Vietnamese Fried Chicken Wings

In a large bowl, place the chicken wings with all the marinade ingredients. Mix until well combined. Set aside while you prepare the sauce. 

To make the sweet & salty sauce, place the ingredients in a small saucepan over high heat. Bring to a simmer and cook for 2-3 minutes or until the sugar has just dissolved. Set aside to cool. 

Fill a wok or saucepan to about 1/3 capacity with the vegetable oil. Heat over high heat. The oil is hot enough when a wooden spoon dipped into the oil forms little bubbles. You don’t want to heat the oil too much because the chicken needs time to cook without burning. 

Meanwhile, mix the corn flour and the baking powder in a large bowl. Coat each chicken wing in the corn flour mixture, being sure to tap off any excess. Cook the chicken (do this in batches) for about 15 minutes or until golden. Drain on a wire baking rack. 

Wait a couple of minutes for the oil to heat up again. This time you want the oil very hot (you should have furious bubbles when you test with the wooden spoon). Add the chicken wings back into the oil and cook for another 2 minutes or until super crispy and deeply golden. Drain on paper towel. 

Just before serving, toss the chicken in the sweet & salty sauce, along with the fried garlic and coriander. Serve immediately. 

– If desired, cut the chicken wings in half at the joint (or you can leave them whole).