Day 120.
Mmm….chicken wings. I love buffalo wings, well, the meatless kind. And these chile chicken wings just sound excellent. The creamy cucumber dip sounded so much like tzatziki I just converted the recipe to a simple tzatziki sauce. Yum.
Vegetarian Chile Chicken Wings with Tzatziki
Adapted from Chile Chicken Wings with Creamy Cucumbers.
Ingredients
For the Chile Chicken Wings:
1/2 C buffalo wing sauce
2 tsp. sriracha sauce
2 Tbsp. tahini (sesame seed paste) or peanut butter
1 tsp. rice vinegar
1 tsp. soy sauce
1 tsp. chopped garlic
1 tsp. chopped fresh ginger
2 C vegan “chicken” strips or pieces
Canola oil, for deep-frying
Cilantro leaves
Sliced scallion
For the Creamy Cucumbers:
1 English (hothouse) cucumber
1 Tbsp. kosher salt
1/2 C Greek yogurt
2 garlic cloves, minced
1/4 tsp.dill
Juice of 1 lemon
1/4 tsp. freshly ground black pepper
Directions
To make the Chile Chicken Wings: Combine the sriracha, buffalo wing sauce, tahini, vinegar, soy, garlic, and ginger in a blender and process on high speed for 10 seconds. Set the chile sauce aside until ready to use or refrigerate for up to 1 week. Use about 1/2 of sauce to coat wings.
Heat 2 inches of oil to 350°F in a countertop electric fryer or deep pot.
Carefully add the wings to the hot oil and fry in batches until they are crispy, 5-7 minutes. Transfer the wings to a large bowl. Add enough of the remaining chile sauce to coat and toss well.
To serve, arrange the wings on a platter and garnish with cilantro and scallion. Serve immediately with the creamy cucumbers and the remaining chile sauce on the side for dipping.
Dice cucumber. Put the cucumber in a medium stainless steel or glass bowl; add the salt and mix thoroughly to combine. Set aside for 10 to 15 minutes. Add the yogurt, garlic, dill, and lemon juice. Toss to combine; season with the pepper. Refrigerate until ready to use or for up to 2 days.
The Results
So, I can’t really read directions. And also I didn’t have all the original ingredients, so I ended up making a lot of originally unintended changes to these wings. But they were freaking fantastic. I’m pretty sure I could eat a bowl of that chile peanut butter sauce, followed up by a bowl of the tzatziki.
And I used gardein “wings” for the chicken and they were awesome also. They fried up really well. I completely did this recipe. I’ll have to remember these for Father’s Day. These vegetarian chile chicken wings would be a great lounge around and watch a game on TV kind of meal.
Tzatziki fan? Try it with falafel too!
This post is shared with What’s for Lunch Wednesday and Muffin Tin Monday.