“Don’t Bug Me I’m Eating” Chicken Wings

I need a moment. Something strange just occurred under my roof. There are clean plates ready to be loaded into the dishwasher. While that’s happened before, tonight’s dinner consisted of food not sampled before. Food that would require them to *gasp* use their fingers. Food that I almost didn’t prepare because I figured those picky peeps of mine would poke at it much like one would push aside a deceased bug. Who would have guessed that my little clucks would devour these wings? What mischief is this that they set their teeth upon said wings with calculating efficiency? My Picky Eaters Club Charter Members tried something new and (shhhh) liked it! Oh lordy, I feel faint.

These wings are really easy to make. I found the recipe on Rasa Malaysia . I altered the recipe and cooking method slightly. These are mild wings and would make a great alternative to serve to guests who don’t dig hot wings. They have a unique flavor. The honey provides a very faint sweetness, the turmeric provides the lovely color, and the soy sauce provides that yummy background. The ginger juice, although quite pungent, does not overpower the other flavors, and the chili powder I used was mild and just faintly made a taste appearance. That’s it in so far as seasonings. No garlic or onion here (except for what's in the chili powder). I actually missed those flavors; however, I think that the absence of them is what appealed to my kids. When I asked my oldest girl peep if she liked the chicken, she wiggled her eye brows, pulled her mouth away from the wing, and with a smile and jovial tone responded, “don’t bug me, I’m eating!”. All the kids said that this goes on 'the repeat list'. My boy peep told me that I could challenge Bobby Flay to a throwdown with these. Oh yeah, there’s a thought … me and Bobby. Alrighty-O.

Here’s the recipe and some prep and finished product photos.

Malaysian Turmeric and Honey Wings
aka: “Don’t Bug Me I’m Eating” Chicken Wings

Ingredients: (I multiplied these measurements times 4.5)

1 lb chicken wings – middle section (I used the entire wing and made 4.5 lbs of them)
1 Tablespoon honey
1 Tablespoon soy sauce (I used Tamari – wheat free/low sodium which made this recipe gluten free!)
1/8 teaspoon salt
1/8 teaspoon turmeric powder
1/8 teaspoon chili powder
2 inches ginger (skin peeled)

Prepare the ginger by peeling it and pounding with a mortar and pestle or grinding with small food processor (I used the processor). Extract the juice by squeezing with your hand and discard the ginger pulp. I wrapped the ground pulp in cheese cloth first. Sssqqquuueeezzzeee! (Man, I really need some sun.)

I prepped the wings simply by cutting off the little flappy thing. What is that thing called? I think next time, I’ll take the extra five minutes to separate the wings into drumette type pieces. For hubby man, I’ll prepare boneless breast pieces. He needed LOTS of wings. He's a big guy. He likes big food. He doesn't like to have bones of any kind on his plate. *sigh* You won't hear him complain though. That fact alone propels me to next time make him food without bones. That and the fact that he ate all the green beans on his plate to set an example for his kids. Well done, my man. And yes, each sprout ate the solitary green bean I placed on their plates. Back to the wings ...

Now you see the flappy thing.

In comes the kitchen shears. Do you love your kitchen shears? I love my shears.

No more flappy thing.

Marinate the chicken wings with the ginger juice and all the seasonings above for 1 – 2 hours (I did 2.5 hours). Grill or bake them in an oven (at 375 degrees F) for 20-25 minutes until cooked or golden brown.Note: I added 2 Tablespoons of oil to the marinade. I also baked mine on two sheet pans, and switched pan positions 1/2 way through. Here are the flapless wings heading into the oven.

After baking, I transferred them to a hot grill for just a couple minutes, fattier side down, to get a crispier, more flame charred surface. See the lovely color ... that's the turmeric.

Yuuuummmm!