Curried Chicken Wings

These aren’t bar-food wings. These are braised, saucy, fall-off-the-bone wings in a rich curry broth with chunks of potato that soak up every drop.

The wings get trimmed and separated at the joint, then browned with crushed ginger and garlic until golden. Curry powder, sherry, oyster sauce, ketchup, chicken broth, and sugar all go in together, and the pot simmers low and slow for 30 minutes.

The sauce is an interesting fusion: curry powder meets oyster sauce meets a touch of ketchup. It sounds odd, but the result is savory, slightly sweet, and deeply warming. The potatoes cook right alongside the wings and absorb all that curried braising liquid.

Green onions go in during the last 5 minutes so they keep their color and a bit of bite.

Kitchen Tips

• Cut off the wing tips and save them for stock. They’re mostly skin and bone with no meat, but they add great flavor to homemade broth.
• Brown the wings, ginger, and garlic for a full 4 minutes. This builds fond on the bottom of the pot that flavors the entire braise.
• Cut the potatoes into even chunks so they cook at the same rate as the wings. Too big and they’ll be raw in the center; too small and they’ll disintegrate.

Variations

• Use drumsticks or thighs instead of wings for a meatier version with the same braising technique.
• Add coconut milk in place of half the chicken broth for a creamier, Thai-leaning sauce.
• Swap sweet potatoes for russets for a naturally sweeter version that pairs beautifully with curry.