TAMARIND CHICKEN WINGS

Steps:

• Chop the shallots.
• Throw all the marinade ingredients into a food processor and whiz till you get a nice smooth paste.
• Taste the marinade. It should have a pronounced tamarind-y and sweet flavour. Don't worry about the saltiness yet.
• Take the chicken wings and cut each wing into two at the joint.
• In a large bowl, add the chicken wings and marinade and mix well with your hands.
• Cover and leave it to marinate overnight in the refrigerator, even 24 hours if you can.
• After the marinating time is over, you'll find that some of the marinade has pooled in your bowl.
• Transfer the chicken wings to another bowl, gently shaking off any excess marinade.
• Now you'll have marinated wings in one bowl and excess marinade in the other.
• We're about to deep-fry the chicken wings and the excess marinade will form our dipping sauce.
• The wings must be fried only when required so they stay hot.
• To make the sauce, take a pan, heat it, and pour the extra marinade into it.
• Add about 1/2 cup of water or chicken stock and cook over medium heat for about 15-20 minutes till you have a sweet and fruity-sour sauce the consistency of tomato ketchup.
• At this point, taste the sauce for saltiness and flavour balance.
• Adjust if required. Turn off the heat.
• For the wings: In a frying pan, heat about 300 ml oil for deep-frying.
• Fry as many wings on medium-high heat at one time as you can without crowding them too much.
• This should take about 5 minutes or till it turns a nice brown (not golden brown; we want them darker than that.).
• Remove the first batch to a platter and dry the extra oil off with paper towels.
• Repeat this till you've fried the entire batch of wings. Resist the temptation to eat them after they're fried. Actually, go ahead, try one piece. ;).
• Now you have deep-fried wings and a dipping sauce.
• How you want to take it from here is up to you.
• You can serve the wings with the sauce on the side, or you can pour the sauce on top of the wings with a spoon to coat them. The second option is messier to eat, but more fun.