Beyond Sweet and Savory

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Chicken

Korean Fried Chicken Wings

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People often ask where I get ideas for recipes and my answer has always been–EVERYWHERE. Sometimes, it’s a recipe from a cookbook, a food magazine, pinterest, or someone’s blog. Most of the time though, it’s a delicious dish that I had a restaurant and tried to recreate at home. In the case of these Korean fried chicken wings, the inspiration came from a food court at a Korean supermarket near my house. I had many wings before but these Korean fried chicken wings were different! Flavorful, crunchy, sweet, and tongue hurting hot from the gochujang. They would give those hot sauce wings a run for their money. 

I couldn’t bear to pay $6.99 for a pound of wings so I set my mind to make them at home. Over the course of a few months, I would ask for tips from my Korean friends and used my wings making experience to develop the recipe for these morsels of deliciousness. I made mine a little less spicy than the restaurant’s so I can still taste other foods afterward. If you can handle the heat from the gochujang, feel free to add more, double or triple the gochujang!  Enjoy!


Korean Fried Chicken Wings
1 tbsp garlic, crushed
1 tbsp ginger, crushed
1 ½ tbsps gochujang (more if you like)
2 tbsps white rice vinegar
2 tbsps soy sauce
¼ cup of honey
1.5 lbs chicken wings, joints separated and tips removed
1 ½ tsps salt
Vegetable oil for frying
1 tbsp of toasted white sesame seeds, for garnish
¼ cup of green scallions, thinly sliced for garnish

Flour paste
½ cup of rice flour
½ cup of water

Flour dredge
1 cup of rice flour
1 tsp baking powder

1. To make the sauce, in a food processor, combine the garlic, ginger, gochujang, soy sauce, vinegar, and honey and pulse until well combined.

2. In a small saucepan, pour the sauce and bring it to a boil over medium-high heat. Once it starts bubbling, remove from heat and set aside.

3. Season the chicken wings with salt.

4. To make the flour paste, in a bowl whisk together the rice flour and water until it becomes a thin paste.

5. In a different bowl, whisk together the rice flour and baking powder.

6. In a large stockpot, heat 3 inches of vegetable oil over medium-high heat until it reaches 350 degrees F.

7. Dredge the wings in flour, dip them in the flour paste, and dredge them again in flour and shake off any excess flour before placing them in the hot oil. Fry for about 4-5 minutes until lightly golden.  (If you decide to use the whole wings, they’ll need to be fried for about 6-8 minutes.)

8. Transfer the wings to a baking sheet lined with paper towels to drain the excess oil.

9. Place the wings in a large mixing bowl, pour the sauce into the bowl and toss to coat evenly.

10.Put the wings on a plate, garnish with toasted sesame and scallions, and serve immediately.

Chicken and Egg Breakfast Tart

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Breakfast is really important to our family.  Growing up, I remember rarely skipping breakfast. Either my mom would cook or she would hand me a wad of money to buy breakfast from the street vendors.  Now, it’s even more important to continue that tradition for Aiden.  We’ve been trying to be more creative with our options, expanding beyond Vietnamese noodles and porridge or American pancakes and oatmeal.  My mom stockpiles puff pastry from a wonderful Persian supermarket that makes the perfect pastry, each sheet already precut.  I’ve been experimenting with puff pastry, making breakfast tarts with ingredients inspired by my favorite pizzas.  I would love a good breakfast pizza but busy mornings call for easy breakfast options instead of making the dough, waiting for it to rise, and rolling it out.  This chicken and egg breakfast tart is filling and will keep you going until noon.  It has everything you need, carb, protein, dairy, and veggies.  If you’re a vegetarian, skip the chicken and you’ll still have a delicious breakfast tart.  Now go make some!    

