Peek Gai Tod Nam Pla ปีกไก่ทอด Thai Fish Sauce Chicken Wings
My mother and her sisters made these whenever we wanted them, no special occasion needed, just the craving and the oil getting hot. You would smell the fish sauce and garlic coming through the air before anyone said a word. That smell is half the joy. When they were ready, we put a mat on the floor and everyone sat together, wings still hot, nobody waiting. Simple to make, impossible not to share. Make these and put them in the middle of the table. Let everyone reach.
Equipment
- Large bowl or zip-lock bag for marinating
- Wok or deep heavy pot
- thermometer
- Wire rack
- Tongs
- small pan for frying shallots
Ingredients
- 3 pounds lbs chicken wings tips removed and split into flats and drumettes
- 6 garlic cloves minced
- 3 tablespoons fish sauce
- 1 tablespoon soy sauce
- 1 tablespoon oyster sauce
- 1 teaspoon sugar
- 1 teaspoon white pepper
- 0.5 teaspoon ground turmeric
- 0.5 cup all-purpose flour
- 0.3 cup rice flour
- 0.5 teaspoon salt
- 3 cups vegetable oil for deep frying
- 6 shallots thinly sliced and fried until crispy, to garnish
- 0.5 cup Thai sweet chili sauce to serve
- 1 lime cut into wedges, to serve
- 4 fresh cilantro sprigs to garnish
Instructions
- Marinate the wings: In a large bowl combine minced garlic, fish sauce, soy sauce, oyster sauce, sugar, white pepper, and ground turmeric. Mix well. Add the wing pieces and toss thoroughly until every surface is coated. Cover and refrigerate for at least 2 hours and up to overnight. When ready to cook, take the wings out 20 minutes before frying to take the chill off the meat.
- Fry the crispy shallots first: While the wings are coming to room temperature, fry the shallots. Heat about half an inch of oil in a small pan over medium-low heat. Add the thinly sliced shallots and fry slowly, stirring often, until deep golden and crispy. This takes patience, about 8 to 10 minutes over gentle heat. Remove with a slotted spoon and spread on paper towels. They will crisp up further as they cool. Set aside.
- Coat the wings: In a shallow bowl combine all-purpose flour, rice flour, and salt. Remove each wing from the marinade and let excess drip off. Dredge thoroughly in the flour mixture, pressing firmly to adhere on all sides. Place on a wire rack and rest for 10 minutes before frying.
- First fry: Heat oil in a wok or deep pot to 325°F. Fry the wings in batches of 6 to 8, never crowding the pot. Fry for 8 to 10 minutes, turning occasionally, until deeply golden and cooked through. Drain on a wire rack.
- Second fry for maximum crunch: Let the wings rest on the rack for 5 minutes. Raise the oil temperature to 375°F. Return the wings to the hot oil in batches and fry for 2 minutes until the crust is deeply golden and shatteringly crisp. Drain on the rack again. This double fry is what separates good wings from unforgettable wings.
- Pile high and serve: Pile the wings onto a large serving plate and scatter the crispy fried shallots generously over the top. Garnish with fresh cilantro sprigs and lime wedges. Serve immediately with Thai sweet chili sauce alongside. In Thailand these are eaten with cold drinks, sticky rice, and absolutely no restraint whatsoever.
Video
Notes
- The marinade needs time. One hour at minimum, overnight if you have it. Fish sauce is a liquid seasoning that works by penetrating the meat over time — a wing marinated for five minutes has fish sauce on its surface. A wing marinated for one hour has fish sauce in its meat. A wing marinated overnight has fish sauce all the way through, the flavor settled and deep rather than sitting on the surface waiting to be washed off by the oil. The patience is the marinade's requirement, not yours. You are simply waiting. Pat the wings dry before they go into the oil. This is the step that makes the difference between a crisp skin and a skin that is trying to crisp but cannot because it is producing steam from the moisture it carried into the oil. Dry skin + hot oil = crisp. Wet skin + hot oil = splattering and soft. Thirty seconds with paper towels. Do it. Do not crowd the oil. This is the instruction that appears on every fried food recipe and is ignored by every home cook at least once. Crowding drops the oil temperature immediately — the wings begin to absorb oil rather than frying in it, and the skin softens rather than crisps. Four to five wings at a time in a medium pot. Rest the oil between batches by letting it return to 350°F before the next batch goes in. The extra ten minutes this adds to the total time produces a completely different result than the rushed version. Eat them hot. Thai fish sauce chicken wings are at their best the moment they come off the paper towels. The skin that is perfectly crisp at five minutes will be noticeably less so at twenty. If you are making these for a group, fry the last batch just before serving and keep earlier batches in a 200°F oven on a wire rack. But the mat on the floor and the wings straight from the oil — that is the right way.
Nutrition
Serving: 4wingsCalories: 560kcalCarbohydrates: 18gProtein: 44gFat: 34gSaturated Fat: 8gCholesterol: 120mgSodium: 980mgPotassium: 440mgFiber: 1gSugar: 3g
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