Braised Mango Habanero Ribs and Vietnamese Wings

I woke up yesterday morning (Sunday) and just craved these Vietnamese chicken wings that my mom makes.  They are amazingly crispy and she tosses it with a fish sauce (Nuoc Mam) mixture that she makes.  You have all these all these amazing flavors going on from sweet to salty to spicy...delicious!  Sounds gross to some since fish sauce is either a love or hate kind of sauce.  But I was too lazy to go to the store to get wings.  A couple hours later, she calls and asks if I was going to come over because she was going to make the wings.  She read my mind!

For dinner that night, I was just going to throw a slab of ribs on the grill that I had in the freezer and call it a night.  But after that phone call, I went running.  I did still have the ribs that I was planning to grill in the fridge so I thought it would be fun to get creative with it.  My Mom had given me some mangoes the previous weekend that I need to eat and I had a habanero sitting there that had not been touched in a while.  So I figured grilled mango habanero bbq sauce on my grilled ribs.  Then realized that I did not want to get the grill going for just a slab of ribs.  Then came the idea of braised mango habanero ribs.  I had prepared everything at my place so when I get to my parents, I could just start on it.

When I got to my parents, my Mom put me to work.  Guess I had to work for my wings.  She had me make the wings, which I am fine with since I really wanted it.  The wings are not seasoned or marinaded.  They are just coated in tapioca starch and then deep fried.  The key is in the sauce.  This was simple too.  Fish sauce, sugar and garlic.  I made a separate sauce in threw in some Thai chili peppers for heat.    Immediately after the wings come out, dip it in the sauce real quick and that is it!

I had started my ribs a little while before the wings started so it was finishing up as the wings finished. For the preparation, I browned the ribs, took it out of the pan and poured in my homemade chicken stock and added in my mango mixture that consisted of mango, onion, garlic, ginger, cilantro and habanero.

Funny story.  The habanero at my place had gone bad so I asked my Mom to grab me just one while she was at the store.  For one, she did not know what habanero was nor the heat that it gives off.  I told her just one.  She called me at the store and asked me again if I am sure just one.  I told her yes and she called again to make sure.  Little did she know, she was shocked how spicy it was as she was eating the ribs.