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Cooking with marinades and sauces

Dig in and get messy with thick, rich marinades and sauces.

Neil Perry
Neil Perry

Neil Perry's barbecue chicken wings with spicy tomato sauce.
Neil Perry's barbecue chicken wings with spicy tomato sauce.William Meppem

BARBECUE CHICKEN WINGS WITH SPICY TOMATO SAUCE

16 chicken wings, tips removed, each wing cut in half

2 tbsp chopped coriander, to serve

2 tbsp chopped mint, to serve

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marinade

4 cloves garlic, minced

3cm piece ginger, peeled and minced

1 tsp ground coriander

1/2 tsp ground cinnamon

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1 tsp smoked paprika

1 tsp dried chilli flakes

4 tbsp honey

3 tbsp soy sauce

4 tbsp peanut oil

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juice of 1 lemon

sea salt, to taste

spicy tomato sauce

4 tbsp extra virgin olive oil

2 cloves garlic, minced

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sea salt, to taste

11/2 tsp dried chilli flakes

5 roma tomatoes, cored and sliced into

1cm thick slices

Serves 4 to 8 as part of a shared Asian banquet

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To make sauce, add oil to a deep frypan and heat over a medium heat. Add garlic, sea salt and chilli flakes and cook for 5 minutes. Add tomatoes and cook for about 20 minutes, tossing from time to time until they break down and form a sauce.

Bring a pot of salted water to the boil, add chicken wings and simmer for 10 minutes. Remove from the heat. Drain, pat dry, and allow to cool for an hour.

Mix marinade ingredients together in a large bowl, then toss the chicken wings through. Leave to marinate for an hour.

Heat a barbecue grill to hot. Remove wings from the marinade and set aside. Pour marinade into a large frying pan and bring to the boil. Reduce marinade on a gentle simmer until it starts to thicken.

Place chicken wings on hot barbecue grill and cook for about 2 minutes each side, until they caramelise and char. Brush the charred wings with the reduced marinade.

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Pile wings onto a platter, sprinkle with the coriander and mint, and serve with tomato sauce.

STUFFED EGGPLANT WITH BLACK BEAN SAUCE

8 Japanese eggplants

3 tbsp cornflour

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3 cups vegetable oil, for frying

2 tbsp chopped coriander, to serve

stuffing

100g green prawn meat

200g ground pork

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2 tsp finely chopped spring onions

1 tsp soy sauce

1 tsp cornflour

1/4 tsp salt

black bean sauce

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2 tbsp fermented black beans

1 tsp shaoxing wine

2 tsp minced garlic cloves

1/2 cup chicken stock

1 tbsp soy sauce

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3 tbsp oyster sauce

1/2 tsp cornflour

Serves 4 to 8 as part of a shared Asian banquet

Soak black beans for sauce in shoaxing wine until soft - about 5 minutes. Drain and set aside.

For the stuffing, mince prawns finely then chop together with ground pork. Mix 1 tbsp water, spring onions, soy sauce, cornflour and salt into a paste, and mix through the prawn and pork.

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Slice 1cm off the length of one side of each eggplant to form a flat base. Slice the eggplant in half lengthways (parallel to the first cut), nearly all the way through but leaving it joined, so it is butterflied but secure.

Open up the eggplant and sprinkle with cornflour. Add prawn and pork stuffing, pat down evenly. Sprinkle on a little more cornflour before closing the eggplant shut.

Add 3 cups of oil to a wok, heat to 180°C or just smoking. Deep-fry the stuffed eggplant until golden-brown. Remove and drain well on paper towel. Leave 1 tbsp of oil in wok.

To make sauce, stir-fry black beans and minced garlic until fragrant. Add the stock, soy and oyster sauces, and bring to the boil. Add 1/2 tbsp water, and thicken sauce with cornflour. Turn the heat to low and return the eggplants to cook for about 5 minutes.

Transfer eggplants to a dish, pour the sauce over the top, and serve sprinkled with chopped coriander.

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HOT TIPS

• Add chilli to the eggplant dish if you want to spice things up.

• The chicken wings don't need a lot of cooking on the barbecue, as they are essentially ready to go once blanched. You won't believe how tender the twice cooking makes them.

• Rather than deep-frying the eggplants, they can also be roasted at about 180°C for 20 minutes or so.

• These two recipes need only rice and steamed greens to make a great shared meal.

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SOMETHING TO DRINK

Pale ale
A dish with spice and boldness shouts out for a refreshing and quenching ale. Hailing from the historic Rocks district of Sydney, Lord Nelson Three Sheets Pale Ale ($4, 330ml) is a playful yet intriguing match.

Photography by William Meppem. Styling by Hannah Meppem. Food preparation by Nick Banbury.

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Neil PerryNeil Perry is a restaurateur, chef and former Good Weekend columnist.

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