You've just returned home from a long and exhausting day at work, and with hunger gnawing at your stomach, all you want is something delicious, nourishing, and indulgent to the core. But when you run inside the kitchen, all you notice are a few basic ingredients. How would you react? You can also attempt to make something using all of those materials. Sometimes you can't wait for the weekend to sit back, unwind, and rest, but a little indulgence before that is also extremely essential, and that feeling everyone deserves.
Drums of Heaven are essentially Chicken Lollipops in a sweet and spicy sauce. The sauce, which must have the correct combination of sweet and spicy, is the secret to an outstanding dish. They are especially a reincarnation of Chicken Lollipops. People who are fond of non-veg adore them as well. There's something about a platter full of heaven's drums that you finish with just bones and sticky fingers.
Chicken lollipop is a popular appetiser in Indian Chinese cuisine. It is one of the most well-known and popular Chicken appetisers in restaurants. It was introduced by a group of people who popularised Indo-Chinese restaurants in India, but as I previously stated, everyone has their own version of its history. While some want their chicken lollipops to be more Indian than Chinese, others prefer them with soy sauce and a spicy dip on the side.
Ingredients:
Marinate for the Chicken Lollipops:
• 500g (6 whole wings) chicken wings
• 6g (1 tsp) soy sauce
• 6g (1 tsp) green chilli sauce
• 15g (1½ tbsp) red chilli sauce
• 4g salt
• ¼ tsp MSG (Ajinamoto)
• ½ tsp ground black pepper
• 2g ginger
• 2g garlic
• 1 tbsp egg whites
• 4 tbsp plain flour (maida)
• 2 tbsp cornstarch
• vegetable oil for deep frying
For the sauce:
• 10g vegetable oil
• 50g onions
• 5g ginger
• 12g garlic
• 3 tbsp chicken stock
• 30g (3 tbsp) red chilli sauce
• 8g (1 tsp) ketchup
• 8g (1 tsp) dark soy sauce
• 2 pc spring onions
Method for preparation:
Making the lollipops:
1. Separate the flat from the drumette. Remove the joint that connects the drumette to the flat. Then, to separate, make a cut between the joints.
2. Hold the tip of the flat in your right hand and the flat in your left (reverse if left-handed). Forcefully push out the two tiny bones and throw out the smaller bone.
3. You may now throw away the wing tip. We needed it for grasping earlier.
4. Gather the meat to one side and turn it inside out. This is the first lollipop—the smaller (but tastier) one.
5. Now comes the drumette. We need to disclose the junction where we removed the drumette from the flat at the end.
6. Cut the soft tissue surrounding the bone's base, then angle the blade and scrape towards you to create a clearing in which to hold the bone.
7. Hold the visible bone with a cloth and pull the flesh away from the bone, collecting it at the other end. This will need some force.
8. Now, using the cloth, hold the loose meat and pull to flip it inside out to create the second (larger) lollipop.
9. Repeat for the remaining wings. You will end up with twice as many lollipops as you started with.
Marinating the lollipops:
1. In a mixing bowl, add the soya sauce, green chilli sauce, red chilli sauce, salt, MSG, pepper, ginger, garlic, and egg whites.
2. Add the chicken lollipops, massage well, and let marinate for as long as it takes to prepare the sauce ingredients.
Make the Sauce:
1. On high heat, the cooking will take place fast. As a result, prepare all of your ingredients and ready to go before you begin cooking.
2. In a mixing bowl, combine the red chilli sauce, ketchup, and dark soya sauce to make the sauce mix.
3. Warm up the kadai (an iron pan having depth). Allow the vegetable oil to smoke.
4. Cook for one minute with the diced onions.
5. Fry the ginger and garlic for 30 seconds each.
6. Allow sugar to melt and caramelise for about 30 seconds.
7. Then stir in the salt, pepper, sauce mix, and chicken stock.
8. Reduce the sauce for a few minutes, until it becomes syrupy and sticky. Remove the pan from the stove.
Frying the lollipops:
1. Heat the oil in a kadai or pan over high heat (200ºC).
2. Add the plain flour and cornstarch (cornflour) to the marinated chicken just before frying to make a dry batter. If you use too much liquid in the batter, the lollipops will get mushy.
3. Add the lollipops to the boiling oil, being careful not to crowd the pan. If necessary, cook in two batches. The temperature of the oil will fall to around 150ºC. The rest of the frying should take place at this temperature to ensure that the chicken cooks all the way through without becoming too brown on the outside.
4. Drain in a basket covered with paper towels.
Assemble:
1. If the sauce is too cold, reheat it and remove from the stove. Toss the chicken lollipops into the pan to coat evenly.
2. Garnish with spring onions and serve.
Equipment used:
• Paring knife
• Cotton cloth for holding the chicken
• Mixing bowl
• Kadai or wok
These spicy and flavorful chicken lollipops are very juicy and loaded with various spices that combine together to create a lip-smacking treat for your winter binge. This can also be a perfect dish for midweek indulgence and especially when you are in a constant state of dilemma about what to cook.