A guest post by Nisha Thomas from Look who is cooking too - Grilled chicken wings in a chilli garlic sauce

Since you already know the story of me running like a headless chicken, cooking only once or twice a week, spending time with my handsome 1.7 MV pelletron at work for 16-18 hrs and stay like a dead log next day, leaves me unable to generate anything decent to present here. On other hand leaving this virtual place unattended thro which, I got connected virtually with beautiful people around the world, left me pondering. There is no life when I live my days without human connections.

So what’s next? Why not start a guest post series (this was the surprise btw) and ask a helping hand from those beautiful people? Nisha Thomas of Look who is cooking too was first on the list. She kindly agreed. Her space is filled with delectable recipes and witty, transparent, lucid writings promising to leave with a smile and doping an urge to come back for any reason oh not forgetting her gorgeous picture! Honestly I keep Nisha's blog post to read in the mornings, you know start the day with a light heart. I eye all her chicken/non-veg recipes and I adore these two; especially her mom's chicken recipe ohhh LOVED it. 

Ladies and gentlemen here is Nisha Thomas, tune in to her blog for more. And bundle of thanks to you Nisha for coming over with my fav chicken! 

I stumbled upon Ananda's blog 'A pinch of Love' quite by chance and if im not mistaken she had just started her food blog. The pictures made me go back again and again and soon we were exchanging comments on each others' blogs. Then I guess it was the power of Facebook that eventually brought her into my friends circle and there was no looking back. I love the way she pens down her thoughts on her blog and the pics are to die for. If I let you in on a little secret- I sometimes head to her blog and take a peek at the gorgeous salmon soup pics taken in the beautiful snowy setting. There is something about that picture that screams out warmth and cosiness. I am so happy that Ananda asked me to do a guest post on her blog and I hope I have done justice to it with these spicy chicken wings in a chilli garlic sauce.

The recipe was the aftermath of a chicken wing obsession which I have been  am still going through. Once I discovered skinless and cleaned chicken wings, there was no looking back. I love how easy it is to cook with them- marinate, grill and if I feel like it, make a sauce and serve. Since the supermarket stocks only a couple of these at a time, when I find them, I go ballistic and stock atleast 2 packs in my freezer, scared they would suddenly stop stocking them or something. Yeah totally weird behaviour if you ask me. I have become a lunatic when it comes to storing some stuff like this (I'll leave the story of the frozen Swedish meatballs for a later time). Sadly my freezer has not much space (which Ro thinks is good, because one day he opened the middle rack to find about 10 to 15 packets of frozen chapatis and freaked out). I mean who does things like that? Well me for sure because, believe it or not, I dont know how to make chapathis. So in fear of them stopping the manufacture of these chapatis, whenever i find them i stock them to hearts content.

Anyways, we are not here to talk about my pitfalls are we?. I'm sure you'd like to know more, but let me not steal the limelight from the chicken wings. So these are so damn easy to make and taste amazing with some chilled beer or cider. The best part- you dont need to have a BBQ grill or any such fancy schmancy appliance. Just your oven grill would do. The marinade is a mixture of all sorts of sauces (from various countries that too) and like Ro says, is slightly confused as to which ethnicity it belongs to. But who cares when it tastes so darn yummilicious? So without further ado, here is the recipe for some finger licking food.

Chicken wings- 1 kg

To marinate:

Tomato ketchup- 1 tbsp 

Worcestershire sauce- 1 tbsp

Soy sauce- 1 tbsp

Franks hot sauce- 1/2 tbsp (optional)

Garlic powder- 1 tbsp (or use 1/2 to 1 tbsp garlic paste)

Cumin powder- 1/2 tsp

Dried oregano- 1.2 tsp (optional)

Salt and pepper- to taste

For the sauce

Onions- 1 large, or 2 small, finely chopped

Garlic- 10 cloves, peeled and finely chopped

Ginger- 2 inch piece, peeled and chopped

Tomato- 1 large, roughly chopped

Tomato ketchup- 1/2 tbsp

Soy sauce- 1/2 tbsp

Oyster sauce- 1 tsp

Oil- 1 tbsp

Salt- to taste

Water- 2 tbsp

Cut off the tips from the chicken wings, clean them under running water and pat dry as much as possible. Transfer to a large bowl.

Meanwhile, add all the ingredients under the 'to marinate' section in a bowl. Mix well and add salt and pepper accordingly.

Pour this marinade over the dried chicken wings and mix well, coating them as much as possible.

Keep aside for at least 30 minutes, or cover with a cling film and marinate in the refrigerator overnight

Preheat the oven on grill mode and line a baking tray with aluminium foil. I'd advice you to double the layer in order to be prevent the juices from spoiling the tray.

Using tongs place the chicken wings in rows. If your tray is small then you can do this in two batches as well.

Place it on the top most shelf, just under the flaming grill and cook for about 7 to 8 minutes on one side. 

Once the time is up, take them out, turn them over and cook for another 8 to 10 minutes. My wings (that sounds so corny!!) are done in exactly 17 minutes. If i want a more charred look i keep it a little longer but be careful, you dont want to burn it (been there done that, plenty of times..ha)

While that's being taken care of, make the sauce.

Place a large chefs pan on medium high heat and add the oil.

Once its hot throw in the garlic, onions and ginger and stir fry for a couple of minutes till the onions have wilted and the nice smell of ginger and garlic is obvious.

Add the chopped tomato and continue cooking till it is nice and mushy. Oil doesn't really have to leave the sides, but make sure the tomato is cooked thoroughly.

In goes the sauces- tomato, soy and oyster. Mix well, add salt and pepper as required after doing a taste test and then the water.

Bring to a light boil and turn off the flame. Keep aside.

Once the chicken wings are grilled to perfection, transfer them to the chefs pan with the sauce.

Place it back on low- medium heat and mix well to coat the wings and lightly heat up the sauce.

Serve hot with a salad or even rice.

Notes: This is not really a spicy dish even after adding Franks hot sauce. Add chilli powder to the marinade (as per taste), if you prefer a more spicier version

If you dont prefer the sauce, the wings are good as it is, especially if its a bbq party or so where you dont want to waste time mixing the two together.

Do the mixing bit just before you serve, as it also heats up the chicken wings in the process.

Thanks to Ananda once again for giving me this fabulous opportunity.