Drums of Heaven (Sweet and Spicy – Indo-Chinese)

Drums of heaven, also known as chicken lollipops, are an Indian and Chinese crispy fried chicken recipe, layered in a sticky, sweet, spicy and soy infused gravy and certainly not one to be missed. It is a famous recipe and a popular street food snack on the streets of Kolkata. This is perfect if you are having people around and want to have something that everyone can share!

Why this recipe is a star?

• Drums of Heaven / Chicken Lollipops: This is basically an Indian and Chinese fried chicken recipe. This sentence alone should tell you that this fried chicken recipe is going to be infused with delicious spices and sauces because every single time these two cultures come together (like in my chilli paneer, chilli tofu or dragon prawns recipes), a lot of magic happens.
• Perfect for a get-together: If you are hosting a dinner party or a get-together of some sort, then this is a perfect starter and appetizer that you can serve up.
• Sweet and spicy gravy: The sweet and spicy element to this recipe is super well balanced and won’t be too hot for anyone, especially those who are new to these flavours. It has just the right amount of heat from the chilli powder that we marinate our chicken in.

What are drums of heaven?

Drums of heaven are either chicken drumsticks or chicken wings that have been cut to be ‘lollipops’ i.e. all of the chicken meat has been moved to the top of the drumstick (or wing), to expose the bottom half of the chicken bone. The end of the drumstick or wing is usually cut off too and sealed with foil paper when served.

Ingredients for drums of heaven?

• Chicken drumsticks: I used three chicken drumsticks as I made a small appetizer for my brother and mum, but if you are cooking for more people, then of course use more. Chicken wings are also super popular to make drums of heaven with. You can use either or for this recipe.
• Plain flour: This really helps to hold the chilli batter together that we are going to create. If we solely rely on cornstarch there is a chance that it could all fall apart!
• Cornstarch: This works to create a really beautiful crisp to the chicken drumsticks and absolutely essential! You could also substitute this with potato starch as well if you don’t have any cornflour to hand.
• Water: You’re going to add a splash of water to make all of the ingredients into a thick paste.
• Chilli Powder: This is going to deliver some flavour and heat. We are not going over-board in the marination of the chicken drumsticks because a lot of the flavour will be added when cooking the sauce. If we were creating, solely, a fried chicken recipe, then we would be adding way more flavours at this stage.
• Pepper: As per the chilli powder, this is for subtle flavour and very slight heat.
• Salt: Add around one tsp of ground up salt. Be careful when you are adding salt at this stage as you want to make sure you are not going overboard as the saltiness will come from the sauce.

Drums of heaven gravy ingredients?

• Soy sauce: You can use a combination of normal soy sauce and dark soy sauce. I would be careful with how much dark soy sauce you add because usually this is just for that nice colour.
• Oyster sauce: This is going to add that nice Manchurian taste to the food, and essential to this recipe!
• Sweet and spicy sauce: I use the maggi sweet and spicy sauce but you can add whatever you have in the pantry, most sweet and spicy sauces will be fine here.
• Honey: This is going to add a super nice glaze and subtle sweetness to this recipe. If you prefer this recipe on more of the sweeter end, feel free to add more.
• Spring onions: We will use both the white and green parts. The whites are for frying in olive oil and the green parts are for garnish, or adding to the sauce at the very end.
• Garlic: This is going to elevate your dish to the next level! Infusing your sauce in fresh garlic adds another dimension of flavour that is excellent in this recipe.
• Cornflour slurry: This is going to thicken the gravy.
• Sesame seeds: For garnish, but if you don’t have this to hand then use another garnish like spring onions, parsley or coriander.

Making drums of heaven, step-by-step instructions.

How to make a chicken lollipop? Step by step instructions.

See below for my instructions and also my step-by-step photos.

1. Cut around the bone of the chicken drumstick.
2. Once you have properly pierced through the meat, push the meat upwards to expose the bottom half of the bone.
3. Place the chicken drumstick bone side upwards and trim any excess off. You should now have the chicken meat at the top half of the drumstick.
4. Now remove the meat from the bottom half of the chicken drumstick.

Note: this process is relatively hard, especially if you are a beginner! Give it a few goes, you will get there!

How to make drums of heaven? Step-by-step instructions for cooking the chicken.

See below for my instructions and also my step-by-step photos to cook the chicken. 

Note: I deep-fried my chicken, which in my opinion is the best way to make this dish!

1. Marinate the chicken in plain flour, cornstarch, chilli powder, salt and a splash of water until it forms into a thick paste. Let this marinate for 30 minutes to an hour (longer if you can!).
2. In a wok, heat up your oil on high heat and once hot, reduce your heat all of the way down and add in your chicken lollipops.
3. Flip the chicken after around ten to twelve minutes.
4. Remove the chicken drumsticks or wings from the pan and rest on a rack once golden and crispy and has been fully cooked through.

Step-by-step instructions for cooking the sauce.

1. Follow the below steps for step one of the chicken lollipop gravy.
   1. A) Cut up your spring onions (separating the whites from the green parts), finely chop your garlic and prepare your cornflour slurry (one tsp of cornflour and a splash of water).
   2. B) Prepare your sauce combination in a bowl and mix all together (soy sauce, dark soy sauce, honey, oyster sauce and sweet and spicy sauce).
   3. C) Add some oil and once heated, add your white spring onions and garlic to a saucepan.
2. Once fragrant, add in all of your sauce and allow that to come to a bubble.
3. Add your cornflour slurry to the sauce and allow that to thicken. If it has thickened too much, add a splash of water until it gets to your desired consistency.
4. Place your chicken lollipops on a plate and lather the sauce on top or grab the end of the chicken lollipop and dip it in the sauce, while spinning it around to get an even coating.

Expert tips?

• Marinating the chicken: The longer that you leave the chicken to marinate, the stronger your flavours will be. I marinated my chicken for around an hour or so.
• Marination paste: The trick to making your chicken crispy here is to add a minimal amount of water so that you create a thick marination paste. If it is too loose, your chicken batter will be thin and get soggy when frying.

Substitutions and variations?

Some of the common substitutions are the following:

• Chicken wings: You can absolutely use chicken wings instead of chicken drumsticks and the recipe will still come out super lovely. The wing will be smaller and therefore require a shorter cooking time.
• Gravy sauce and marinade for the drums of heaven:
  • Once you have built up your pantry full of both Indian and Chinese ingredients, you will find that you will have lots of spices and sauces at your disposal. For example, if you wanted to make the marinade to the fried chicken more flavourful you could add a whole host of ingredients like turmeric, onion powder, garlic powder, curry powder etc.
  • You could also use a light soy sauce or tamari instead for the gravy, especially if you are trying to watch your sodium levels!