Video Recipe: Yummy Thai Dove Nugs for Super Bowl Sunday
Have some buddies (or gal pals) coming over for Super Bowl Sunday? Dove season’s over, but we bet you might have some bags in the freezer.
Ditch the chicken wings. Try this out instead and impress your crew.
Ingredients
For The Nugs
-15 whole dove breasts, filleted off the bone (makes 30 nugs) (Also tasty using 5-6 boneless, skinless chicken thighs, fat removed and cut into 1” chunks)
-1 cup buttermilk
-2 cups all-purpose flour
-Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
-Canola oil – about 3-4 inches worth in the bottom of a large, heavy pot
For the Sauce
-3 Tablespoons butter
-4 cloves garlic, minced
-1 teaspoon grated ginger (roughly a 1” section of ginger, peeled & microplaned)
-2 Tablespoons honey (easy clean tip: spray your Tablespoon with a little oil & the honey will slide right off!)
-2 Tablespoons soy sauce (we used the low sodium version)
-2 Tablespoons hot sauce
-1 lime, zested and juiced
-2 jalapeños, sliced
-2 green onions, sliced (if they’re little, maybe 3)
-2 Tablespoons of cilantro, chopped (that’s about a small handful)
Prep
Place the dove breast filets in the buttermilk – refrigerate overnight if possible – but even a few hours will help tenderize.
To make the nugs, start by heating up your oil. Fill your large, heavy-bottomed pot with about 3-4” of canola oil. Heat on med/med-high.
Meanwhile, dump the 2 cups of flour into a large ziplock bag. Add a generous amount of salt and pepper and shake to combine. Using a slotted spoon, transfer your nugs from the buttermilk to the flour mixture. Shake well to coat the nugs.
Check the oil with an instant-read thermometer – we’re looking for about 350 degrees fahrenheit. Once that is reached – carefully place each nug into the oil – we did 3 batches of 10 nugs to keep from splashing or overcrowding. Fry to a nice, deep golden brown, then remove to a rack to drain. Once all nugs are fried up and cooling on the rack, give them a little sprinkle of salt.
Next, make the super easy sauce. Melt the butter, then add the garlic and ginger. Saute about 30 seconds, then add the honey, soy sauce, hot sauce and lime zest – heat through and stir to combine (about another 30 seconds).
Put the nugs and sauce in a large bowl, add in the jalapeños, green onions and cilantro, squeeze as much lime as you like (we used the whole lime), then stir to combine.
Serve with toothpicks for snackin’ and get ready to be the star of your Big Game celebration!
