Ingredients
2kg chicken wings 
2 tbsp baking powder 
½ tsp salt 
1 tsp ground pepper 

Sauce Ingredients 
35ml water x 2 
65g sugar  
½ tbsp lime juice 
2 shallots, finely sliced 
1 whole dried red chilli (add more than 1 if you like it spicy) 
1 cinnamon stick 
2 star anise 
½ tsp whole Szechuan peppercorns 
½ tsp  whole black peppercorns 
30ml fish sauce 

Equipment 
A pastry brush

Method
Preheat the oven 120c. 

Put the wings between a few sheets of kitchen rolls to that they dry out. 

Mix the baking powder, salt and pepper in a bowl and lightly coat each wing, gently tapping each wing on the side of the bowl to remove any excess coating.  Put on to an oven tray with a wire rack and put into the oven for 30 minutes. 

In a medium saucepan on a medium heat put 35ml of water, the lime juice and sugar and heat and bring to a boil. Reduce the heat to low and boil without stirring until a deep amber caramel forms. This will depend on how hot your heat is and on what pan you use but expect it to take around 20 minutes. If you stir you could cause crystals to form so fight your urge! If any sugar crystals start to form on the sides of the caramel, take your pastry brush, dip in water and brush the crystallised sugar. 

Increase the oven to 220c and cook for a further 25-35 minutes until golden and crispy. 

Stir in the shallots and spices into the caramel and then remove from the heat and add the fish sauce and remaining 35ml of water. The caramel may harden in places so return to the heat until any hardened caramel has dissolved. 

Either put the caramel over the wings or serve separately for dipping.