Grill/Barbecue

Burmese-Style Wings with Lime, Cilantro, and Shallot Salsa

July 15, 2013
4
4 Ratings
Photo by Tom Hirschfeld
  • Serves 4
Author Notes

I am a huge fan of chicken wings, although I am not a big fan of Buffalo wings. I think the best part of the chicken outside of the two oysters is the wing. Wings have loads of flavor and lots of crispy skin. It is a good ratio. I have adapted a recipe from Naomi Duguid's Burma book and made her Shallot Lime Chutney into a marinade/salsa combo. It works well and I really like the way the shallots get all schmaltzie when they cook in the chicken fat. —thirschfeld

What You'll Need
Ingredients
  • 24 chicken wings
  • 1 cup shallots, minced or chopped in a food processor
  • 2 red Fresno chile or other hot chile, minced
  • 1/4 cup cilantro, minced
  • 1/2 cup canola oil
  • Lime wedges for the table
  • Extra cilantro
  • Salt or fish sauce
  • 1/4 cup Lime juice
Directions
  1. Rinse the wings and pat them dry. Take each wing and fold the tip up and over the drumette to form a triangle.
  2. Take two skewers and holding them a 1/4 to 1/2 inch apart spear the wings through the two bones that form middle portion (tip, middle, drumette) of the wing. Then push the skewers through the drumette as close to the bone as you can.
  3. Season the wings with salt. Let them sit until the salt is absorbed by the wings. You can do this up to 24 hours in advance letting the wings rest uncovered in the fridge.
  4. To make the salsa combine the shallots, chile, cilantro, lime juice and salt or fish sauce. Let this mixture sit for 10 minutes. Add the oil and combine.
  5. Ready your grill for direct high heat grilling, or turn your oven to 400 degrees. When the coals are hot grill the wings, brush on the marinade as you go unless you marinated in advance and then you don't need to.
  6. Grill the wings until they are good and caramelized. Then remove the wings from the grill to a sheet tray with sides. Coat the wings with the remaining salsa and cook them until the wings are tender or the salsa has lost its raw taste.
  7. Place the wings on a platter and pour the pan juices over the wings and scrape off any and all bits of shallot onto the wings. Top with cilantro and serve with lime wedges.

See what other Food52ers are saying.

  • Stella
    Stella
  • msmely
    msmely
  • KimmyV
    KimmyV
  • Dorie Fannon
    Dorie Fannon
  • AntoniaJames
    AntoniaJames

7 Reviews

Gingle January 4, 2021
I made this last night. It was tasty, though I wonder if it wouldn't have been better with chicken thighs instead of wings? I cooked them in the oven, and had to use the broiler a bit to crisp the skin up. Unfortunately, that burned all the shallots in the pan. I was sad about that. I served the 'salsa' on the side too, so that helped provide more flavor to the wings. I served these with a chopped salad with a peanut dressing. Thank you for the recipe!
 
Stella July 22, 2016
Made these tonight and they were a huge hit! I omitted the chile and used olive oil instead. Also added ground ginger as the wings were salted. Very addictive and satisfying with grilled veggies.
 
msmely July 6, 2016
I adapted this to a whole chicken instead of wings. For one whole chicken I used 1/4 cup of fish sauce and that was a good level of saltiness. I spatchcocked and marinated the chicken for 24 hours and then grilled it over high heat indirect heat skin side down until it was all cooked. The skin caramelized
nicely despite no added sugar, I suspect the abundant amounts of minced shallots were helpful here as well.
 
KimmyV May 10, 2015
I made these tonight and they were a big hit. My kids and I just finished a book about a missionary to Burma so we decided to cook some Burmese inspired food. The flavors of the shallot lime and cilantro were so good. We made a yellow rice dish to go with the wings. I had made extra marinade and so we added that to our finished rice. So much flavor! Thanks for a great recipe.
 
Dorie F. January 29, 2014
Can't wait o try this recipe !!
 
AntoniaJames July 26, 2013
Made these for my sons. They are so easy to make, and were much enjoyed. Great recipe! ;o)
 
thirschfeld July 26, 2013
Thanks AJ. They do come together easily don't they?