MasterChef Australia Recipe | Sticky Wingettes with Sweet and Savoury Gravy

For MasterChef Australia finals week we recreated Sarah Todds sweet and savory chicken wings recipe using French techniques and Indian spices. The taste was quite refreshing, which we didn't except.

Ingredients

Sticky Chicken Wings
12 chicken wingets
2L neutral oil (peanut or grapeseed)
2 cubes jaggery (or 3 cubes cane sugar)
1 Tbsp honey
1 Tbsp butter
lime juice, to taste

Gravy
1 Tbsp cumin seeds
4 cardamom pods
½ cinnamon stick
1 star anise
2 cloves
1 piece mace
4 large ripe tomatoes, roughly chopped
1 onion, roughly chopped
4 cloves garlic, peeled
½ cup cashews
500 ml water
¼ cup thickened cream
2 Tbsp butter
1 cube jaggery (or 2 cubes cane sugar)
1 Tbsp honey
1 tsp lemon juice, or to taste
salt and pepper

Pickle
skin from 1 Lebanese cucumber (or deseeded cucumber)
1 medium tomato
1 tsp liquid from mango pickle (we used also the paste)

Coriander Mint Oil
1 bunch mint, leaves picked
½ bunch coriander, leaves picked
200ml neutral oil
pinch of salt, or to taste

Method

  1. For the Confit Chicken, place the wingets into a large saucepan and cover with neutral oil. Place over low heat and bring the oil to 100-110°C. Cook the chicken wings for 45 minutes, moving the pan off and on the heat to maintain the temperature.

  2. Remove from the oil and allow to cool slightly. Slide the meat off the bones and set aside.

  3. Spoon 1-2 tbsp of the oil into a large frypan and add the chicken pieces. Season with salt and turn in the oil until golden and crisp. Remove from the pan.

  4. Add the remaining ingredients and cook until a smooth sauce forms. Transfer to a serving bowl or small jug.

  5. For the Gravy, place the spices into a frypan and toast over medium heat until fragrant then tansfer to a spicebag.

  6. Add tomatoes, cashews, garlic, onion and spicebag to a pot. Add water to cover the ingredients and cook covered for 1 - 1 1/2 hours or till everything is tender.

  7. Pour into a blender and process until smooth. Pass through a sieve into the frypan and cook over medium heat for 2-3 minutes, until reduced to liking. Add the remaining ingredients and season to taste.

  8. For the Pickle, finely dice the cucumber skin (oder deseed the cucumber) and the tomatoes and stir in the pickling liquid or paste. Set aside.

  9. For the Coriander & Mint Oil, place ingredients into a blender and blend on high speed for 5 minutes. Pass through a superbag into a small jug and set aside in the fridge.

  10. To serve, spoon gravy onto a plate and arrange chicken pieces over the top. Top with some pickle and serve with the sticky sauce and coriander & mint oil on the side.

  11. ENJOY!