Vietnamese Fish Sauce Wings

• servings: 4 servings
• active time: 10 minutes
• total time: 25 minutes

Ingredients

1/2 cup warm water

1/2 cup fish sauce

1/2 cup sugar

1/4 cup roughly chopped garlic, about 8 large cloves

1/2 teaspoon freshly ground pepper

2 ½ pounds chicken wings

1/2 cup rice flour

1/4 cup cornstarch

2 teaspoons baking powder

vegetable oil for frying

1 lime, cut into wedges for serving

1/4 cup cilantro for garnish

Directions

For the marinate, combine water, fish sauce, and sugar in a large bowl and whisk until sugar is completely dissolved. Add chopped garlic and pepper.

Add the wings and toss to coat. Cover and refrigerate overnight (at least 8 hours for the most flavor). Turn them every 4 hours to make sure the wings are marinated evenly.

Before you're ready to fry, bring the wings to room temperature for 30 minutes.

Drain the wings by leaving them in a colander for 10 minutes.

In a large pot over medium heat, fill the pot to about 3 inches of oil and bring it to 325-350 degrees F (if you don’t have a thermometer, leave it on medium heat).

Combine rice flour, cornstarch, and baking powder in a large bowl. Toss the wings, a few at a time, in flour mixture then shake off excess flour.

Fry the floured wings for about 8-10 minutes, 4 minutes on each side (8 minutes for smaller wings and 10 minutes for larger wings) until golden brown.

Transfer them to a tray lined with paper towel to drain off excess oil.

Drain the garlic pieces from the marinate and deep fry them until golden brown. Reserve for later.

In a saucepan, simmer the marinate over medium-high heat until it becomes syrupy and dark golden in color, about 12-15 minutes.

Toss the wings in the reduced sauce.

Place the wings on a serving dish, sprinkle fried garlic on top, then add lime wedges and garnish with cilantro.