 

Chicken and egg breakfast tart (serves 4)
4 sheets of frozen puff pastry (5×5 inch)
¼ cup of chicken breast, cubed
1 clove of garlic, minced
1 tbsp of olive oil
¼ cup of heavy cream
6 tbsps of mozzarella cheese
4 egg yolks
1 egg
one small heirloom tomato, sliced (you can use cherry or grape tomatoes)
a few basil leaves, chopped
salt and pepper
1. Thaw the puff pastry according to the package directions.  Line a baking sheet with parchment paper and place the puff pastry on the baking sheet.
2. Fold over one fourth of an inch on each edge of the square and press down to form a rim.  Use a fork and prick inside the rim of each pastry square to prevent the center of the pastry from puffing up while baking.
3. Whisk one egg in a small bowl until frothy and brush each square with the egg.  Cover and refrigerate for 15 minutes.
4. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F.
5. In a small skillet over medium heat, heat the olive oil.  Add the minced garlic and let it saute until fragrant, but not browned.
6. Add the cubed chicken and cook until no longer pink, about 5 minutes.  Season with salt and pepper to taste.
7. In a small mixing bowl, add the heavy cream and ¼ cup of cheese.  Spread the cream and cheese mixture equally between the center of the pastry squares.
8. Bake in the oven for 12-15 minutes or until light golden brown.
9. Remove the puff pastry from the oven.  
10. Add 1 egg yolk to each square.  Arrange the cooked chicken, tomatoes, and basil leaves on the pastry making sure not to break the yolk.  Sprinkle the remaining 2 tablespoons of cheese over the tarts.  
11. Bake for another 5-7 minutes, until the egg yolks are slightly cooked.  
12. Sprinkle with salt and pepper to taste.  Serve immediately.

Chicken kara-age or Japanese Fried Chicken

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My friend Gail and I have talked about throwing a dinner party for the longest time. Figuring out what to serve is not the easiest thing. Finally, we decided on a Japanese tapas party, bringing many dishes to life from our favorite Japanese cookbook, Japanese Soul Cooking. Of course, no Japanese tapas party would be completed without chicken kara-age. 



Chicken kara-age is the Japanese version of fried chicken but marinated in a mix of ginger, garlic, soy sauce, sake, and mirin, then dredged in potato starch and deep fried to a morsel of perfection. Using potato starch creates a light and crispy coating similar to the rice flour that I used for the Vietnamese sticky wings. Chicken kara-age makes a perfect appetizer before digging your chopsticks in a nice bowl of ramen but they are also delicious on their own for a snack.  And don’t forget your Sapporo!

Chicken kara-age (Japanese fried chicken) adapted from Japanese Soul Cooking
2 lbs of chicken thighs (about 4-6 pieces depending on size)
4 cloves of garlic, peeled and grated
1 knob of ginger, peeled and chopped
⅓ cup of sake
⅓ cup of mirin
⅓ cup of soy sauce (Maggi brand)
vegetable oil for frying
1 cup of katakuriko (potato starch)
1 tsp of salt
2 tsp of baking powder
white rice (optional)
lemon wedge and fried green chiles (optional)

1. In a mixing bowl, combine garlic, ginger, sake, mirin, and soy sauce to make the marinate.
2. Cut the chicken into 1-1 ½ inch pieces and add to the marinate. Cover the bowl and refrigerate for 4 hours or overnight.
3. When ready to fry, drain the chicken pieces using a colander.
4. In a mixing bowl, whisk together potato starch, salt, and baking powder.
5. Dredge each piece of chicken in the potato starch mixture and shake off excess flour.
6. In a large pot over medium heat, fill the pot to about 2 inches of oil and bring it to 350 degrees F (if you don’t have a thermometer, leave it on medium heat).
7. Fry the chicken for about 5-6 minutes, 3 minutes on each side until golden brown.
8. Transfer the fried pieces to a tray lined with paper towel to drain off excess oil.
9. When ready to eat, serve with white rice, a wedge of lemon, and fried green chiles.

Cook’s note: I use chicken thigh because it creates the most juicy and flavorful chicken kara-age.

