Thai Peanut Butter Chicken Wings Over Rice Noodle Salad

Ingredients for peanut butter chicken wing marinade:
2 cups smooth natural peanut butter
1/2 cup brown sugar
8 cloves garlic, minced
zest of 1 Lime
1 teaspoon cayenne pepper
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1 cup soy sauce
1/2 cup water
juice of 2 limes

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Ingredients for peanut butter chicken wings:
24 chicken wings
peanut butter chicken wing marinade

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Ingredients for peanut crunch:
peanut oil, for frying
2 red finger chiles, halved, seeded, and sliced
2 shallots, peeled, halved, and sliced
5 T cornstarch
1 cup finely chopped toasted peanuts
salt

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Ingredients for the rice wine vinegar dressing:
1 cup seasoned rice wine vinegar
1 clove garlic, minced
zest of 1 lime
1 teaspoon sesame oil
salt

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Ingredients for the rice noodle salad:
1 8-ounce package vermicelli rice noodles, cooked according to package directions
rice wine vinegar dressing
peanut butter crunch
2 cups bean sprouts
1 carrot, peeled and julienned
1 cucumber, peeled, seeded and diced
1/2 bunch green onion, sliced thin on a bias
1/2 bunch fresh cilantro leaves, leaves picked

peanut butter chicken wings

Preparing the peanut butter chicken wing marinade:
For the peanut butter chicken wing marinade:
Put peanut butter, brown sugar, garlic, lime zest, cayenne pepper, black pepper, soy sauce, water, and lime juice in a large bowl, stir to incorporate and reserve.

For the peanut butter chicken wings:
Score the chicken wings to allow the marinade to penetrate the meat. Put the chicken wings in the peanut butter marinade. Massage the wings in the marinade and put in the refrigerator for 30 minutes to a maximum of 24 hours.

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Line a large baking tray with parchment paper.

Put the wings on a tray and bake in the oven, turning them over half way through the cooking time, until the meat is cooked and the wings are crisp and golden brown, approximately 30 to 45 minutes.

For the peanut crunch:
Fill a large heavy-bottomed pot with enough oil to 1/3 full. Using a deep-fry thermometer to read the temperature, heat the oil to 350 degrees F.

Line a baking tray with paper towel.

Put the chiles in a bowl, coat well with 2 tablespoons cornstarch and fry until golden brown. Remove the chiles from the oil and place on a paper towel-lined baking tray and season with salt, then set aside.

Put the shallots in a bowl, coat well with 3 tablespoons cornstarch and fry until golden brown. Remove from the oil, put on a paper towel-lined baking tray and season with salt, set aside.

Put the crispy fried chiles and shallots on a cutting board and finely chop. Combine the chopped peanuts, fried chiles and shallots in a bowl and set aside.

For the rice wine vinegar dressing:
Put the seasoned rice wine vinegar, garlic, lime zest, sesame oil and salt in a bowl, stir and set aside.

To assemble:
Put the rice noodles in the center of the plate and dress with 1/2 the rice wine vinegar dressing.

Scatter the peanut crunch over the rice noodles. Put the bean sprouts over the rice noodles. Put the carrots around the outside of the rice noodles and bean sprouts. Scatter the cucumber and green onion over the carrots then pour the remaining rice wine vinegar dressing over. Put the peanut butter chicken wings on the rice noodles and garnish with fresh picked cilantro.

Serves 4