Cooking with Colm O'Gorman: My chicken and king prawn spice bag

You'll never dial in for a spice bag again 

Crispy, spicy, deliciousness - serve on parchment for extra authenticity. 

This week’s recipe is a bit of a treat, a chicken and king prawn spice bag. I adore a good spice bag, and as this recipe is a lot healthier than the deep-fried take-away version but tastes amazing, I make it a lot.

Use shop-bought oven chips for convenience if that suits but making your own is also very simple. I use about a kilo of potatoes to make the chips for this recipe, and I usually leave the skins on. If you want to make your own gorgeous chips, heat your oven to 250°C.

Wash and cut your potatoes into chips and rinse thoroughly. Bring a pot of water to the boil and pop in the chips. Blanch them for three minutes. Drain and allow any remaining moisture to steam off for a minute or two before tossing the chips in a little olive oil and some fine polenta if you have any.

If not, just the oil is fine. Put them on a baking tray and roast for 30 minutes, turning once halfway through. Simple as that, delicious homemade oven chips. Now for the rest of your spice bag.

Chicken and king prawn spice bag

recipe by:Colm O'Gorman

This is a lot healthier than the takeaway version

Servings

4

Preparation Time

 5 mins

Cooking Time

 40 mins

Total Time

 45 mins

Course

 Main

Ingredients

• 750g chicken wings

• 200g raw king prawns

• 4 tsp potato starch or cornflour

• 1 ½ tsp baking powder

• 4 portions of oven chips

• 1 large onion

• 2 bell pepper, one each of red and green

• 2 cloves garlic

• Some ground black pepper

• For the spice mix:

• 2 ½ tsp flaky sea salt

• ½ tsp chilli powder

• 1 tsp white pepper

• 1 tsp onion salt

• 1 tsp five-spice powder

Method

1. Start by preparing your chicken wings. Cut the wings into three sections and discard the tips. Use some kitchen towel to dry the wings. Pop the wings into a bowl and sprinkle over the baking powder and two teaspoons of the potato starch. If you do not have any potato starch, you can use cornflour instead. Mix everything well to coat the wings in the baking powder and potato starch.

2. For beautifully crisp wings, cook them in an air fryer. Place a layer of wings in the basket of your fryer, do not pile them over each other, instead, leave a little space between each one. Cook at 180°C for fifteen minutes, then turn them over and cook for another ten minutes at the same temperature. If using shop-bought oven chips, put them into the oven not long after you get the wings on as you want both ready at the same time.

3. You can bake the wings in the oven if you do not have an air fryer. If you are using an oven, bake the wings at 190°C n a fan oven for the same amount of time. Just spread them out in a single layer on a baking tray and pop them in the oven. Bake for fifteen minutes, then turn them and bake for a further ten minutes. You can of course cook your oven chips at the same time as the wings. You may need to up the temperature to about 200°C once you take the wings out of the oven for about another five minutes to get the chips golden and crispy.

4. While your wings are cooking, make your spice mix by mixing the spices together in a bowl. You will not need all of this for one meal, but it will keep in an airtight jar or container for future use. Peel, half and then slice the onion. Peel and finely slice the garlic. Wash the peppers and remove the stalk and seeds. Slice them into strips about the same size as your chips and set aside the vegetables and spice mix for now.

5. When your wings have had the full twenty-five minutes cooking time, take them out and toss them in a generous teaspoon of the spice mix. Turn the temperature up to 200°C and pop the wings back in for another six minutes until they are dark golden, and crispy. You might need to allow a little extra time if you are using your oven as that can be a little slower than the air fryer. See how they are at the end of the six minutes and if they are not yet very crisp and golden, pop them back in for another five.

6. In a bowl, mix the remaining two teaspoons of potato starch with half a teaspoon of the spice mix. Dry the prawns with some kitchen towel and toss them in the bowl to coat them well. Warm a little sesame or olive oil in non-stick pan over a high heat, and when it is good and hot, reduce the heat to medium and pop on the prawns. Cook them for about three minutes, before flipping them over and giving them another minute or two. Remove them from the pan and keep them warm while you cook the vegetables.

7. Warm some more sesame oil in a wok, again over a high heat. Add the onion, stir-fry for a minute, then the garlic and peppers. Stir fry for another three minutes or so, you want them to be a little blistered but still have plenty of bite. Sprinkle them with a little of the spice mix and remove from the heat.

8. By now your wings and chips should be ready and you can start to put your spice bag together. Add the chips to a big bowl, along with the wings and a few teaspoons of the spice mix. Toss well to combine and add the prawns and vegetables. Taste and add more spice mix if needed.

9. To get an authentic spice bag feel to the dish, serve them up in some food grade brown paper bags, or as I did, in some large sandwich bags. Sprinkle the finished dish with some finely sliced red chilli and some chopped spring and dive in.