Almost Noodle Club: Korean Fried Chicken Wings

For various reasons, I have been spending lots of time on the road.  In the past two months, I must've made at least a half-dozen trips to the other side of the island. 

• The Help developed an interest in Japanese whiskey, so of course we had to stop at the liquor store in Waimea and check out the selection at Costco.  
• On another weekend, my vacuum broke, and Costco just happened to have a good deal on a Shark (I killed 2 Dyson's in a span short of a decade so I was ready to try something else).  
• I just "happened" to be at Costco when they started selling Christmas trees, so that trip turned out into a full-weekend activity...decorating the tree.

And there were a handful of trips between all of those, including a trip just to Waimea to check out the local wool for sale at the Waimea farmer's market (Parker School).

In spite of the good restaurants in Kona and Waikoloa, The Help and I have been regulars at Noodle Club, making the detour to Waimea instead of heading straight home on the Saddle.  Noodle Club is owned by the same gentleman who owns Village Burger (must try the Ahi Nicoise salad there), and like Village Burger, Noodle Club is an awesome eatery.

It might come as a surprise that one of my fave things to eat there is NOT a noodle dish, but a chicken dish.  I said "one" of...I have many favorites there.   I find the KFC...Korean Fried Chicken...difficult to resist.  The sticky, sweet, spicy sauce surrounding crispy chicken lollipops is not the Korean chicken many of us grew up with (like Kay's Lunch Center or the kine one of the aunties makes).  It has a unique flavor, as well as a unique look.  Noodle club wings look like the meat has been pushed upwards on the bone, giving a lollipop appearance.

I will be the first to admit that my version is not exactly like the KFC you get at the Noodle Club, but it's equally delicious.   I also refuse to spend the time to make the chicken look like a lollipop.  If you want the experience the chicken lollipop, then make the drive out to Waimea.  If you want a delicious meal without too much hassle, then this recipe might be just what you need.

 click on recipe title for printable recipe

Almost Noodle Club:  Korean Fried Chicken Wings

     3 lbs chicken wings

     salt

     pepper

     1/4 c flour

     2 tbsp cornstarch

     oil for frying

     1/4 c brown sugar

     1 tbsp honey

     3 tbsp rice vinegar

     2 tbsp shoyu

     6 tbsp gochujang (spicy Korean bean paste)

     1/4 tsp sesame oil

Cut chicken wings apart at the joints; discard tip portion.  Sprinkle with salt and pepper.  Toss with flour and cornstarch.  Set aside.  Heat 1/2-3/4" oil in a skillet.  While oil is heating, prepare sauce by combining all remaining ingredients in a medium bowl.  Fry chicken pieces until golden; this may take up to 25 minutes (15 minutes on the first side; 10 minutes on the second side).  Remove from oil and drain.  Fry all chicken pieces.  When all chicken has been fried, return each chicken piece to oil, frying for an additional 5-10 minutes.  Remove 3 pieces at a time.  Drain on paper towels then place in sauce, turning to coat.  Continue until all chicken has been coated.  Return all chicken pieces to sauce and coat again before removing to a serving platter.

Sapporo, Japan

October 10, 2017:  Day 2

Since our hotel was across the Hokkaido university campus, The Keeper suggested we walk the ground of the campus before embarking on another day of gluttony.

The campus could have been a university on the east coast or midwest...it looked "collegiate".  The architecture was very western.  Walking the grounds brought back memories of my own college days.






















The leaves were turning color. . .reminded me of my trip to Connecticut in the fall.

The fun part of this trip was the opportunity to wear Doc Martens and things I made.   I went full Nelkin on this day:  Caragh, Transitus and Las Cruces.

Don't get me wrong...I often DO wear things I make AND I always get strange looks from The Help, often with a comment like, "this isn't Puget Sound" or "we are not in Canada now".

We met up with the rest of the gang and headed to Nijo Market for breakfast.  Nijo Market was similar to Jougai Ichiba (from the day before).  Of course, I was gonna get seafood for breakfast!

Nijo Market

While walking around Nijo Market, I found shine muscats!  $15 USD was a small price to pay for mouthfuls of joy.  I had to take a pic because I don't think anyone at home would believe I actually bought "grapes".


















A few of us ended up having breakfast at Ohiso.  After watching DHS eat crab at breakfast the day before, there was no way I was gonna miss out on crab.  I decided to try the hairy crab and salmon don.  The mini was about $11 USD, which I figured would hold me over until the next meal.  I also got a small bowl of ikura, a bargain at $3.40 USD.
















