Loading...Chicken Lollipop is a popular starter recipe made by deep-frying chicken lollipops marination—a succulent treat for your parties and gatherings.
Due to its name and crispiness, kids love it very much—a perfect choice for Ramadan iftar starters or Ramadan cooking schedule. But you can have it whenever you want. You can serve them as a starter or as a side with Chinese dishes like fried rice or noodles.
Crispy Chicken Lollipops are very famous in our home. It is made once a month in our house. Sometimes with evening tea on Sundays or a starter for dinner. You can also try our Arabic-style Lollipops as well.
What is Chicken Lollipop?
Chicken Lollipop is an Indo-Chinese starter classified as a type of Hors D’oeuvres. It is available at both restaurants and street vendors.
Chicken wings and batter are the main ingredients in this dish. More specifically, the winglet part of the chicken is in use here. Some people use drumettes as well. The tip of the winglet is removed, and the piece is frenched.
In restaurants, the coating or sauce is thicker, and the cavity of chicken lollipops is often filled. But it is the opposite of what we get on the streets.
Chicken Lollipop Vs Drums of Heaven
Both of these terms are pretty interchangeable. They are essentially the same thing with very few differences. Chicken lollipops are fried pieces of chicken winglets marinated in a batter. If you toss them in a sauce, they become heaven’s drums. You can say the drums of heaven are an extension of the chicken lollipop.
The majority of the time, schezwan sauce is the sauce’s main ingredient, or the entire sauce is just the schezwan sauce. However, other elements, like soy sauce, vinegar, etc., are also in use. So if we sum up the difference, drums of heavens are more inclined towards Chinese cuisine because of the ingredients used.
Preparing Sauce For The Lollipops
The recipe for a chicken lollipop or the drums of heaven will differ, but the final look will be more or less the same.
Before going to the ingredients for the sauce, it is to be noted that it will taste better if you use chicken stock. If you do not have the store, then make it out of the tip part of the chicken wings we cut before. Do not just throw that away.
The sauce recipe also depends on the individual making it. However, few ingredients are compulsory. Ginger and garlic are not to be excluded. Some people also add onions to cooking. It will be better to use spring onion in this case.
Red chilli sauce, soy sauce, and vinegar are to be followed. Red chilli flakes are also good to add. If you like, you can also add ketchup to the sauce. If you do not have red chilli sauce, paste the red chilli powder and use it instead. You can add edible red colour and Kashmiri red chilli powder to make it colourful.
Chop the tender coriander stalks to add to the sauce. Then, mix all the above ingredients except the vegetables in the chicken stock before using them in the sauce.
Temper ginger, garlic, and onion in oil. Also, if you want, add chopped green chillies in tempering. You can also stir some vegetables in the sauce before adding the stock—the more, the merrier. Do not miss adding the green part of the spring onion.
After adding the stock mix, also add a cornstarch slurry to thicken the sauce. We are not making gravy but just coating the lollipops in this sauce. You can also add schezwan sauce to this.
Once it is cooked, only then add the chicken pieces. Always add the fried chicken lollipops to the sauce later, just before garnishing. Or else there will remain no crispiness in the chicken pieces.
Lastly, toss it up after the garnishing and your dish is ready.
TR’s Extra Shots:
- You can add turmeric, just a pinch, to bring out the lovely red.
- Red chilli oil is an optional ingredient, but if you add this, the chicken will be more colourful and spicy. Add it to the last stage after the sauce preparation.
- You need to be careful while frying the chicken. There are more chances of the oil drop spluttering on you because of the water in them.
- If you want to remove the skin, then that’s okay. But if you wish to have fat content in them, it will be better to keep the skin.
- Do not keep the pieces for too long in the marination as the salt content (even the vinegar in the sauce) can turn the texture into a rubbery one, and it won’t be pleasant to eat if you use the chicken with skin.
- Half-fry the chicken pieces and store them in the fridge. Fry them later before consumption.
- Add a teaspoon of besan (gram flour) to marinate the chicken pieces. And if you add besan, add a bit of yoghurt to make it taste better.
- Add rice flour and all-purpose flour to the marination to get a crispier texture. Some even use cornflour for it.
- Add cooked chicken mince or spicy/flavoured bread crumbs to the cavity of the chicken lollipops. It will make the recipe lovelier.
- Soak the chicken buttermilk or a salty saturation for a few hours. It will lean out their protein content and make them juicy and tender. It’s called bringing. Do it, especially when you are smoking the chicken.
- Add finely chopped ginger and garlic to the chicken marination. I prefer this, but ginger-garlic paste is also okay to use.
Frequently Asked Questions
What does the word “frenched” means here?
The word “frenched” is the technique used on the chicken. In this technique, you cut the chicken winglet on one side and pull the meat to the other to create the shape and hollow cavity in the “lollipops”. This technique is also used for lamb chops as well.
Please pull the meat of the winglet towards the thinner side rather than the thicker side of the bone. Also, you’ll see two bones after pulling the meat. Remove the thinner one.
Are chicken lollipops and chicken drumsticks the same?
They are similar dishes but not the same. The parts used in both dishes are not always the same. Chicken lollipops are mostly made out of chicken winglet parts. However, the drumsticks refer to the usage of the whole chicken thigh part. The ingredients can also differ in both dishes. And no frenched technique is being used in the case of drumsticks.
Can I omit using eggs in the marination?
Yes, of course. You are using eggs in the marination (egg white and egg yolk will help better coat the chicken in marination and even add to the flavour. Also, it adds to the thickness of the coating. But you can completely omit it if you wish to.
Can you smoke the chicken lollipops?
Yes, you can smoke them if you do not wish to fry them. They take longer to get smoked in comparison to frying them. But you can either use wood or charcoal on the grill you have. Or on the gas grill, even if you have one. But be prepared for the waiting period until they are done.
Similarly, you can opt for baking them in your microwave. It probably takes 35 minutes to be done. An air fryer is also an option use. Spray the cooking oil on the pieces and cook them until they are a nice brown. They may take around 15 minutes but flip them halfway through. However, you can only put four pieces at a time.
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