Dragon Drumsticks

Dragon Drumsticks

What do you make for four hungry boys that would put a smile on their faces?  Dragon Drumsticks of course!  I named these drumsticks for little Linh, my girlfriend Huong's son,  who's not only teeny tiny but picky as well.  I firmly believe kids aren't picky.  They simply need their palates expanded.  And that's exactly what we did for Linh today who cleaned his plate!

These grilled drumsticks have a savory glaze from a combination of fish sauce, soy sauce and Thai sweet chili sauce and are incredibly juicy.   Finally,  sprinkle toasted sesame seeds for a nutty crunch and you'll be wondering why people even consider deep frying these babies.  

Ingredients

30 Drumsticks (Once again, Costco is the way to go.)

1/3 Cup Soy Sauce

1/3 Cup Fish Sauce

1/2 Cup Sugar

3 TBSP Garlic Powder

1/3 Cup Dried Onion Flakes

1/3 Cup Thai Sweet Chili Sauce 

1/2 Cup Chopped Scallions  

Sesame Seeds

If you've never used Thai Sweet Chili Sauce before,  it looks like the clear orange duck sauce that's used in Chinese restaurants. You can find this at most Asian grocery stores and maybe your local grocer.  But I never bother to go to the major grocers for Asian sauces unless I'm absolutely desperate and pressed for time. 

You'll need a large roasting pan for marinading and cooking this.  I use the long rectangular aluminum catering pans.

STEP 1:  Place drumsticks in pan.  Add soy sauce, fish sauce, sugar, onion flakes and garlic powder. Use your hands to mix ingredients well with drumsticks. 

STEP 2:  Pre-heat oven to 450 degrees and also pre-heat grill to approximately 400 degrees.  You will grill first then finish off in the oven.  Once the grill is hot, grill drumsticks for about 5 minutes with lid off.  Keep an eye on your drumsticks and keep turning them to avoid over charring since the fat on the skin will burn off faster.  Once you've got nice grill marks on both sides, take drumsticks off grill and place them back in the marinade pan.  You should still have marinade sitting in it. 

STEP 3:  Pour Thai chili sauce over drumsticks and toss to coat evenly.  Place pan in the oven for about 20 mins.  Half way through, open oven and sprinkle scallions over drumsticks and cook for remaining 10 minutes. 

STEP 4:  After 20 minutes, take pan out and sprinkle drumsticks with sesame seeds.  

You can enjoy this with rice or noodles. It's so good you can just eat it with plain white rice and just drizzle the juices from the pan over it!  

By the way, this also makes a great party platter.  Brought it to a pool party and one of the moms was amazed that her son, CJ who never eats anything, was actually eating it and went for seconds!  Love them Dragon Drumsticks!!

If you have friends with kids who barely eat anything, pass this on to them and let's let them be the judge.  Keep  me posted!