 

Vietnamese sticky wings

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Today we’re sharing our favorite chicken wings recipe.  Marinated with fish sauce and garlic, then deep fried and smothered in a caramelized sauce, they are finger licking good.  This dish was inspired by the salted chili crispy chicken wings at Vu’s uncle’s restaurant Long Provincial in Seattle.  Vu’s uncle, Tam, was so excited to share these wings with us when they first appeared on the menu.  We finally understood his excitement after inhaling a whole plate of wings in less than five minutes.  Yes, we inhaled them.  How we didn’t choke was a miracle to me.  The wings were the epitome of umami.  
For us, these wings are more than a treat, they bring back fond memories of Seattle.  During my first year pharmacy residency, I looked forward to our monthly trek from Spokane to Seattle to spend time with family and to indulge in Vietnamese food.  If you’ve been to Spokane, you know that Vietnamese cuisine or Asian cuisine in general is missing from the food scene.  By the time we got to Seattle, it would be 10 or 11 pm, and we were beyond starving.  Instead of grabbing something from a fast food restaurant during our drive, we saved our tummy for the mouthwatering Vietnamese food at uncle Tam’s restaurants.  
We loved our dinners with uncle Tam, eating practically everything from the menu.  Yes we were pigs and completely guilty of gluttony.  Then again, our love for Vietnamese food runs deep and we were deprived living in Spokane.  We would stay late into the night, past the restaurant closing, devouring plate after plate of deliciousness, endless cocktails, and sharing our passion for food and pharmacy until the wee hours of the morning.  In case you’re wondering about the pharmacy part, uncle Tam’s daytime job is a pharmacist but his passion for food has transformed him into an incredibly talented businessman and restaurateur of both Long Provincial and Tamarind Tree.  These wings are our way of paying homage to uncle Tam but as much as we have experimented with the recipe, we haven’t reached the perfection of his wings.  Nevertheless, we love our version of uncle Tam’s chicken wings and hope you’ll be hooked on these umami bombs.

 

 

 

Vietnamese fish sauce wings

2 lbs of chicken wings (about 8-10 wings)
½ cup of warm water
½ cup of sugar
½ cup of fish sauce (Phu Quoc)
½ tsp freshly ground pepper
6 cloves of garlic, finely minced
½ cup of rice flour
¼ cup of cornstarch
2 tsp baking soda
vegetable oil for frying
lime wedges for garnish
green chile peppers for garnish
1. For the marinate, combine water, fish sauce, and sugar in a large bowl and whisk until sugar is completely dissolved. Add minced garlic and pepper.
2. Add the wings and toss to coat.  Cover and refrigerate overnight (at least 8 hours for the most flavor).  Turn them every 4 hours to make sure the wings are marinated evenly.
3. Drain the wings by leaving them in a colander for 10 minutes.
4. Sift rice flour, cornstarch, and baking soda in a mixing bowl.
5. In a large pot over medium heat, fill the pot to about 2 inches of oil and bring it to 350 degrees F (if you don’t have a thermometer, leave it on medium heat).
6. Toss the wings, a few at a time, in flour then shake off excess flour.
7. Fry the floured wings for about 8-10 minutes, 4 minutes on each side (8 minutes for smaller wings and 10 minutes for larger wings) until golden brown.  
8. Transfer them to a tray lined with paper towel to drain off excess oil.
9. Drain the garlic pieces from the marinate and deep fry them until golden brown.  Reserve for later.
10. In a saucepan, simmer the marinate over medium-high heat until it becomes syrupy and dark golden in color, about 10-12 minutes.
11. Toss the wings in the reduced sauce. 
12. Place the wings in a serving dish, sprinkle fried garlic on top, then add lime wedges and green chiles.
*For the most flavor, let the wings marinate overnight.
*If you don’t want your wings too sticky, use a brush and glaze them as much or as little as you like.