Swiss Wings 瑞士鸡翼 - AFF HK/Macau Jan/Feb 2014

Gosh, tomorrow is the 15th day of the Lunar New Year (元宵) which officially marks the end of the Chinese New Year festivity. Coincidentally it's also Valentine's Day. For me, the past two weeks had gone by in a blur, preoccupied mostly by family matters. Didn't have the mood to cook or blog or even post photos on FB, although I still have tons of unedited photos and many blog posts to write! Hope I can pick myself up soon!!

Somehow my mind draws blank whenever I need to deliberate on what to cook each day. Times like this, I would go for one pot dishes or very quick and easy recipes that require minimal preparation. I recalled Wendy's AFF posting on HK Swiss Wings last month and it's exactly what I'm looking for. Chicken wing is definitely well-loved in my family! I like it that the ingredients are so simple (everything is readily available in my kitchen) and cooking method so easy.

Actually I've never tried Swiss Wings before :p Yes, have seen it in Hong Kong cafes' menus but never occurred to me to order this dish. Probably coz there are just too many yummy food.

Swiss Wings  瑞士鸡翼

(recipe from Table for 2... or more)

Ingredients

• 8 pcs chicken winglets
• 1 bowl of ice cold water (enough to cover all the winglets)
• 80g rock sugar
• 50g dark soy sauce
• 30g light soy sauce 
• 1 tsp huatiao cooking wine (or Shaoxing)
• 1 cup chicken stock (simple stock made using chicken feet and carcass, onion, carrot, radish)
• 1 stalk spring onion (white part)
• 3 slices ginger

Steps

• Heat a pot of water (enough to cover all the winglets). When water comes to a boil, put in all the winglets and blanch for 1 minute till the chicken skin firms up.
• Remove the winglets and immediately soak them in the bowl of ice cold water, for at least 5 mins.
• Combine the rock sugar, dark soy sauce, light soy sauce, huatiao wine, chicken stock, spring onion and ginger into a cooking pot and bring to boil.
• Once liquid has boiled, lower heat and simmer until the rock sugar has all melted (keep pot covered).
• Once rock sugar has melted, remove ginger and spring onion and put in the chicken winglets. Let the winglets gently simmer for 15 mins (pot lid off).
• Remove the winglets from the poaching liquid and serve.

I love the winglets, taste so yummy!! Succulent and tender, sweet and savoury. Hubby also gave thumbs up. 
The method of blanching the winglets and then soaking them in ice cold water helps make the winglets look and taste more succulent. The poaching liquid is simple yet goes so well with the wings. This recipe is definitely a keeper and I reckon this dish will appear on my dining table very often indeed!

I am submitting this post to Asian Food Fest ( Hong Kong + Macau ) – Jan+Feb Month hosted by Annie of Annielicious Food