If Martha were Vietnamese-- Fried Chicken Wings in Fish Sauce

For the first time in years, our family decided not to go up to the cabin for the Labor Day weekend. Strangely it was a unanimous vote, and that NEVER happens. We had a fun doing nothing much important. Papa took the bigger kiddos tubing down the Salt River. I was pea green with envy, but needed to stay home with the smaller ones and in hind sight, T&J took a nap and it was great to spend time with Boo all to myself. Livy and I went on a hike. Sunny caught up on homework. Patch and Papa played a lot of baseball. And I baked and baked and cooked and cooked. There aren't many occasions for me to really cook for just fun. It was just lovely. A quick trip to Mekong for the supplies and I started with this recipe, from my new Vietnamese cookbooks. Looked kinda like a Vietnamese twist on an American favorite.

The flavors in this dish are rich and intense. Lime, fish sauce, garlic, salt. Be sure you let the sauce cook and thicken in the pot. I even let it cool a bit so that it got thick and stuck to the wings. And we liked using the traditional VN chili sauce rather than the dipping sauce in the recipe. You gotta love the Vietnamese for all those dipping sauces! I feel like a kid, but I love to "dip" stuff!

Fried Chicken Wings in Fish Sauce (From Feast of Flavours from the Vietnamese Kitchen by Nguyen Thanh Diep)


1 kg of chicken wing cut into pieces

3 t minced garlic

3 t chicken seasoning powder

1/2 t salt

cooking oil

1/2 c fish sauce

1 1/2 T sugar


Dipping Sauce

1 T lime juice

2 t salt

1 t ground pepper


Season chicken with seasoning powder, salt, a d mixed garlic. mix together. Set aside for 30 min.


Heat oil in wok or deep fryer. Fry wings till golden grown. Drain.


In another pan, cook fish sauce and sugar till sugar dissolves and liquid thickens.


Add wings to thickened mixture. Stir to evenly coat.




Transfer to serving plate and serve with dipping sauce. (Again, we much preferred a regular chili sauce to dip in!)































Frying the wings in the wok till golden brown.












Above--Mixing the fried wings in the thickened sauce. Turn around and T&J wait patiently with Cheerios. Hurry mama!
Looks yummy!


For my WC fellows, I like this cookbook, 'cause I like ANY Vietnamese cook book that helps me get out of my pasty white Caucasian box. But it's not my favorite. Good but not great. Still definitely worth the $5 I paid for it.


Coming up soon... Chả Giò, (Fried Pork Spring Rolls,) Goi Gà, (Chicken Cabbage salad with mint- and SO a family favorite for a warm day!) and a chocolate/Kahlua cake to die for! (Ya, that last one's not exactly a Vietnamese dish, but SO yummy and easy I can't help passing it on!)