"Three Cup" Wings

Hello hello! So right off the bat, I'm sure you are all wondering what this "three cup" thing is all about. Well for starters, this is actually NOT a Cantonese recipe. It actually originates from Taiwan. So I've been making this recipe for such a long time, I believe I've been able to reproduce this "three cup" style flavor in this dish.

It's called "three cup" because it calls for three cups of water or chicken stock. You will see in our preparation process how this comes to be. Today's recipe will be more focused on the steps of the actual cooking process in contrast to last week's recipe which was divided into the preparation of different components and then combining them together.

All in all, this dish is delicious, easy, and enough to feed the whole family. I consider this dish one that is made with a slow love- similar to cooking pot roast, beef stew, etc. This love cannot be rushed, it has to be developed.

LET'S COOK!

Ingredients 

• 2 lb about 10 whole wings(clean and cut into two pcs) -threw away the tip-
• 3 pcs green onion(cut greens part an inch in length and white part chopped fine)
• Thai Basil (has stronger flavor than traditional basil and it's a lot cheaper too) 
• 10 cloves garlic
• 10 slices garlic
• 2 pcs star anise
• 1/4tbs salt
• 1/2tbs sesame oil
• 2tbs vegetable oil
• 3 cups water/chicken stock

Keep ginger and garlic whole. No need to mince.

Cut wings and remove wing tips (unless you like eating them).

Green onions have 2 parts- the green and the white. The green we use for garnish and the white as an aromatic (like garlic).

Sauce

• 2 1/2 tbs oyster sauce
• 1 1/2 tbs dark soy sauce
• 1/4 tbs chicken bouillon
• 1 tbs sugar
• 1 tbs sesame oil
• 3 tbs cooking wine (rice wine)

First, mix in a bowl/pot all the ingredients for the sauce and set it aside.

Make sure everything is prepped before cooking. Once we start, we don't stop.

In another big bowl/pot, marinate the wing with with 1/2ts of salt and 1ts of sesame oil. Set it aside

Cooking Instructions 

Heat up a pan/wok in high heat with 2 tbs of vegetable oil. Make sure you are cooking with a pan large enough to accommodate the chicken wings. When the pan is hot, (you can use a test piece of green onion to see if it sizzles) add in the ginger, garlic, star anise, and the chopped green onion (white part).

This is the aromatic process. You just want to cook these enough to release the flavors and smells.

Saute for about a minute. You'll know it's ready when the kitchen starts to smell delicious. Then add in your chicken wings into the pan. You will then saute/stir fry everything to incorporate the flavors and coat the chicken. Once that is completed, let the chicken wings get a nice sear on each side if possible. This will give the chicken a nice texture and enhance the flavor of the dish later.

This is why the garlic is whole- if minced it would burn.

MMMmmmm seared chicken skin! You can start to see the meat releasing its fat into the pan.

Now, we add the "three cups" to our dish. Add your 3 cups of water/chicken stock. Keep your flame on high heat still as we want to bring it to a boil. In the mean time, add in your sauce mixture that you prepared in the beginning of this recipe. Stir it evenly throughout the pan coating the chicken.

Low and slow once the sauce has been incorporated.

Once the sauce starts to boil, cover it with a lid then lower the heat to a medium/med low and let the sauce simmer for about  25 minutes. You will want to stir it every 5 mins to make sure the wings don't get stuck to the bottom of the pan.

This is why I call this dish a "slow love". It is very possible to rush this dish and cook it all at high heat, but I can guarantee you that the flavors won't taste the same. All the ingredients and spices we have in here will start to come to life in the 3 cups of water we added. This "three cup" procedure may sound soupy or too saucy, but that is not our intention. Over the course of the 25 minutes our dish is cooking, the heat is slowly cooking off the water but also rehydrating flavors in the star anise, and absorbing into the chicken wings. At the same time, the chicken wings are releasing their flavors from the bones and skin into the sauce as well.

So in essence, you CAN rush the recipe, but all those flavors that I listed above won't be happening. You'll miss out on the most delicious part.

You will see a significantly lesser amount of sauce towards the end. 

So at the end of the 25 minutes, if the liquid is not thick enough, remove the lid and turn up the heat a little bit more. This will reduce the sauce a bit by evaporating some of the water. Once the sauce comes to a consistency you are happy with, add in the chopped green onion and Thai Basil leaves (removed stems). Give the dish one good mix and then you are done! We add in the fresh basil and green onion at the end (with the heat turned off) to bring another flavor/aroma to the dish. Cooking the basil in the dish early on will neutralize a lot of the fresh flavors that the basil possesses.

That's it! You now have the Three Cup Chicken and it's a delicious home style dish. Up next- "Ha Ha Minced Pork Noodle Bowl!"


Thanks for reading, God Bless, and happy cooking!
~Hoby

Acts 4:12
And there is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved.”