Basil Chicken Wing Beer Curry (咖哩紫蘇啤酒鷄翼, Gaa3 Lei1 Zi2 Sou1 Be1 Zau2 Gai1 Jik6)

Beer and curry seem to go together, so why not cook a stew with the two ingredients? The recipe could have just as easily used garam masala powder to make a spicier version of this dish. The amount of the curry powder can also be customized to suit your tastes, so feel free to increase or decrease the amount used in the recipe. Chicken wings (midjoint or drumette pieces) are ideal for this curry dish because they cook quickly. All the ingredients, except for the corn starch slurry and basil leaves, are added to a Dutch oven in the beginning to make this quick cooking one pot dish.

Enjoy!

Ingredients

2 lb.	1 kg.	Midjoint chicken wings (鷄翼, gai1 jik6) or drumettes
1 in.	2.5 cm.	Knob of ginger (薑, goeng1), crushed in a garlic press
4 cloves	4 cloves	Garlic (蒜, syun3), crushed in a garlic press
3 Tbs.	45 ml.	Curry powder (咖哩粉, gaa3 lei1 fan2)
4 Tbs.	60 ml.	Soy sauce (豉油, si6 jau4)
2 Tbs.	30 ml.	Hoisin sauce (海鮮醬, hoi2 sin1 zoeng3)
12 oz.	60 ml.	One bottle beer (啤酒, be1 zau2) or more
½ tsp.	2.5 ml.	Ground white pepper (白胡椒, baak6 wu4 ziu1)
1 tsp.	5 ml.	Sesame oil (麻油, maa4 jau4)
½ cup	125 ml.	Fresh basil leaves (紫蘇, zi2 sou1)
1 lb.	500 g.	Carrots (紅蘿蔔, hung4 lo4 baak6), cut into 1-inch (2.5 cm.) pieces on the diagonal
12	12	Fresh button mushrooms (蘑菇, mo4 gu1)
8 oz.	227 g.	One package fresh or dried bean curd knots (百頁結, baak3 jip6 git3)
1 Tbs.	15 ml.	Corn starch (粟粉, suk1 fan2)
2 Tbs.	30 ml.	Water
		Oil for cooking

 

Equipment

		Garlic press
6 qt.	5.7 L.	Dutch oven

 

Instructions

1. Prepare the midjoint chicken wings or drumettes by removing any remaining yellow skin. Ideally all the yellow skin was removed during the vendor’s chicken cleaning process, but some always remains and will prevent the marinade from penetrating the skin. Use your fingers and rub any remaining yellow skin from the chicken under cold running water. Marinate the chicken in a covered container for at least one hour or overnight in the refrigerator with the ginger and garlic crushed in a garlic press, curry powder, soy sauce, hoisin sauce, one bottle of beer, ground white pepper, and sesame oil. If marinating the chicken overnight, take it out of the refrigerator at least one hour before cooking and place the entire contents into the Dutch oven or large pot. The amount of curry to use is a personal preference, so feel free to increase or decrease the amount used.
2. If using dried bean curd knots, pour boiling water over them in a heat proof bowl and rehydrate the bean curd knots for at least one hour. Remove the bean curd knots from the rehydration liquid and put into the Dutch oven. Discard the rehydration liquid.
3. Clean the fresh button mushrooms and place into the Dutch oven.
4. Wash and cut the carrots on the diagonal into 1-inch (2.5 cm.) pieces and place into the Dutch oven. Mix the contents of the Dutch oven together and add more beer, if necessary, to just cover the ingredients.
5. In a small bowl, prepare the corn starch slurry by mixing the corn starch and water together.
6. Heat the Dutch oven uncovered over high heat until the contents boil. Cover the Dutch oven and then reduce the heat to simmer the contents for 15 minutes. Uncover the pot and place the corn starch slurry and basil leaves into the Dutch oven. Increase the heat and boil the contents to thicken the sauce. Recover the Dutch oven, reduce the heat to simmer for another 2-3 minutes. Put the cooked ingredients into a serving dish and serve with steamed rice.