Tamarind spiced chicken wings

A fragrant fusion dish from Heddon Street Kitchen...

Mix all the ingredients for the marinade together in a large bowl and add the chicken wings. Cover the bowl and place in the fridge for at least 1 hour but preferably overnight.
While the chicken wings are marinating, make the tamarind sauce. Start by toasting the spices: place a dry frying pan over a medium heat and when it’s hot, add the chilies, fennel seeds, cumin seeds, coriander seeds and black peppercorns. Heat the spices for 1-2 minutes to release the aromas then crush them to a coarse powder in a pestle and mortar or spice grinder.Place a saucepan over a medium heat and add some vegetable oil. When hot, sweat the sliced onion with the garlic and bay leaves until soft.
Add the spices to the pan and allow to cook for 5 minutes. Then add the tomato paste and cook out for a further 3 minutes.
Add the sugar, honey, ketchup, Worcestershire sauce, vinegar, chicken stock and coriander stalks to the pan and stir to combine.
Drain the softened tamarind, discarding the liquid, and add it to the pan.
Allow the ingredients to cook for 1-2 hours so that all the spices come together and infuse the sauce.
Pass the sauce through a fine sieve, discarding the pulp, and pour into a clean saucepan. Place the pan over a medium heat and reduce the sauce until it coats the back of a spoon. Season with salt and keep warm.
After the wings have had time to marinate, remove them from the fridge and coat each wing in flour making sure you tap off any excess.
The wings are now ready to be fried in a deep fat fryer preheated to 190ºC for around 4-6 minutes until golden all over. Alternatively, the wings can be shallow fried or roasted in an oven preheated to 190ºC for 20 minutes.
Once the chicken wings have been cooked, coat the wings in the tamarind sauce and garnish with freshly chopped spring onions and coriander leaves before serving.