Ingredients for 4 servings

1 kg whole snapper, cleaned, scaled
1 long fresh red chilli, thinly sliced (optional)
2 green shallots, trimmed, sliced into 5cm-long strips
75g (½ cup) plain flour
Lime wedges, to serve
Vegetable oil, to deep-fry

Chilli tamarind sauce:

½ tsp sea salt
1 French shallot, thinly sliced
1 tbs fish sauce
1 tbs vegetable oil
1-2 tbs water, optional
2 long fresh red chillies, coarsely chopped
3 coriander roots, cleaned, coarsely chopped
3 garlic cloves, coarsely chopped
4 cm piece fresh ginger, peeled, very finely sliced
60 ml (¼ cup) tamarind concentrate
65 g (1/3 cup) shaved palm sugar

Directions

Place sliced shallot in a bowl of cold water and set aside to soak. The strips should curl as they soak.

For sauce, use a mortar and pestle to pound coriander, garlic, chilli and salt to a paste. Heat oil in a saucepan over medium-high heat. Add the French shallot and ginger.

Stir-fry for 1 minute or until aromatic. Add coriander paste. Stir-fry for 30 seconds. Add tamarind, sugar and fish sauce. Simmer for 2 minutes or until sugar dissolves. Remove from heat. Set aside.

Cut 3 slashes in the thickest part of the snapper on both sides. Place the flour on a large plate. Lightly coat fish in flour. Shake off any excess.

Fill a wok one-third full with oil. Heat to 180°C over high heat (see tip). Cook fish for 4 minutes each side or until just cooked through and golden. Drain on paper towel.

Reheat sauce. Add water if too thick. Transfer fish to a plate. Pour sauce over fish. Sprinkle shallot and chilli, if using, over fish. Serve with lime wedges.

Ingredients for 3 servings

¼ tsp chili flakes
½ cup of Asian chili sauce
½ cup chopped peanuts
½ cup fresh cilantro, chopped
½ cup water
1 clove of garlic, minced
2 green onions, thinly sliced
2 tbsp ginger, minced
2 tbsp lime juice
2 tbsp rice vinegar
3 tbsp soy sauce
4 tbsp palm sugar, or light brown sugar
18 whole chicken wings, sliced between upper arm and lower arm
Generous pinch of cracked black pepper
Generous pinch of salt

Directions

Start by lining a large baking sheet with parchment paper. This is optional, however it catches a bit of the fat from the chicken when it cooks. Lay the chicken wings onto the baking sheet, and generously season with salt and pepper. Let these rest while you preheat your oven.

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees. Once heated, add the baking sheet onto the middle rack. I cook these for about a total of two hours. Yes, I know that sounds like a long time, but both my son and I love crispier wings, almost as though you would get by deep frying them. After you see the wings getting a dark golden, and almost crispy texture, remove them from the oven, and flip each one. Continue cooking until the flipped side gets nice and crispy.

During this cooking time, make the sauce. Basically you will add everything but the green onions, cilantro, and peanuts to a sauce pan. Cook on medium, to medium high heat, stirring along the way, until it begins to boil, then reduce the heat to a simmer, and continue cooking until you have reduced the sauce in half. This is where that great stickiness will come from on the wings.

Remove the wings from the oven.

Pour the sauce into a large mixing bowl, then add in the wings. Toss to coat the wings with the sauce.

I added the sauced wings to a cast iron skillet and placed them back in the oven, cooking on 350 for an additional ten minutes. This will allow that sauce to get even stickier and become like a nice glue on those wings.

Take that same mixing bowl and toss in the green onions, cilantro, and chopped peanuts.

Once the wings are cooked, remove and add them back into the bowl, tossing with the green onions, cilantro, and peanuts.

Gently glide those onto your serving dish, and dig in.

These Thai sticky chicken wings are fun to eat, and are definitely finger food. They are perfectly crisp and and has that perfect pull of a wing. The flavors are out of this world as well. You get the sweetness from the palm sugar, the great bite from the garlic and ginger, and chili. Hands down, awesome chicken wings. Now the question is to lick or not to lick your fingers when you are finished. Hope you enjoy.