In memory of 911 a simple but favorite family recipe

Char Siu Chicken Wings

Yesterday my page visits totaled 911 and it made me think of those who lost their lives on the 11th of September, 2001. I still find myself deeply affected by that horrible day. Not to trivialize but I would like to suggest this recipe as a tribute to the victims and those they left behind. Let’s always keep them in our hearts and let them live there forever, and let us never forget. So many family's lives were disrupted by the events on that day. As we have often noted, enjoying food is most special when it is a family affair. We should relish every moment that we have with our families, and we should support and pay our respects to families who survive the disruption of events such as 911.

The recipe that follows is a family favorite. I would probably not serve this as a main dish in a Western setting, but rather as an appetizer, or one of several dishes for a festive meal. For the Chinese setting, it would be a meat dish, likely in addition to others. For non vegetarian Chinese families, the epitome of prosperity, generosity, and celebration are to have several meat dishes at one meal. Meat is often used in our vegetable dishes as well. Modern consumption practice is likely to result in attenuating serving sizes rather than to cut back the number of dishes containing meat or fish.

The barbecued chicken wing recipe here is a very simple dish to make. Just make sure you marinate the chicken wing for at least 3 hours in the refrigerator.

There are so many variations of char siu sauce and it is, of course, key to the taste. Here is ours, but some of you may want to experiment with other choices of ingredients. I've listed some ideas below. Char Siu literally translates from the Cantonese as fork cooked referring to way the meat is skewered and hunk over coals or in an oven. It's origins are distinctly Southeastern Chinese and it accompanied the diaspora to the Asia Pacific of all of the Cantonese speaking people who came here. More often found as a pork dish, it's adaptation to chicken wings is seamless and delicious.

Ingredients

• 1/4 cup Hoisin sauce
• 4 tbs soy sauce
• 4 tablespoons rice wine
• 2 tablespoons honey
• 1 rounded teaspoon of brown sugar
• 1 teaspoon Chinese 5 spice mixed powder
• red chili powder to taste (optional)

This should yield more than enough for the recipe below, which can be kept refrigerated several days, or served as an extra dipping sauce when your serve the wings. Some possible substitutions could be to replace the rice wine with Japanese Mirin, add ginger chili sauce for some punch (commercially available), add a tbs or 2 of tomato sauce for a redder color and a more tomato taste, I suspect the list is endless.

Ingredients:
8 pcs of chicken upper wings

4 tb char siu sauce

oil to fry chicken wings

2 tb corn flour

Method:
Add char siu sauce to chicken wings and let it marinate for 3 hours. Mix chicken wings with corn flour. Heat oil in wok and when it is hot, add in chicken wings and fry till they are cooked. Transfer to serving plate.

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