Monday 22 March 2010

Quick Stir Fried Chilli Chicken




( I have made this dish with cauliflower too and it tastes just as good ... so vegetarians and vegans can give it a try. )

Chilli chicken has to have chillies. And it should be hot ... real hot. Back home we got chilli chicken that had biggish pieces of chicken ... bones and all ... not the pathetic wee little boneless pieces we get here ... deep fried in a thick batter and tossed in soy gravy.

And did it have chillies! Either chopped or slit lengthwise, it would be full of fresh green chillies that used to be so hot we had to pick them out from the dish before gorging.

Out here, what we get is so different. First you get small bite sized pieces of god-knows-what, dunked into so dark a soy gravy that you feel it has been deliberately used to hide whatever is missing.



And the worse part is you get no chillies. The whole dish would be full of capsicums .... green capsicums ... cut thickly, often bigger than the chicken pieces.
How I hate them! I mean I really cannot understand this obsession with capsicums / bell peppers when it comes to cooking Chinese dishes.

Does not matter if you have good vegetables or not, does not matter if you have good chicken or prawns or not ... just throw in mugfuls of soy sauce and handfuls of ajinomoto and bucketfuls of bell peppers ... and you have a Chinese dish done.
Even the best Chinese restaraunts are obsessed with dunking in bell peppers into dishes.

Anyway, when I want to have chilli chicken, I make some for myself. And I do not go the whole way of deep frying and stuff.
Just a quick toss of things available at home ... and a quick cooking process. And a hot dish is ready.

So if you are home after a long day, just put this on the stove top and put your feet up. Your dinner would be ready in less than half an hour. :-)


Need :

Chicken - 6 to 8 pieces ( I use Real Good )
White Vinegar - around 3 tbsp
Onions - 2, medium sized, sliced thickly
Garlic - 8 cloves, chopped
Green chillies - according to preference, chopped
Soy sauce - 2 tbsp
Sugar - 1 tsp
Salt - to taste
Cooking oil - 1 tbsp

How to :

Marinate the chicken with vinegar ( do not add salt ) and keep aside ( for as long as you make the other preparations).

Chop and slice the vegetables.

Heat oil in a wok / kadahi.

Add the onions, garlic and chillies and stir fry for a while.

After the onions turn pinkish, add the chicken with the vinegar water. Stir for a while.

Add salt, cover and cook till chicken is done. ( No need to add water as the chicken pieces will release water ... but if you are using boneless pieces, you might need to).

Remove cover and check if chicken is tender. Do not overcook it ... it will turn tough.

Add the soy sauce ( remember, soy has salt ... so add accordingly ) and the sugar.
Cook for some more time ... or till desired consistency of gravy.

Serve hot.



Goes great with rice or bread. I love to have it with crisp rotis too.

If you have any left over rice in the fridge, you can add it to this at the last part of cooking ( you will need to adjust the seasonings ) ..... make a great one pot meal too!

Enjoy all !! :-)

PS : Inspite of my repeated requests, my inbox is still being flooded with events & roundups announcements. So this is to declare that I've finally had to put all those mail ids through a sieve that will dump them into trash.



34 comments:

  1. This quick stir fried chili chicken looks and I bet tastes delicious and the cut real green chilies is a must.

    I am with you on the Chinese cuisine nightmare. I can tolerate bell pepper if it is cooked but those half cooked pieces in all the Chinese dishes get my hackles up too and to forget MSG and soy bath.

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  2. Sharmila,
    baire khaba onek kom hoye amader specially eyikhane eshe ..Chinese barite banano prefer kori without ajinamoto/MSG... Chilli Chicken e green lonka nahole to ki bhalo lagey..this looks delicious :)..
    hugs and smiles

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  3. yes lot of green chillies. The flavor of "The Chili chicken" does not come without the chillies. I love it this way. I do batter fry the pieces (gobi or chicken) when I have time and mood, but this is the best.

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  4. This is indeed very tasty. Ami jodio chilli chicken banai na. Amar maa r bor onek ta ei bhabe e banai..

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  5. Serve this with me plain rice and i will be a very happy woman.

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  6. I heart you about capsicum, what is this with capsicum and anything chinese

    I batter fry the pieces and yeah we do need lots of green chili

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  7. Thanks ISG! Right ... those half cooked pieces of capsicum ... yuuuck. :-)

    Thanks Jaya! Aajkal toh dal makhani te o MSG deye. :-)

    Thanks Soma! Haan .. batter fry is for leisurely times. :-)

    Thanks Arundhuti! Eta khub quick ar healthy ... tai ami o ebhabei banai. :-)

    Thanks Happy! It's perfect with plain rice. :-)

    Thanks Sandeepa! This is a quick version ... and without the deep frying a little healthier too. :-)

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  8. looks so yumm i am droolin here,..

