Sambal Chicken Wings

Sam who? Sambal. There is a wide variety of sambal, a chili paste used as a condiment, or as an ingredient in many Indian or Asian dishes. I look at sambal as a killer garlic chili sauce, with hints of lime, garlic, and a punch of chili. Perfect. Who can go wrong with lime, chili, and garlic? In the past, I have typically used sambal as a condiment, just touching on it, small dips if you will, with my food, as the flavor is robust and will pretty much rock your socks off, or open your sinuses, depending on your heat level.

So, I have so chili, garlic, lime, concoction. I have chicken wings. Let’s get this started. This appetizer, or heck, even dinner if you will, is super simple, packed with flavor, and is good any day of the week.

Ingredients:

• 12 chicken wings, chopped at the joint, tips removed
• 1 lime, zested and juiced
• 1 lemon, zested and juiced
• 2 tbsp of chili garlic sauce (sambal olek)
• 4 cloves of garlic, minced
• 1 tsp olive oil
• pinch of salt
• pinch of cracked black pepper

Once your chicken wings are chopped, halved, and ready to go, throw them in a ziplock bag. Add the remaining ingredients, and give them a good massage in the bag. Make sure everything is incorporated, then place in the refrigerator at least four hours, but preferably overnight.

After they have marinated, the next step is a run in the oven, then on the grill. This is what I love about chicken wings. You can slow cook them, fry them, and throw them on the grill. No particular order in any of that. Fry, bake, grill; grill, bake, fry. You get it.

Regardless, this is an oven to grill process. Preheat your oven to 350 degrees, place the wings on a baking sheet, and cook for roughly 20 minutes.

During the last five minutes or so, preheat your grill, gas that is, or if you are running charcoal, preheat ahead of time, otherwise, feel free to get your broiler going. Once again, many options.

Once the 20 minutes is up, remove them from the oven, and put them on your preheated grill. Cook for a few minutes on each side. Plate with carrot and celery strips, and a bit of the sambal. Now is the time to sit back, relax, and watch people enjoy, or better yet, enjoy yourself.