Swiss Chicken Wings (瑞士鸡翅 ruì shì jī chì)

Serve: 3~4

Preparation time:
Day 1: 10 mins
Day 2: 40 mins

Ingredients

• Chicken Nibbles or chicken wings (800-900 grams)
• Licorice roots (3-4 slices)
• Brown sugar (250-300 grams) or (one bar)
• Ginger (6 slices)
• Spring onions (6-8 sprigs)
• Light soy sauce (300 ml)
• Dark soy sauce (100 ml)
• Water (100ml)

Cooking method

Day 1

• Put 3 slices of ginger and 3 sprigs of spring onion into a large pot of water and bring to boil
• Once the water is boiling, add all chicken nibbles or wings for 2 minutes in order to rinse off blood and other impurities.
• Place chicken nibbles or wings into a colander to drain off the liquid and then put into the fridge for an overnight

Day 2

1. Prepare the sauce

• Put 3-4 slices of licorice roots, 3 slices of ginger and 3-4 sprigs of spring onion, ¾ bar or 250 grams (or one bar or 300 grams if prefer sweater sauce) of brown sugar, 300ml light soy sauce, 100ml dark soy sauce, and 100ml water into a large cooking pot
• Bring to boil and taste to adjust if more quantity of specific ingredients needs to be added (optional - small quantity of vegetable oil can be added)

2. Cooking the chicken nibbles or wings

• Bring sauce to boil
• Remove chicken nibbles or wings from the fridge and add into the boiling sauce
• Cook for 30 mins till the meat is tender
• Garnish with chopped coriander leaves (optional)

Tips

1. Most of ingredients can be found in local Chinese grocery stores
2. While cooking, turn each piece of chicken nibbles or wings from one side to another to ensure even coloring from the marinade
3. Sauce can be reused for the second time. Please ensure to bring sauce to boil, cool off and then put into fridge for next use.

This much-loved recipe has been a secret (秘方mì fāng) in my family that I have now broken ranks to share openly. It all started in 1938, Hong Kong just began to open western-style restarurants and “Tai Ping Koon” (means “Peace Café“ 太平馆餐厅 tài píng guǎn cān tīng) was among the first few. In fact, Tai Ping Koon was actually founded in 1860 (Qing dynasty 清朝qīng cháo) by a chef at a western trading company in Guangzhou, south China. He later set up his own restaurant branches in Guangzhou (广州guǎng zhōu) and then Hong Kong (香港xiāng gǎng).

^{Sourced from Wikimedia Commons: Pottinger Street, Hong Kong c.1930 where Tai Ping Koon used to have a branch restaurant nearby.}

5 generations of my family frequented Tai Ping Koon in Hong Kong regularly to this day. Whilst we love every single dishes on the menu, “Swiss Chicken Wings” no doubt has always been a stand-out among all our favourites.

There is a great story behind the naming of this dish. Apparently, Swiss chicken had nothing to do with the country of Switzerland (瑞士ruì shì). It was in fact meant to be “Sweet chicken” but was mis-pronounced by one of the waiting staff whilst serving the dish to some foreign customers back then. The customers loved this dish so much and the word of mouth spread. So the name of “Swiss Chicken” stayed and the rest was history!

One day (some 40+ years ago) while my whole family was dinning there, my grandmother started to wonder what was the secret of this Swiss Chicken Wings‘ recipe. Of course, the staff there could not and would not be able to disclose the secret. The only way was to figure it out ourselves. True to her love of cooking, my grandmother took away this dish and attempted to decode the ingredients at home.

My grandmother was rather certain of soy sauce, sugar, ginger, and spring onions being used in this dish, but the herbal ingredients were a mystery. So, a family competition began which involved all my aunts (my father’s sisters) to make their version of Swiss chicken wings as closely-matched as with Tai Ping Koon’s. Finally, my #4 aunt (the 4^th sister of my father) managed to crack the code – the unique sweetness came from the licorice roots and cane sugar! My family then brought over our version to Tai Ping Koon and let the chef and staff taste the difference. The verdict – a happy face and a thumbs-up from them!

Today, we still frequent Tai Ping Koon in Hong Kong for family gatherings. We often find ourselves reminiscing the old days, the stories, and the joy being with the family over a nice meal (Swiss Chicken Wings, of course, included) in our favourite restaurant full of history!

Having not been able to travel overseas under the pandemic, I am truly missing my family and friends in Hong Kong. “Swiss Chicken Wings” has become my comfort food in Newcastle and the world does feel a bit smaller!

Cher Jones – Director, Institution Relations, Greater China