Recipe: Sweet Soy Sauce Chicken (紅燒雞翼)/Swiss Chicken (瑞士雞翼)

I was first introduced to soy sauce chicken wings by my friend who loved this dish. Whenever I was in Kuala Lumpur, we will go to this café; Hui Lau Shan (許留山), and without fail, she will order this dish. The wings were infused with the aromatically sweet, savoury, sticky coating of red-ish soy sauce with a subtle hint of spice and ginger.

This dish is a classic and popular dish in Hong Kong and is known as Swiss Chicken Wings (or Sweet Chicken Wings). Mind you, this dish has nothing to do with Swiss cuisine but has an interesting story behind it. The story goes like this, there was a Western customer who went into a restaurant and was asking about the chicken wings on the menu. The Chinese waiter that served him was poor in the English language and tried to explain that it came with a ‘ sweet sauce ‘. The Westerner mistook that as ‘ Swiss sauce ” and as it sounded familiar, he decided to order it.  Hence, the name of Swiss Wings (in Chinese: 瑞士雞翼) has been used and circulated around since then.

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Serves 4 pax

Ingredients

8 pieces chicken wings

4 slices ginger

3 spring onions, white part only, cut into 1″ pieces

3 cloves garlic, lightly smashed

2 pieces star anise

1 cinnamon stick

1 tablespoon oil

2 tablespoons light soy sauce

1½ tablespoons dark soy sauce

25g to 28g rock sugar

200ml homemade chicken stock/water

Method:

  1. Clean and wash the chicken wings.
  2. Cut the chicken wings into sections. Then set aside.
  3. Heat pan/wok till hot on medium heat. Then pour in the oil and give it a swirl.
  4. Add in the garlic, ginger and spring onions. Stir fry till fragrant.
  5. Add in the chicken wings, stirring immediately to coat with the oil. Add more oil if necessary. Stir fry, turning constantly, for about 3-4 minutes until the wings are a light gold colour. Make sure that the skins don’t stick to the pan/wok.
  6. Pan-fry the chicken wings, light and dark soy sauce, rock sugar, and star anise. Then add the chicken stock/water till it barely covers the chicken. Bring it to a boil.
  7. Turn heat to low and cover. Simmer for 20 minutes, stirring occasionally to prevent the bottom wings from sticking to wok.
  8. Transfer the wings to a serving plate and pour the remaining sauce over them.
  9. Serve immediately with hot steamed rice.

Notes from Mummy’s Kitchen

  1. You can remove the tips of the chicken wings and place them in a Ziploc bag. Store them in the freezer till you are ready to make your stock.
  2. The rock sugar will give the chicken a glossy look.

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Mummy's Kitchen

Hi! My name is Josephine Go. I blog at BeyondNorm.com in a segment called Mummy’s Kitchen. I love to use fresh and natural ingredients in my cooking to promote healthy eating. Some of my recipes may not be in line with the traditional methods of cooking to the extent that some of the ingredients are different, but hopefully new recipes are being created in my style. I certainly hope that what I do will help guide kitchen first-timers on how to cook their first meal as well as further equip kitchen veterans with new recipes. My loving husband and two wonderful children are my best guinea pigs and critics. They have enjoyed (or endured) the food that has been served to them for all these years. Mind you, I did not know how to cook or ever knew that I could cook till I got married. So there is hope for everyone. If I can cook, you can cook. You will not know how good or talented you are until you put your hand in the plough.

One thought on “Recipe: Sweet Soy Sauce Chicken (紅燒雞翼)/Swiss Chicken (瑞士雞翼)

  1. Poh-Hong gooi says:

    Thanks for sharing! Well presented.

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