Sticky chilli chicken wings with Thai pickled watermelon salad
Sugar, fish sauce and chillies make a sweet, salty and spicy sauce that’s perfect for drizzling over chicken wings.
Ingredients
For the chicken wings
- 1 litre/1¾ pint buttermilk
- 100²µ/3½´Ç³ú salt
- 1kg/2lb 4oz chicken wings, jointed
- 125²µ/4½´Ç³ú rice flour
- 125²µ/4½´Ç³ú potato flour
- 125²µ/4½´Ç³ú plain flour
- 1 tsp freshly ground black pepper
- vegetable oil, for deep-frying
For the sticky chilli sauce
- 1 tbsp fish sauce
- 1 red bird's-eye chilli, finely chopped
- 75²µ/2½´Ç³ú palm sugar
- 2 tbsp tamarind paste
For the Thai pickled watermelon salad
- 600g/1lb 5oz watermelon, cut into 1cm/½in cubes
- 1 tbsp palm sugar
- 2 tbsp fish sauce
- 1 lime, juice only
- ½ garlic clove, crushed
- ½ Thai red chilli
- handful fresh coriander leaves
- handful fresh mint leaves
- handful roasted peanuts
For the garnish
Method
For the chicken wings, in a large bowl, whisk together the buttermilk and all but 1 tsp of the salt. Add the chicken and stir well. Cover and marinate in the fridge for 24 hours.
For the salad, put the watermelon in a large bowl, cover and chill in the fridge for 3 hours.
Meanwhile, gently simmer all the sticky chilli sauce ingredients with 1 tablespoon water in a saucepan over a low heat for 2 minutes. Set aside to cool.
For the salad dressing, put the palm sugar, fish sauce, lime juice, garlic and Thai red chilli together in a food processor and blend until smooth. Mix with the cold watermelon in a very cold bowl, then fold in the herbs and peanuts.
Mix together the flours, black pepper and the remaining salt in a large bowl. Thoroughly coat the chicken in the seasoned flour ready for frying.
Heat the deep-fat fryer to 180C. (CAUTION: hot oil can be dangerous. Do not leave unattended.). Fry the wings in batches for 7 minutes.until cooked through, golden brown and crispy. Drain on kitchen paper and set aside to cool slightly. Coat the wings in the sticky chilli sauce.
Mix together all the garnish ingredients. Pile the chicken wings into a serving bowl, sit the fried egg on top, and serve with the salad, garnished with the herb and spice mixture.