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  9. There is so much flavor in this, I can imagine it would work very well with a veggie like eggplant or a meat substitute. Gotta try a vegan version sometime.

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  10. Kii daal makhani te MSG??? baba re baba...kii obosthha!!

    aami chilli chicken baditei banai...kintu ektu aalada recipe te kori. aamio chicken deep fry kori naa, aar ektu thickish gravy rakhii...to go with plain hot rice.
    I love it garnished with fresh chopped spring onions!

    ei recipe ta aaro easy dekhchhii...:-)

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  11. Hi Sharmila

    Your Chili Chicken looks great. As a matter of fact since the pieces are not deep fried it is healthier as well. Dekhei mone hocche je khub bhalo khete hoyeche.

    Deepa
    http://hamareerasoi.blogspot.com/

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  12. Thanks Priyanka! :-)

    Thanks Vaishali! Eggplant sounds great too ... I'll give it a try. :-)

    Thanks Joyee! Yes, almost every dish in restaraunts here have MSG thrown in ... they call it 'tasting powder'. :-)
    All my recipes are easy. ;-)

    Thanks Deepa! Give it a try. :-)

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  13. Thank god no MSG and no bell pepper. I can only take capsicum in small doses.
    As usual seems to be an easy to cook, fun recipe. Adding rice towards the end is an excellent idea. Would be a complete meal by itself.

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  14. Wow, this looks yummy and easy to make too :-). I visited your site after quite some time and needless to say your blogpost again made me feel good. There is a heart felt warmth in your kitchen I think, which reflects on your blog. Keep doing the good work.

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  15. love this 2with some rice..looks tempting and delish..

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  16. Nice chicken recipe. Looks simple and hearty.

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  17. This looks delectable. I love the Chili Chicken with some Mughlai Paratha too.

    You know Sharmila, one time I made a South Indian version of the Chili Chicken, with some curry leaves and cashews thrown in good measure. It wasnt too bad. :-) But this one with prawns was what I like the best: http://preeoccupied.blogspot.com/2009/12/chef-home-chili-prawn.html

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  18. Thanks Aparna! I never use MSG and ask for dishes without it when eating out ( ensures fresh servings ). :-)

    Thanks Arunima! Great to see you back here. :-)

    Thanks Tina! :-)

    Thanks Gulmohar! :-)

    Thanks Divya! :-)

    Thanks Pree! Gotta check that recipe out asap. :-)

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  19. delicious, yummy! I want some :)

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  20. Hi Sharmila, thanks a lot for visiting my blog and leaving the nice comment....tomar blog title ti khub bhalo legechhe...and no need to say u have a good lot of wonderful collection of recipes.....nice meeting u....following u....

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  21. same here sharmila. Hubby always look for the chunkily pieced chilli chickens and now I have the perfect recipe to try.
    Laouki halwa ta fatafati dekhache. kakhano khini sudhu Rakhi Sawant ke banate dekhechi :) eta ebarei try korbo.

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  22. just like my mom's chilly chicken...I picken mine up from there...lonka over capshikam any day

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  23. Thanks Mandira! :-)

    Thanks Kamalika! :-)

    Thanks Sayantani! Tumi Rakhi Sawant ke Lauki ka halwa banate dekhecho?!! Kothaye?!!! :-)

    Thanks Kalyan! :-)

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  24. love this with steamed rice.. they look mouth watering !!

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  25. Hi Sharmila - I'll try out the vegetarian version. Here the Chinese food we get is pa-the-tic to say the least - everything tastes of a silly sweet sauce and absolutely no flavours at all!

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  26. The title alone had me salivating and the pictures definitely wants me to try your recipe!

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  27. I am going to try this recipe for my husband while i can have the vegetarian version...i love cottage cheese so may be that would replace the chicken for a veg.like me.

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  28. hi frst time here u hv wonderful space hr...am ur latest follower ;)

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  29. Thanks Vaishnavi & Kavita!
    You can try this with vegetables or paneer ( you can make a batter of cornflour + water and fry them in a little oil so they do not break later ). :-)

    Thanks Sashi, Nazarina, Subhie Arun! :-)

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  30. this certainly looks like an awesome meal. i love chili chicken and have made it in several variations too. like the flavors in this!

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  31. I bet this was super tasty!!!!

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  32. Thanks Meeta! :-)

    Thanks S! :-)

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  33. Yey!!!!!!
    I will make this again today ...its quick and awesome ...Thanks Sharmila for sharing these lovely recipes with us :D

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