Cook with me: Fried Chicken Wings in Fish Sauce

Disclaimer: Me writing about cooking is by no means an indication of how well I can cook, or how knowledgable I am. If something I write about is not quite right, feel free to point it out!

When I think of home back in Vietnam, this dish is one of the first things that come to my mind. It reminds me of my mom and of dinners in front of the TV with her. The taste of fish sauce and of crispy fried chicken are plain nostalgia and comfort for me. This is also the one dish that I am somewhat confident about, after months of learning how to cook, because it is really, really simple.

Here’s what you need:

– Chicken wings
– Oil
– Tapioca Starch
– Salt
– Pepper
– Garlic
– Fish sauce
– Sugar
– Bird’s eye chilli

And here’s how you do it:

Get your chicken wings, clean them thoroughly and cut them into two parts (the wing and the drumlet) and use your kitchen knife to create cuts on the pieces as below.

 

Lightly season them with salt and pepper.

Put the chicken into a plastic bag together with some tapioca starch and shake well until all the chicken pieces are covered in white powder.

Put the chicken into a pot and pour oil into it until all the chicken is submerged. Put on high heat and stir occasionally as the chicken pieces tend to stick into the bottom of the pot.

The chicken should take around 15 minutes to cook. While waiting you can fix the fish sauce. Use a liberal amount of sugar with chopped up garlic, chilli, fish sauce and some plain water. Add fish sauce and plain water in small amounts until it taste right. The sauce should be both salty and sweet. And I really meant it when I used the word “liberal” for sugar. The sugar should make the sauce’s texture more dense, almost glue-ish.

When the chicken is cooked and turns golden, reduce the heat but keep the pot bubbling, take each piece of chicken out, dip in the fish sauce. Make sure that the chicken piece is well covered so that some sugar melts onto it. Put all of them on a plate, take out some garlic from the sauce and put it on top of the chicken, and your dish is done!

Today my chicken dish was served together with some garlic fried water spinach and rice. Feels just like home!