Aish Cooks

Chilli Chicken Indo-Chinese Style

Another favorite any-time-of-the-day dish. So yummy with every bite and you can make it saucy, dry or anything in-between. I had some extra chicken from when we made chicken biryani so decided to just make a little chilli chicken – turned out to be a great combination. A couple of ways to make this dish low-carb and clean: Steam cook the marinated chicken and saute afterwards for some fried texture, using very little corn-flour if needed. That way the only sin in this recipe are the sauces!

Source: Adapted from multiple blogs/ recipes

Cooking  Time: Under 30 minutes + 10 minutes marination

Serves: 4

Ingredients:

1. Chicken – 1 lb or 400 gms (small pieces of boneless thigh meat preferred)
2. Oil for shallow fry / saute – 1/2 cup or 1/3 cup

For marination:

1. Cornflour – 1 tbsp
2. Pepper – 1 tsp
3. Soy sauce – 1 tbsp
4. Egg – 1
5. Ginger Garlic paste – 1/2 tbsp
6. Salt – to taste

For the sauce:

1. Oil – 2 tbsp
2. Curry leaves – few (optional)
3. Garlic – 1 tbsp, minced
4. Red chilies – 2 or 3, slit
5. Green chilies – 2 or 3, slit
6. Capsicum / Peppers – 2 medium size, cut into strips or diced (any color)
7. Soy sauce – 2 to 3 tbsp
8. Red Chilli Garlic sauce – 2 tsp or to taste
9. Water or Chicken stock – as needed (I used 1/2 cup water)
10. Salt to taste

Method:

1. Marinate the chicken in the ingredients listed under ‘For marination’ for about 10-15 minutes (refrigeration to get better binding of spices).
2. Heat oil in a pan for shallow fry/ saute, add the marinated chicken pieces and saute until cooked but do not roast or brown too much.
3. Remove the chicken and drain on kitchen towel.
4. Strain the oil used for sauteing and wipe out the pan.
5. Heat a couple of tbsp of the same oil in the same pan.
6. Add the curry leaves, minced garlic, red chilies and green chilies and saute for a minute.
7. Add the pepper strips and some salt (only what’s needed for the sauce, as the chicken already has salt from the marinade) and saute on high heat for about 3-5 minutes until it is cooked but crunchy.
8. Add the soy sauce and chilli garlic sauce and saute for a few seconds.
9. Add the water or chicken stock to bring to desired consistency and bring to a simmer.
10. Check the taste of the sauce to make sure salt and spice levels are as desired. Add more sauces/ salt if needed.
11. Add the cooked chicken pieces and combine together with the sauce and saute on med-high for a couple of minutes and turn off the heat.

Garnish with some onion and tomato rings. Sizzling hot chilli chicken is ready to serve!

Notes:

1. I made the dish dry, but you could add more water to make it saucy if you like. Adding a little cornflour dissolved in the water to the sauce makes it get a better texture for the saucier version.
2. If you have pre-cut frozen pepper strips, this dish is such a cake walk!