespoons vegetable or sunflower oil for stir frying

Tips are cut from chicken wings

Directions

On a suitable chopping board, chop the bony tips off the wings and discard. Note that occasionally, supermarket wings will already have had the tips removed in this way.

Chicken wings are marinated in chop suey sauce

Pour the chop suey sauce in to a large glass or stone bowl, add the wings and stir to ensure even coating. Cover with clingfilm and leave to marinade for half an hour but do not put them in the fridge as they should be cooked from room temperature.

Chicken wings are lifted to an oven tray for roasting

Preheat your oven to 400F/200C/Gas Mark 6. Lift the wings to a non-stick roasting tray and reserve the remaining sauce. Cook the wings in the oven for half an hour.

Roasted chicken wings are rested and cooled

Take the wings from the oven, lift them to your (washed) chopping board or a plate, cover and leave to rest and cool for at least fifteen minutes. (Slightly longer is fine as the meat is going to be reheated anyway)

Dried noodles nest is added to a pot of boiling water

Bring a large pot of water to a rolling boil then carefully lift it from the heat. Add the egg noodles to steep and rehydrate for five minutes. Do however check the pack for possibly different instructions.

Noodles are carefully stirred in the water to ensure they separate

Stir the noodles carefully but regularly as they rehydrate to ensure they are separating.

Chicken wings meat and skin is plucked from the bones

With your hands, pluck the meat and skin from the bones of the wings. It's entirely up to yourself whether you wish to include the skin in the dish but it should be nice and crisp, so as most people would normally eat it anyway, I did include it on this occasion.

Onion half is chopped in to wedges

Cut your onion half in to three segments. This will allow you to separate each of them in to small leaves.

Noodles are thoroughly drained through a colander

Drain the noodles well through a colander.

Starting to stir fry onion leaves

Bring your wok up to a high heat and add the oil, followed soon after by the onion.

Reserved chop suey sauce is added to wok with onions

Remember the chop suey sauce has been in contact with raw chicken meat. It is imperative therefore that it be brought up to a very high heat to eliminate the risk of food poisoning. Pour it in to the wok with the onion and stir fry briefly until it is bubbling.

Chicken wings meat is added to wok with chop suey sauce and onions

The chicken meat and skin goes in to the wok next to be stir fried and reheated for thirty seconds or so.

Drained noodles are added to wok

When you add the noodles to the wok, use tongs to lift and mix them through the chicken and sauce to ensure everything is evenly combined. You are then ready to plate up and enjoy your dish.

Cooking tongs are used to lift and mix noodles through chicken and sauce

Piri Piri Chicken Wings and Fries

Piri piri spiced roasted chicken wings with homemade fries

Classic comfort food dinners don't have to be bought in the form of TV dinners, microwaveable ready meals or ready to eat from a fast food outlet. There are so many ways in which these dishes can be prepared from scratch quickly and easily, offering a tastier and healthier alternative to their massed produced equivalents. This recipe for piri piri wings and homemade fries is a perfect example of the scenario.
 

Chicken wings are stirred in olive oil before piri piri spice is added

Ingredients (Serves Two)

2 large baking potatoes
8 large, whole chicken wings
2 tbsp olive oil
2oz pack piri piri spice rub
Freshly chopped parsley to garnish
Salt for the fries

Piri piri sauce is added to oiled chicken wings

Directions

Your oven needs to be preheated to 400F/200C.

Peel the potatoes and chop and slice in to fries. Submerge in a bowl of cold water for five minutes, while you prepare the wings. This helps to get rid of the excess starch.

Pour the olive oil in to a large bowl. Add the chicken wings and gently stir/fold them through the oil to ensure even coating. Scatter over the piri piri powder mix and stir again in a similar way to coat.

Oven ready piri piri spiced chicken wings

Put the wings in a single layer on a baking tray and in to the oven for half an hour.

Drain the fries well from the water and deep fry at 300F/150C for about four minutes. Remove and drain on kitchen paper. Cover.

Piri piri spiced chicken wings

Take the chicken wings from the oven and sit aside to rest for a few minutes.

Fry the fries a second time at 350F/170C for four to five minutes or until done to your liking. Drain again on kitchen paper.

Piri piri chicken wings are plated

Lay the wings on half of two deep serving plates and the fries on the other half. Season the fries and scatter the wings with the chopped parsley. Enjoy in front of the TV, without knives or forks, and save on the washing up.

Homemade fries are added to the serving plate with the piri piri wings

Indian Pakora Spiced Chicken Wings with Homemade Pakora Sauce

Chicken wings roasted in pakora spices are served with salad and a homemade pakora sauce

Indian spices in many ways are almost meant to be combined with chicken. The number of tasty combinations we can make from these simple ingredients is beyond counting. It was while I was making a batch of vegetable pakora and contemplating making chicken pakora that I came up with this alternative idea. I was almost certain it would work well and I'm delighted to say that it did - it was absolutely delicious!

Note: Regular readers of this blog may notice a subtle change in the layout today. The pictures are not only larger but now contain captions. I very much hope you like the changes (which will remain, going forward) and agree that they improve the presentation of the recipes.

The spices are added to the sunflower oil

Ingredients (Serves Two)

8 large chicken wings (or as required)
2 tbsp sunflower oil
1 tsp hot chilli powder
1 tsp ground cumin
1 tsp garam masala
1/2 tsp salt
1 medium tomato
2 or 3 slices from half an onion
Homemade or bought pakora sauce
Chopped coriander/cilantro to garnish

Chicken wings are added to the bowl with the spiced oil

Directions

Put your oven on to preheat to 400F/200C/Gas Mark 6.

Pour the sunflower oil in to a large bowl (it will need to be large enough to contain the chicken wings) and add the salt and spices. Stir well to form a smooth paste.

Chicken wings are carefully stirred through the spiced oil

Put the chicken wings in to the bowl and very carefully stir them by employing a folding motion until they are evenly coated with the oil and spices. Lay them in a single layer on a large roasting tray and put them in the oven for half an hour.

Chicken wings are laid in a single layer on a roasting tray

Remove the chicken wings from the oven and set them aside to rest for at least five minutes, perhaps while you prepare the simple accompaniments.

Tomato and onion forms the simple salad accompaniment to these spicy wings

The pakora sauce is best served in small ramekins. The onion slices should be separated in to strands and the tomato cut to six or eight segments. Plate your meal as shown in the photographs, serve and enjoy.

Pakora spiced chicken wings and homemade pakora sauce