I was actually not impressed with the hairy crab.  The meat wasn't as tasty as Dungeness nor was it as sweet as king crab.  But at least I can say I tried it.















On the other hand, the ikura was superb.  Perfect flavor.

I couldn't find the picture of the awabi (abalone) sashimi from this place.  I even had a pic of the innards, which The Keeper made DHS try.  She said it was nasty.

We had some time on our own after breakfast, so I decided to go on a treasure hunt which took be back to Sapporo station.  I was looking for a special store.  I was just about to give up, but then I arrived at the promised land!

OMG.  Kanariya was awesome.  I just wish I could speak and read Japanese.  I bought a bunch of pattern books (which I will probably never use) and some omiyage for a few special Ravelry friends and some friends who sew.

I could have stayed at Kanariya much longer, but I had to meet up with the pandas for lunner (lunch + dinner).

We caught a bus to Sapporo Beer Garden.  I tried out the panorama feature on my camera, but I just couldn't make it work properly.  The beer garden building is red brick (many old buildings in Sapporo are red brick).  I guess we were hungry so we went straight to the dining hall and got started.

I was worried about liking lamb, but after stuffing my face with jingusukan (Genghis Khan, to the rest of us), I decided I like lamb.  I love the helmet-shaped grill!












This is a cook-your-own place.  You can have as much as you want, be it meat, veggies or drink.  Nakaz and I couldn't get enough of the melon soda (since we can't drink beer).
























And no visit to the Sapporo Beer Garden is complete without a picture of the iconic brew kettle.  It was huge!




















Before heading back to the hotel, The Keeper and I bought some goodies from the station:  (clockwise from upper right) Little Mermaid steam cake, Little Mermaid melon pan, parfait, and Kinotoya cheese tart.  The steam cake was similar to other steam cakes I've eaten.  It was mild flavored and very light.  And yes, the bottom right pic IS melon pan, or at least what the Little Mermaid Bakery calls melon pan.  It was delicious, but it did not taste anything like the St. Germain version of melon pan.  I'm glad The Keeper bought it for me to try.  The parfait was very good (apparently parfait in Japan is a "thing") and easy to eat.  There was a small slice of cake and a few cornflakes (yes, like cornflake cereal) atop the parfait.  I found that interesting.

The Kinotoya cheese tart gets it's own paragraph.  It is definitely a no-miss treat when visiting Sapporo.  The aroma of the cheese tarts baking is incredible.  It must be so difficult for people in the waiting area to resist buying a some.  Although it looks like it might be "egg-y", it is not.  I think the color automatically makes you think its custard.  But it's definitely more cheese than custard.  I wish I had eaten another one or two before leaving Sapporo. 

It was another day of eating.  Thankfully, it was less eating than the previous day, and I knew that the next day was going to be another adventure.

Party Food: Crispy Chicken Wings

I'm not sure what it is about my kids, but they are so picky when it comes to chicken.  In fact, D1 keeps telling me she doesn't like chicken.

Over the years I have posted some awesome, kick ass chicken wing recipes:

• fried ginger chicken (Hoki's copykat)
• parmesan chicken wings
• fried garlic chicken
• sticky chicken
• fried sesame chicken

But these are the wings my kids, especially D1, will actually request.  I don't get it because I think the fried ginger chicken is the best thing on this list.  But this is what they pick.  I don't mind making this because there is no oil to clean up.  I made this for D1's 16th birthday party, and her friends devoured these wings.  D2 once remarked that cooking this makes the house smell like a Chinese restaurant.

Last week, an email came out at work.  The email contained a truly offensive reminder that the start of the next school year is but a mere 8 weeks away.  Really???  Cripes!  They HAD to go there?  Final grades weren't even due and they go reminding us about the next school year.  The "slap in the face" part for me meant that in less than 10 weeks, D1 will off to college.

