DRUMS OF HEAVEN

30.06.2020: Last August, P and I went to SkyDeck by Sherlock’s for her birthday and enjoyed a plate of barbeque chicken wings. I love the sweet, sticky sauce and stripped the meat clean off the bones. I have been intending on replicating that dish in my kitchen since ages. The other day I had ordered a batch of chicken lollipops. Dinner was Indo-Asian and supposed to be vegetarian but the last minute I decided to use the chicken.  Typically, I spend some time researching and comparing recipes on the net but this time I just ‘winged’ the recipe. I remembered the SkyDeck sweet and sticky chicken and while Sky doesn’t like his savoury dishes with a hint of sweet, I absolutely LOVE it.

While making most of the Indo-Asian dishes, I use a combination of soy sauce, tomato ketchup and Thai sweet chilli sauce. I also sprinkle a little sugar at times. This time I decided to use honey and it made the chicken lollipops taste quite similar to the ones I had had at Skydeck’s.

These pieces are crunchy and perfectly coated with a combination of sweet and salty sauce. The honey, besides lending a sweet flavour helps the caramelised onion and garlic bits cling to the chicken. Not one to lick my fingers, I found myself not only licking the bones but my fingers also!

This recipe is quick and simple and requires ingredients readily available at home. As I was typing out this post, I looked up the recipe for homemade barbeque sauce which requires apple cider vinegar, brown sugar, Worcestershire sauce. All this dish requires is soy sauce, onions, garlic and honey and I think it tasted pretty close to what I had at a restaurant.

When it was served, V pointed at it and asked if I had made Drums of Heaven, a name that I hadn’t thought of while cooking it. I solemnly nodded and decided that I had cooked Drums of Heaven at home.

DRUMS OF HEAVEN

Ingredients:

Chicken Lollipop – 12 pieces

All- Purpose flour (maida)– 3  tbsp

Cornflour –4 tbsp

Onion – 1 (finely chopped)

Garlic (chopped) – 1 tbsp

Soy Sauce – 1 tbsp

Tomato Ketchup – 2 tbsp

Honey – 2 tbsp

Red Chilli Powder – 1 tsp  

Salt – as per taste

Water – as required

Method:

1.    Make a thick batter out of the cornflour and all-purpose flour. Add a little salt. Marinate the chicken in it for some time.

2.      In a pan, heat some oil and fry the marinated chicken pieces until it turns golden brown. Deep frying is quicker but you may also shallow fry. Set aside.

3.      In a pan, heat some oil. Add chopped onions and fry till they caramelise. Add the chopped garlic and sauté for a minute more.

4.   To this, add the soy sauce, tomato ketchup and honey. Mix it well and immediately add the fried chicken and give it a quick stir until the pieces are well coated with the sauces and onion-garlic bits. Sprinkle red chilli powder on the chicken, give it another quick toss and remove from heat.

5.      Done.

Recipe Notes:

·     Do not sauté the fried chicken pieces for long in the sauces else they lose their crispiness.