Hot and Cold: Rachael's Japanese Hot and Sticky Chicken Wings and Cold n Spicy Crab Ramen

For the marinated wings:

• ¼ cup rice wine vinegar
• ¼ cup mirin or sake
• ¼ cup smoked or plain shoyu, soy sauce
• 1 scant tablespoon wasabi paste
• 24 wing drumettes, or 12 chicken legs, drummers
• 1 inch ginger, thinly sliced
• 4 cloves garlic, crushed
• Cooking spray

For the sticky sauce:

• 2 tablespoons butter
• 1 inch ginger, grated or minced
• 4 cloves garlic, grated or minced
• 1 teaspoon coarse black pepper
• 1 cup mirin or sake
• ½ cup smoked or plain shoyu, soy sauce
• 2 tablespoons turbinado, raw sugar or light brown sugar
• 1 tablespoon sesame oil
• 2 tablespoons gochujang chili paste, sambal oelek or sriracha (optional)
• Toasted sesame seeds and minced chives or scallions, to serve

For the spicy crab ramen:

• 12 ounces (1 package) ramen noodles, such as Hakubaku (available online from Walmart) OR 4 packages (3 ounces each) of packaged ramen (discard flavor pouches)
• 2 tablespoons sambal oelek or gochujang chili paste
• 1 inch ginger, grated or minced
• 2 large cloves garlic, grated or minced
• 1 small shallot, finely chopped or minced
• 3 tablespoons soy sauce or shoyu
• 3 tablespoons rice wine vinegar
• 2 tablespoons toasted sesame oil
• ½ cup chives, finely chopped
• ¼ cup mint, finely chopped
• ¼ cup cilantro or shiso leaf, chopped
• 1 lime
• 12 ounces (¾ pound) king crab leg meat or Dungeness crab, picked for shells and pulled
• ¼ cup chopped peppadews, mild or hot, drained and chopped pickled peppers
• 4 large eggs, medium boiled (8 minutes), cooled in cracked shells, then peeled and halved

Whisk up marinade ingredients in a bowl. Place chicken, ginger and garlic in large bag and cover with marinade and refrigerate several hours or overnight.

Preheat oven to 425˚F. Arrange chicken, shaking off excess marinade, on rack-lined baking sheet and spray with cooking spray. Roast chicken about 1 hour to crispy, turning once.

For sauce, in small pot, melt the butter, add ginger and garlic, then swirl in pepper, mirin, sake, soy and sugar. Bring to bubble, reduce by half at low bubble, turn off heat and add sesame oil. For extra-spicy hot wings, add 2 tablespoons gochujang, sambal oelek or sriracha to the sauce.

Toss wings with sauce. Top with sesame seeds and chives or scallions to serve.

For the spicy crab ramen, cook noodles in boiling water 3-4 minutes, drain. Cold shock, and pat dry.

Whisk up sauce in mixing or serving bowl and toss noodles with sauce: hot chili paste, ginger, garlic, shallot, soy sauce, vinegar, sesame oil, herbs and juice of 1 lime; carefully fold in crab pieces. Serve noodles in bowls and top with chopped peppadews and a halved egg.