I guess my mission for the next 10 weeks will be to cook things she likes.  I'm going to start with this chicken, although D1 is primarily a red meat eater.  If she had her way, we'd have either rib eye steak or pulehu ribs every night.  I'm wondering what she will eat when she goes away.

click on recipe title for printable recipe

Crispy Chicken Wings

     2 1/2 lbs chicken wings
     1 tbsp oil
     1 tsp salt
     1/8 tsp pepper
     2 tbsp brown sugar, packed
     2 tbsp maple syrup
     1/4 c water
     1/2" piece ginger
     1 star anise
     1/4 tsp sesame oil

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.  Line a baking pan with heavy duty foil.  Place rack in prepared pan.  Spray rack with non-stick cooking spray.  Remove wing tips (discard) and cut remaining wing into 2 pieces (drummette and flat).  Toss chicken pieces with oil, salt, and pepper.  Place in a single layer on rack.  Bake 50 minutes.  While chicken is baking, bring brown sugar, maple syrup, water, ginger, and star anise to a boil.  Cook for 15 minutes or until reduced to half.  Remove garlic, ginger, and star anise.  Place cooked chicken in a bowl.  Add sesame oil to sauce and pour over chicken.  Toss to coat evenly.  Place chicken back on rack and bake another 10 minutes.

Sticky Chicken

It was another week of mostly rain, so I still wasn't in the mood for salad.  Kamehameha Day ended up being a soggy holiday, and I certainly didn't do anything special. I just stayed home and tried not to pick at my temporarily capped tooth.  Now that my tooth has been permanently capped, I have another problem. . .in the process of applying the permanent crown, the tooth next to it sustained a fracture, and now I'm dreading having to repeat the entire process again, not to mention chewing gingerly for another 2 week span.  Shit!

While I've been restraining myself from picking at my tooth, a few of the Kikukat house denizens have been stricken with World Cup fever.  The Help is cheering for the team from Argentina.  D2 seems obsessed with Robben and the Netherlands.  She was thrilled when they upset defending champion Spain.  Aki is cheering for Brazil, the land of his ancestors, and Shaka, thinking waaaaay outside the cage, wants Germany to take it.  D1 wants nothing to do with World Cup, and I'm with D1.  I'm glad most of the cheering and game-watching of the opening fanfare occurred while I was at work.

For the past two weeks, I worked as a paraprofessional with students who, per IEP team decision,  qualified (due to regression and recoupment issues) for  extended school year (ESY).  I had the opportunity to work with students whom I would generally not see in my normal teaching line during the school year.  It was an eye-opening experience, and I have new-found respect for educational assistants.  While teachers design instruction, paraprofessionals are often tasked with maintaining consistent implementation of the actual instruction.  These past two weeks entailed lots of repetition and giving lots of wait time.  I also did some dribbling and shooting (basketball skills).  And like teachers and school administrators, paraprofessionals are also terribly underpaid.  Mercifully, I did not need to change a diaper or bring home any soiled underwear for washing (I did this when I was at a local elementary school a few years ago.  A parent cried and thanked me for treating her son as if he was my own.  I opted not to tell her I let one of my own kids eat a can of corn for dinner.)

My stint as a paraprofessional ended on Friday, and today I'm at a workshop with teachers and administrators.  This workshop goes on for four awful days.  Might as well be four weeks. . . I don't know how I'm gonna make it through the next few days.  I'm pretty sure the students at ESY were better company!  The students are always fun. . .adults?  Not so much.

So for the next few days, I'll be cooking stuff like this sticky chicken wing dish which can be thrown together quickly and uses ingredients I already have on hand.  

I got the original version of this recipe from Food & Wine magazine.  I eventually do try recipes I find in magazines, but when I came across this recipe, I actually went to the market, bought chicken wings, and cooked this for dinner that night.   While The Help liked the chicken, I thought it was too spicy for my taste.  Tweaking the recipe, I reduced the amount of ginger and chili pepper so it was more palatable for me.  Now its mild enough where even D2 can eat it (D1 can eat anything spicy so the original version was fine for her).  Leftovers reheat nicely.

click on recipe title for printable recipe

Sticky Chicken (Mild)

     2-3 lbs chicken wings
     1 tbsp ginger, grated
     2 chili peppers
     2 star anise
     1 cinnamon stick (2-3" long)
     1/3 c shoyu
     1/3 c shaoxing wine
     1/3 c water
     3 tbsp sugar
     3 tbsp mirin
     3 tbsp oyster sauce

Fry chicken wings in a non stick skillet over medium heat for 5 minutes on each side.  Add ginger, chili peppers, star anise and cinnamon.  Stir fry for a minute.  Add remaining ingredients.  Cover and reduce heat to low.  Simmer for 10 minutes.  Remove cover and increase heat to medium.  Cook for 15 minutes or until sauce is reduced and thickened.

Parmesan Chicken Wings

Thank you, armed service vets, for all your sacrifices which ensure our freedom.  Kikukat dad, The Help's dad, Mr. Dependable's dad, UGeo, and many of our family members and friends have proudly served in the military.  A few continue to serve. . .and we are so proud of them (big shout out to my nephew Joseph Cummings, my friend Kenneth Hara, and D1's friend LP).

