Thai Style Stuffed Chicken Wings

4 lbs chicken wings (about 24), deboned per instructions below.

Filling
1/2 lb ground or minced pork
1/2 lb raw shrimp, shelled and deveined
2 bundles mung bean noodles, soaked, drained and chopped

1 small can water chestnuts

4 dried shitake mushrooms, soaked, stems removed

1/2 oz (1/4 cup) dried wood ear, soaked

3 cloves garlic, pressed or minced

1 Tbsp fresh basil minced very fine
1 Tbsp tapioca starch
2 Tbsp dark soy sauce
1 Tbsp light soy sauce
1 Tbsp fish sauce

1 Tbsp dried chili flakes

1 tsp white sugar
1 tsp ground pepper
1/2 tsp kosher salt

Coating
1 cup wheat flour
1 Tbsp granulated garlic
1 tsp salt
1 tsp ground pepper

Steamer 

Deep fryer @350 degrees

Place ground pork in a large bowl.  Set aside.

Place mushrooms and wood ear in a bowl and add boiling water. Let soak for 20 minutes. Drain then remove stems from mushrooms.

Place mung bean noodles in a bowl and add hot water. Soak for 10 minutes, drain in a colander then rinse under cold running water. Drain well, then chop into inch long strands. Set aside.

Place shrimp in a food processor, pulse 4-5 times, until shrimp is ground well, but not quite a paste. Add to ground pork.

Place mushrooms and wood ear, water chestnuts, mint and basil into food processor and pulse until it is finely minced. Place into pork mixture.

Add mung bean noodles to the pork mixture along with the rest of the filling ingredients. Mix well until all ingredients are well incorporated. Place in fridge for 1 hour. This will give you time to debone the chicken wings as follows.

Deboning the wings is a process best undertaken while sipping red wine or sake. It will make the ordeal less taxing that way.

Left wing or right wings are okay.

Cut lower section (drumette) from upper section. Leave middle and tip together

Work tip of a paring knife under the skin and work the tip around to separate the meat from the bone.

Work blade deeper to separate skin from bone, be careful to not cut through the skin.

Flip wing segment over

Work paring knife around the back side

Continue to work the knife until you feel the bone is loose from the skin

Once skin is separated from bone begin to pull back the sking with your fingers

Continue to work at the skin to pull it completely back to expose the bones to the joint

The skin has been pulled to the bottom and now the joints holding the bones is exposed

Grab the bones and wiggle back and forth to break the bones free from their joints. Once they are broken free pull away leaving the skin and meat attached to the wing tip.

Repeat procedure until all wings are deboned

Once wings are deboned begin to stuff them as I outlined below.

Using a teaspoon place some filling into the wing cavity

Work the filling into the cavity and press to the bottom

Continue to add filling a little at a time until the wing is filled tight

It is now full

 With all the wings filled with stuffing they need to be steamed. 

Place stuffed wings on a plate, then place into a steamer.

You can buy these steamer baskets at most Asian markets. When choosing them make sure they fit flush over the pot you intend on using and don't have too much of a gap between the edge of the pot and the steamer basket. They are very inexpensive and last for years. Mine are about 10 -12 years old at a minimum.

Steam over full heat to develop lots of steam for 15 minutes, check the internal temperature at that point and if they are at or above 170 degrees they are done. Remove from heat and set onto tray lined with parchment paper. Cool for 20 minutes.

In a separate bowl blend the flour, salt, pepper and granulated garlic together, ensure all ingredients are mixed well.

Place cooled wing into flour then roll in to coating. Shake off excess coating. Place on cookie tray. Repeat procedure until all the wings are coated.

Gently lower coated wings into deep fryer set at 350 degrees and cook for 5 minutes or until golden brown. 

When the wings are cooked they will float.  Once they are floating cook for 1 minute longer then remove and serve. Careful, they are really, really, roof of the mouth burning hot.

Serve them with some dipping sauce like a sweet chili sauce, or a spring roll dipping sauce or do like we did just grind some black pepper over them and add a pinch of Kosher salt, then eat as finger food. Infuckingcredible!

Note:
Do not overload your deep fryer as the temperature will drop if you do and then the wings will be greasy and unappealing.  Hot oil seals the food being deep fried and strangely enough makes them less greasy.  Small batches if you have a small deep fryer.

It is in my garage since I don't like deep frying when it might snow on me.

My deep fryer is an outdoor one by King Kooker.  It holds 12 litres of oil and a 30 liter capacity over all, it has a 38,000 Btu burner (ya baby, bigger is better, size does count) and can hold the required temperature even when placing 10 pounds of food into it. 

Snowy Palms Resort