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Oven-baked Spicy Asian Chicken Wings

Oven baked crispy teriyaki chicken wings

I love chicken wings, especially for bentos. They are small and much easier to pack than legs, and come with a readymade handle, especially the drumettes (the thickest part). So I try various recipes for them. Many of the tastiest ways of cooking chicken wings involve deep-frying. I don't know about you, but as much as I love fried chicken, especially karaage, I do not like deep frying too often.

This is an oven baked version that tastes very fried-chicken like, with a crispy finish that stays that way for a while even when cold. I've given them a spicy-savory-sweet flavor; the spice comes from gochujang, a miso-like Korean chili pepper paste that I have a serious crush on. (See my previous recipe using gochujang.) I'm calling them Asian since they have that kind of pan-Asian flavor that is so popular these days. They are of course, perfect for bentos. I'd suggest having some for dinner and setting aside some for bentos. You may have to hide the ones set aside from midnight fridge raiders though.

Quinoa Makizushi - an idea from Heston Blumenthal

My mother brought me a book to look at recently. It's called Heston Blumenthal at home. Amongst the recipes was a technique which I think would be of interest to the Just Bento community. I wish I could say that I could have come up with it myself but there is a step which makes quinoa suitable for spreading and rolling in nori I would never have ever considered trying. I won't go into too much detail as I have no wish to infringe his creative copyright but the basic principle is easy to share. To begin with, his tips for preparing quinoa:
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