How To Make Chicken Chilly?
Chilli chicken is an all time favourite and perhaps the most popular Indo Chinese dish found in street side carts and restaurants. This restaurant style Indo-Chinese chilli chicken is spicy, mildly sweet and sour loaded with colourful crunchy bell peppers, onion and chillies. It’s scrumptious, full of flavors, and definitely a true chicken lover’s delight!
This quintessential Indo Chinese chilli chicken dry or gravy is a favourite to many and the most famous Indo Chinese dish. From street side carts (fast food corners) to fine-dining restaurants, the Indo Chinese dishes hits the top of the menu in most of these places.
Easy chilli chicken dry is an easy recipe where marinated boneless chicken are deep fried and tossed with ginger, garlic, onion, chillies, colorful capsicums and sauces.
Making restaurant style chilli chicken at home is not that difficult though it might seem like a bit lengthy process. But the good thing about making them at home is that there is no fear of artificial food colour or MSG present in it which the restaurant and food outlet used and ensure that your family enjoys healthy, hygienic and tasty food.
This lip-smacking restaurant style chilli chicken is one appetizer or starter that you can make best at home and enjoy it at the comfort of your home. It’s a perfect dish to have as an appetizer/starter or as a side dish with fried rice, sticky rice and noodles.
As the name, this chilly chicken is spicy. I am a person who loves hot and spicy food so I made it spicy and use the chillies according to my taste buds. But one can cut down the heat as per their palate preference by reducing the chilly powder and the chillies.
The hotness, sweetness and sourness can be adjusted as per your palate preference. We love it spicy, less sweetness and less flour in marination (bread coating in chicken). Also I like to keep the veggies crunchy so I make sure they are not over-cooked and retain the crunch.
You will come across two versions of the dish – dry and gravy. The dry version is usually serve as a starter or side dish. The semi-gravy or gravy version is best with fried rice, plain rice and noodles.
TIPS FOR CRISPY AND TENDER FRIED CHICKEN
● The first thing to make a perfect chilli chicken is choosing the right part of chicken meat. Use boneless chicken preferably chicken thighs. If you are using egg white for marination you can use chicken breast as well. In a perfect chilli chicken the chicken are slightly crisp outside and soft from inside.
● The bread coating i.e. the flour in marination should be perfect, it should not be too thick nor too thick. Use a mixture of cornflour and all purpose flour for the perfect outcome. Cornflour helps to make the outer of the chicken crisp.
● I highly recommend using egg in the marination. It works as a binding agent and also tenderized the chicken and helps the marinade adhere to the chicken. It lends a crisp exterior and a soft and tender chicken inside when fried.
● If you’re not using egg for marination, you can choose some other meat tenderizer like lemon juice, yogurt or your preferred choice.
● The marination should not turn runny. To avoid this, drain the chicken well and squeeze off the water very well before adding to the marination. If you feel it runny add in some flour or if it’s too thick sprinkle some water and mix well.
● Allow the oil to heat properly then reduce the heat and start adding the chicken without overcrowding them.
● Once the chicken is added into the oil fry the chicken over medium heat undisturbed for about 2-3 minutes, then turn over and fry just about 1-2 minutes until golden brown.
● Do not fry chicken over high heat. It will burn the chicken from outside, uncooked from inside and gives an unappealing look to the chicken.
● Avoid over frying the chicken which will make the chicken hard and chewy. It will take just 5 minutes approximately to fry a batch of chicken.
HOW TO MAKE THE BEST CHILLI CHICKEN AT HOME?
Boneless chicken are first marinated in a marinade. The marinade has egg white, tomato sauce, soya sauce, red chilly powder, crushed peppercorn, ginger garlic paste and flours. This boneless marinated chicken are then deep fried which result in a succulent and juicy fried chicken. This fried chicken is then stir fried with ginger, garlic, assorted bell peppers, onion, green chilli, red chilli and finally tossed up in a sauce mixture which has white vinegar, soya sauce, tomato sauce, green chilly sauce, red chilly powder and cornflour. Garnish with spring onions and serve.
INGREDIENTS FOR MAKING CHILLI CHICKEN:
Let’s briefly go through the ingredients that goes inside this chilli chicken recipe and possible substitute of ingredients.
