Spicy Korean-style Chicken Wings

This one marries two of my current obsessions: Korean chili paste and chicken wings.  They’re extremely easy to make, and once you do the initial splurge on the ethnic ingredients, very cheap to make.  As it is, I think the spend in the Asian supermarket was only about £10-£12, and as you only need relatively small amounts – especially of stuff like shrimp paste – it lasts forever.  These are by no means authentic, but I welcome any input from those who know more than I do about Korean cooking (which is precious little).

This works equally well in both the oven and the crockpot.  Oven-roasting is slightly better if you’re planning to take these on a picnic or other situation where you will be eating as a finger food without plates.   If you’re using the crockpot, they will get falling-apart-tender and therefore messier, but you will wind up with a tasty sauce for putting over rice.  Also, don’t joint the wings if you’re going for the crockpot.  They’ll be easy enough to pull apart when they’re finished cooking.

Marinade ingredients:

• 2 generous tbsp gochujang (Korean chilli paste)
• 2 tbsp soy sauce
• 1 tbsp black Chinese vinegar
• 1 tbsp rice wine vinegar
• 1 scant tsp of sugar or honey
• 1 scant tsp shrimp paste
• 2 cloves crushed garlic
• optional – scant tsp chilli oil with shrimp paste  (omit or scale back plain shrimp paste if using)

The rest:

• 10 fresh chicken wings (do not separate if slow-cooking)
• 1 large onion, sliced (if slow-cooking)

This is really just an excuse to show off my $1.99 Las Vegas tea tray.

Mix all the marinade ingredients together.  Pour over chicken wings.  I like to do this in a large plastic freezer bag so I can mush up the marinade into the wings, but a bowl is perfectly ok.  Refrigerate for a couple of hours or overnight.  You can actually just chuck them straight into the pot without the marinade time if you’re slow-cooking, but if you’re opting for the oven, I’d go with marinating.

If slow-cooking:

Line the pot with thickly-sliced rings of onion to prevent the wings from sticking.  It also makes a nice sauce for serving the wings over rice, if you’re that way inclined.

Lay wings on top, pouring over any marinade.  Cover and cook on high for 2 hours.  Or, if you’re like me, cook on high for 45 minutes, then switch to low and go ramble around Victoria Park for a few hours.

Optional: Give wings a quick blast under a hot grill to caramelise.  I was impatient and did not do this.

If roasting:

Preheat oven to 220 C (or 200 C if you have a fan oven).

Place wings on a rack over a foil-lined grill pan (for lazy cleanup).  Roast in the top half of the oven for about 30 mins, turning once halfway through.  Chuck wings in tupperware, grab a blanket and some beers, and haul the lot over to Victoria Park to enjoy in the rare British sunshine.

Thing to do with Leftover Turkey: Kimchi-Jjigae (Korean Kimchi Stew)

It may not look pretty, but the stuff in this bowl tastes like a punch in the face from God.

 

It’s not even Thanksgiving yet, and I’m already on the leftovers.  I’m particularly pleased with this concoction, which is a by-no-means-authentic version of Korean kimchi stew.  Kimchi is a kind of spicy pickled, slightly fermented vegetable (cabbage is the most popular) that is basically a Korean superfood.  It’s low fat, low calorie, full of antioxidants and will basically do everything healthy for your body bar hauling your lazy ass down to the gym for you.  It is also incredibly delicious, and partially responsible for Korean becoming my second-favorite Asian cuisine (Vietnamese is the tops).  I’ve been wanting to try making my own kimchi for a while, but it takes about a week to ferment, and by the time you’ve bought all the ingredients, you might as well just buy a packet of the ready-made stuff.

So, last week after a dinner at Woo Jung, I popped into the Centre Point Food Store – which looks like a bog-standard corner shop, but is actually an emporium of Korean foodie delights – and scored myself some kimchi and gochujang (Korean chili paste).  Gochujang is amazing stuff and I highly recommend getting a tub of it to keep around.  It makes pretty much everything taste amazing – barbecued chicken, squid, pork… I’m starting to use it on a freakishly frequent basis, kind of like those ketchup obsessives who slather it on pizza.

Anyway.  The stew, which is actually more like a soup.  Here’s the Asian ingredients you need:

L-R: Gochujang, Kimchi, sesame oil, sweet mirin, soy sauce (Please disregard the agave syrup. Camera hog.)

Obviously you can get soy sauce and sesame oil in most supermarkets, but lose your fear of the Asian supermarket because it’ll be much cheaper in there. That bottle of soy sauce is about a litre and still costs less than a bottle of the supermarket stuff one third its size.  It also tastes much better than Amoy, Sharwood’s and all the usual supermarket brands (mine is called “Healthy Boy” – I chose it mainly because it was the cheapest and the name made me giggle.)  You’ll definitely need to get the chili paste and kimchi in an Asian supermarket anyway.

Korean Kimchi Stew with Leftover Turkey

• 1 tbsp Gochujang (or less if you are wimpy with chili)
• 1.5-2 cups kimchi
• 1 tsp sesame oil
• 1 tbsp sweet mirin or 1 tsp sugar
• 1 tbsp soy sauce
• leftover turkey or meat / shellfish / tofu of your choice
• 6 mushrooms, sliced
• 3/4 pint chicken stock
• 2 spring onions, sliced (for garnish)

Drain the the kimchi.  You can cut it up into smaller pieces if you like.  I like big pieces, so I left it as is.  Bring the stock to a boil.  Toss in kimchi, chili paste, soy sauce, mirin, and mushrooms.  Simmer for 5 mins.  Chuck in the leftover turkey and simmer till heated through.  Stir in sesame oil.  Spoon into bowls, sprinkle with spring onions, and devour.

You can bulk it up with cooked noodles if you like.  I was too impatient.

Verdict: AMAZING.