Fantastic Lollipop - Chicken Lollipop in Szechuan sauce
What does your heart crave the first thing in the starters section when you open the menu of a restaurant? Well, for me it's mostly either the fried calamari or these yummy fantastic lollipops! Don't get me wrong but I dislike the plain ones that do not have a Szechuan sauce coated on the chicken lollipop, so I literally ask if the lollipop has any sauce (Sorry but not sorry). If you have been reading my blog, I am sure you are aware that I like anything and everything "saucey".
It is basically an Indo Chinese starter or appetizer that is out-of-the-world good. I could easily gulp down 2 plates of this yummy starter. I bet you would too! Chicken wings are shaped into lollipops by cutting lose the meat on the bone end and pushing the meat to the other end of the bone, to give the effect of chicken on a stick/bone. And these are marinated, breaded, fried to crispy perfection and tossed in this Szechuan sauce that takes these lollipops to the next level. Let me warn you, these are nowhere close to the real deal, but mine has a different taste compared to the one I tried to replicate, anyhow that is why I haven't mentioned it is the copy cat of the original fantastic lollipop. Well, my mother had nailed the recipe a few years ago, and whenever she made it would get over in a split second. But somehow she forgot the recipe and isn't able to recall exactly. I know, big loss!
My mom and I are these inspectors when it comes to food, lol, you don't want us in if you are the owner of the restaurant. We easily make out stale food and fresh ones. Most of the time we can even tell what all are the ingredients that might have gone into it, and that's how we recreate some restaurant-style food at home. So one fine day, my brother takes us for dinner, years ago; BC (Before Corona) to this restaurant called Erics. Ever since this place has been been in my favorites list of dining out. I cannot stress enough how yummy their food is, well its a restaurant that is of Goan cuisine and like I have said before if you haven't tried Goan food yet, you are definitely missing out.
So if at all my mom recalls the recipe be sure that I will update it here. So watch out! The recipe that I am about to share is definitely super tasty but has a different taste like I explained earlier. I cannot stress enough how much my Mr loves my fantastic lollipops, that he keeps saying, why go to a restaurant when you make it at home. What more of a compliment does one require? During these quarantine days, this was such a lifesaver, I mean, when you can't go dine in a restaurant you can make them home and relish. You can have this as a starter, or as a side dish. I make them mostly when I prepare fried rice or noodles. Whenever I get my hands on fresh Chicken wings without a second thought I marinate it for my yummy fantastic lollipops. The shaping of the chicken lollipops are a pain in the ass, but I must say, they are well worth the effort. I urge you to try this out, I have my video on Youtube where I demonstrate it. Let's get on to the ingredients and get started!
Ingredients:
Chicken marinade:
- 6 Fresh Chicken wings
- 2 Tbsp Soy Sauce
- 1 tsp Green Chilli sauce (optional)
- 2 tsp Sriracha/ Szechuan Sauce
- 3 Garlic cloves, finely chopped
- 1/2 tsp black pepper powder
- 1/2 tsp red chilli flakes
- 1 tsp ginger, finely chopped
- Salt, as required
- 1 egg white
Flour Coating mixture:
- 1/4 cup all-purpose flour
- 1/4 cup cornflour
- 1/2 tsp black pepper powder
Szechuan gravy:
- 1/ 2 cup chicken broth/ 1/2 Maggi chicken cube dissolves in hot water
- 1 small onion, finely chopped
- 3 garlic cloves, finely chopped
- white part and green part of spring onion chopped separately
- 1 tsp soy sauce
- 1 tsp red chilli powder
- 2 tbsp tomato ketchup
- 1 tbsp hot sauce/ red chilli sauce
- 1/2 tsp pepper powder (optional)
Instructions:
- To make lollipops out of chicken wings, break the joints between the bones and cut them apart, you now have a wing part and the arm part.
- Now cut off the wing from the wing part and slowly push down the flesh whilst doing that remove or pull off the smaller bone and push down the flesh using the help of a knife and scrape down the flesh to form a skirt-like flesh part on the end of the bone.
- Similarly do the same for the other arm part, which is slightly larger than the former (for a clear idea check out my Youtube Video on how to do this). One chicken wing gives you two lollipops.
- Marinate the lollipops using the ingredients under the title chicken marinade and allow to marinate in the fridge for at least 1 hour, the more time the better.
- In a hot Kadai or fry pan, pour in some oil to fry the chicken wings.
- Coat the marinated chicken in the flour coating mixture and fry on medium-high undisturbed for about 5 minutes and flip and fry for another 2-3 minutes and you are done! Drain on a kitchen towel and set aside.
- Prepare your chicken cube stock and set aside.
- Now prepare your Szechuan gravy, by hating a 2 tbsp oil in a wok.
- Add your finely chopped garlic cloves and saute for 20-30 seconds on high flame.
- Add in your finely chopped onion and the white part of the spring onion, saute for a minute or two.
- Now pour in your prepared sauce and chicken broth water. And season with pepper powder if desired.
- Add in your fried chicken lollipops and toss well on high flame until most of the gravy is absorbed by the chicken lollipops.
- If desired, cut aluminum sheets and wrap around the bare bone end for that restaurant effect.
- Enjoy hot with any of your favorite main dishes like fried rice or noodles.
