Better than crack, Thai hot wings

I like Thai food.  Well, who doesn't, come on?  I've been exploring some Thai recipes lately and have had some  moderate success with curries so my confidence is growing.  The other night, after a longish rainy day, I didn't feel like making a big ta-doo about dinner, just wanted something fast and savory and went to the old standby: The ten lbs bag of chicken wings we keep stashed in the freezer for indecisive nights.

But how to make them? I was out of Oakland dust, my go-to rub and as mentioned the whole idea was to not make a huge ta-doo.   I didn't feel like  I could conjure up the energy necessary for a new batch of home made rub and braising. Then it hit me. I could go Thai on the bony little things with ingredients I already had around the kitchen.  I wouldn't even need to leave the house or get out of my jammies which I'd been in all day watching the rain pound down on the skylights.

I set my chicken wings out to thaw and gathered supplies all in a row. Putting my meeces into places so to speak.

Ingredients:

• 2 lbs of chicken wings - thawing....
• 6 garlic cloves, crushed and minced
•  2 inches of peeled and sliced ginger strips
• 3 tbls cornstarch
• 3 tbls all purpose flour
• 2 tbls sesame oil
• 1.5 tbls Sriracha sauce
• 2 tbls red chile paste
• *chopped Thai or serrano peppers (optional to your taste in heat)
• 1/4 cup lime juice
• cilantro (for garnish
• peanut oil

The How-to:

1.

Put garlic and about a 2inch strip of peeled and sliced ginger into my food processor and minced  (about 3 seconds under the knives)

2.

Add the cornstarch, flour, lime juice, Sriracha, sesame oil and chili paste.

3.

Pulse till it's a semi smooth liquid  (about ten seconds)

4.

Place in large bowl with the wings, cover and refrigerate for an hour or so.

5.

In my large stock pot I heated 2 inches of Peanut oil  to 350 degrees.

6.

Carefully tonged the wings into the oil and let them  fry for 6-8 mins (try to keep the oil at 310 -315 during frying - and for Gawd's sake use a grease guard cover).

7.

Tong them out and place on a slotted rack over a bed of paper towels to drain for a minute or two.

8.

Dust with chopped cilantro and a few squirts of lime juice to finish

9.

Serve hot with a honey/dijon/Sweet Paprika dip*

Man, oh man, they came out perfect, better than crack with the just the right crackle/crunch at first bite, enough heat, but not too much to overpower.  Tender and juicy.  The only failure was not making enough. I could have eaten twice as many.

*  for a fast dipping sauce add equal parts dijon mustard and honey with 2 large dashes of smoky Paprika.  I buy mine at the Oakland spice shop on Grand ave -  Spanish smoked paprika.   Mix that all together and dip......