Recipe of the day: Flaming hot chicken wings

There seems to be a day for everything and on 16 January it is International Hot and Spicy Food Day. What better way to have your lips simmering with delicious heat than by making your own spicy hot wings?

A popular meal during the day, people usually get their hot wings fix at their favourite fast food franchise. 

For International Hot and Spicy Food Day, it is expected people will feast on the spiciest and hottest foods they love. 

Hot wings are synonymous with Chicken Licken, KFC, restaurants and for making an appearance during an event or family gatherings.

The late popular chef, LesDaChef (Lesego Semenya) argued that hot wings may be a South African staple due to their massive popularity. 

He provided a recipe to make your own in the comfort of your kitchen.

LesDaChef’s hot wings

Ingredients 

• 3kg chicken wing portions
• 150g flour
• 150g corn flour (Maizena)
• 100g breadcrumbs or crushed cornflakes.
• 500ml buttermilk or inkomazi
• 2 large eggs
• 10g salt
• 10g ground pepper
• 5g finely chopped rosemary
• 5g finely chopped thyme
• 5g chicken spice
• 5g smoked paprika
• 15g strong chilli powder or crushed dried chilli
• 30ml (2 tablespoons) fresh chilli paste or strong chilli sauce
• 2 litres of chicken stock
• 1 litre veg oil (for frying)

ALSO TRY: Celebrate International Chicken Wings Day with these three yummy recipes

Method

1. Heat your chicken stock in a pot (if you don’t have chicken stock use 2 litres of water, season it with mixed herbs, chicken spice, and a little lemon juice).
2. Add your chicken wings to the liquid and simmer for about 10 minutes or until par-cooked (don’t cook the wings until they are 100% done though as you’re still going to cook them in oil).
3. Set the wings aside to cool.
4. Mix your buttermilk and eggs with the chilli paste/chilli sauce in one bowl and place all your wings in the bowl. Stir and mix to cover all the wings.
5. Mix all your dry ingredients (except the breadcrumbs) together in a separate bowl.
6. Heat your oil in a large pot (if you have a thermometer your heat should be at 180°C for frying chicken).
7. One by one lift a wing, shake off as much of the buttermilk mix as possible and then dip each wing into the dry ingredients. Shake off the excess powder and drag the wings through the buttermilk again. Now toss them in the breadcrumbs before frying in the oil.
8. Fry until golden.

*Note: I personally place the chicken in the oven just to make sure they get properly cooked. The oven also dries the outside of the chicken resulting in a crunchier final product.

This recipe can be found on lesdachef.wordpress.com