Welcome to fall!  It finally feels like fall.  There was a definite nip in the air this week, and two fall "benchmarks" happened:  boots and fire.  After a decades-long hiatus, I wore boots again.  I notice that both students and teachers in my area dress much better than where I worked just before this.  Both students and teachers think nothing of donning a pair of boots.  Its nice to see people dressing well.  I'm sure there is no way to connect it to test scores, but for me, it makes me want to dress better and project a more polished appearance.

On Tuesday, I cleared the area around  the fireplace so The Help could make a fire.  I love the smell outside when there is a fire inside.  Nothing screams "fall" louder than a fire in the fireplace!  And we do the "wood" fireplace action, not the "flicking a switch" action.

I was trying to think of something quick to make with chicken...something that also could shoulder the fall theme, but I just ran out of ideas...or perhaps it was my decision to watch back episodes of Criminal Minds and NCIS: Los Angeles which caused a hiccup in my thoughts.  Regardless, I ended up making something which could be a year-round treat:  Parmesan Chicken Wings.

Chicken is always a baffling meal for the Kikukat house.  While The Help and I aren't too picky, the Ds are very particular about anything they eat.  Chicken is no exception.  If given a choice, D2 will suggest "shoyu chicken like the kind Kawamoto's has".  Unfortunately, I don't know how to make the kind Kawamoto's has, and I certainly don't want to buy chicken thighs (Kawamoto shoyu chicken is always thighs...yuck).

D1 gives a bit more rope when it comes to chicken, although she keeps saying she doesn't like chicken.  One thing we can all agree on is wings are the pieces of choice.  We love wings, and wings work well for us.  The Help likes the drummettes, while D1 and I prefer the flats.

Wings are great for just about anything. . .shoyu chicken (obviously not as good, per D2, as the one from Kawamoto Okazuya), fried, Korean, etc.  I'm not really keen on frying anything because The Help hates the mess the oil makes.  Sure, it tastes yummy, and the skin is crackling good, but I need to give The Help a break sometimes.

This is why The Help loves Parmesan Chicken Wings.  In spite of the crunchy coating, the wings are cooked entirely in the oven.  I like that the wings don't need to be flipped.  And since I'm basically a nice person, I cover the pan with aluminum foil to make clean up easier for The Help.

click on recipe title for printable recipe

Parmesan Chicken Wings

     2 lbs chicken wings
     1-3 tsp minced fresh parsley
     2 tbsp bread crumbs (dried, like Progresso)
     1 tsp salt
     1/2 tsp pepper
     2 tsp dried oregano
     2 tsp paprika
     3/4 c grated parmesan cheese
     1 block melted butter

Disjoint each chicken wing into 3 pieces:  wing tip, drummette, flat.  Discard wing tips (or save for soup).  In a small bowl, combine all remaining ingredients, except for melted butter.  Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Grease a shallow pan large enough to hold wing pieces in a single layer.  Dip each chicken piece in melted butter, then generously coat with parmesan cheese mixture.  Place in prepared pan.  Drizzle any remaining butter over chicken pieces.  Bake for 1 hour.

It was another Viking week!!!

The cheerleaders took 3rd place honors in the BIIF Cheerleading competition at the Kamehameha Schools-Hawaii Gym this past Wednesday.  They squeezed past the Warrior (Kamehameha) team with a great performance (and not dropping anyone).  This was the first time since 2005 the Vikings participated in competition.  They worked very hard on stunts, tumbling, and routines.  Kassie Kotake and Audra Paiva, HHS cheer coaches, and the Big Island Cheer Gym did an amazing job with the girls.  Thank you so much!!!

A big congratulations goes out to the Keaau Cougar Cheerleading squad who took 1st place in the BIIF competition.  Uncle Edz beamed proudly from the stands when they nailed their performance.  Those girls were awesome, and we wish them the best at States.

Football season for the Vikings came to an end on Friday evening. . .

The Viking football boys lost a hard-fought battle in the quarterfinals of the HHSAA Division I football tournament against the Campbell High School (Ewa Beach) Sabers.  They scored first and managed to stay even with Campbell for most of the game.  I was amazed at how many Campbell fans paid the airline ransom to support their boys.  As a member of the Viking ohana, I was so proud of our football boys.  Throughout the season, in both victory and defeat, the Viking boys played with their hearts and gave Hilo a renewed sense of football pride.  I can't wait for next season!