CHICKEN – The recipe uses boneless chicken preferably cut into medium size cubes.
SUNFLOWER OIL – I used sunflower oil. You can use any vegetable oil or sesame oil. Very minimum oil is used since the pork releases it’s own fats. So do not use more oil.
ONION – Normal onion is used here. You can also use whole shallots (small onions). Cut the onions into large wedges or cubes.
CAPSICUM – Used red, green and yellow capsicums for the burst of flavor and colourful look to the dish. Capsicums give a wonderful taste to any stir fry recipe. Cut them into large wedges or cubes and make sure they are not over-cooked.
GINGER & GARLIC – I have used finely chopped ginger and garlic for the stir fry and ginger garlic paste in the marinade. Ginger and garlic impart a lovely aroma to any recipe.
CHILLIES – Green chillies and red chillies are used in the recipe. Both gives different flavor and aroma and also the spice level differs. It also gives a vibrant looks to the dish as well. You can add as per your taste or spice tolerance.
SPRING ONION – I have used the spring onion greens. Make sure you add them after taking off the chicken from the heat. Give a quick stir. Sprinkle some more spring onion greens while serving.
BLACK PEPPERCORNS – Cracked peppercorn is used in the chicken marination. I prefer using peppercorns crushed or cracked rather then store bought pepper powder. You can coarsely crushed or pound the peppercorns in mortar and pestle.
RED CHILLI POWDER –Kashmiri Red chilly powder is used in chicken marination and in the sauce as well. This gives a nice colour to the dish and is less spicy as compared to the normal red chilli powder.
SAUCES – Soya sauce and tomato sauce is used in the marination and in the sauce as well. Also green chilly sauce is used in the sauce. You can replace the tomato sauce with red chilly sauce.
VINEGAR – The recipe uses white vinegar. You can also use the black vinegar. Vinegar adds a lovely flavor and a dash of tang to the dish.
SALT – Himalayan pink salt is used here. You can use the normal salt. Salt is used to the minimum. Be careful while adding salt as soya sauce already has salt. I added the salt as per my taste.
WHAT CAN BE SUBSTITUTED WITH CHICKEN?
This is a versatile recipe and can be easily substituted with other non-vegetarian and vegetarian food. You can cook this recipe with these non-veg food like fish fillets, prawns, crab, squid, beef, buff, goat, lamb and pork.
You can also make a vegetarian version by using paneer (cottage cheese), mushroom, cauliflower, potato etc.
Want to surprise your folks with the best chilli chicken recipe? Why order chilli chicken online when you can make restaurant style chicken chilli recipe at home? Here is how to make chilli chicken at with step by step pictorial instructions and video tutorial! Do try and also share your thoughts about the recipe here in the comments section.
I made a simple video of chilli chicken for my readers which I have shared below. Please do watch and SUBSCRIBE to my channel if you haven’t yet. It will mean a lot to me and motivate me to come up with more videos for my readers. As always looking forward to your feedbacks!
Chilli Chicken Video Tutorial
In a mixing bowl add in the chicken and all the ingredients mentioned in the marination list. Mix well and keep them marinated while you make the other ingredients ready.
In a small bowl add all the ingredients mentioned in the sauce list, mix well and keep aside.
In a frying pan heat the oil. Once the oil is heated reduce the heat and add in the marinated chicken. Do not over crowd them.
Let it fry undisturbed on medium heat for about 2-3 minutes. Turn over the chicken and fry for 1-2 minutes or until golden brown in colour. It will take only 5 minutes approximately to fry the chicken.
Remove and keep aside. Continue the same with the remaining chicken.
In a pan heat 2-3 tablespoon of oil (use the same oil used for frying the chicken).
Add in the chopped ginger and garlic and fry for about 30 seconds.
Add in the onion, capsicums, green chillies, red chillies and season with salt if required. Stir well to combine and fry for a minute.
Add in the fried chicken and and toss well for few seconds.
Stir in the sauce mixture and toss well in high heat coating the chicken and the veggies well with the sauce for about 2 minutes and turn off the heat.
Note : At this stage you can add in 3-4 tablespoon of water if you like to make it slightly saucy or add water as required to make it semi-gravy (You will need to add 1-2 tablespoon cornflour more if you want to make it a semi-gravy way. Make a slurry and add).
Take off the heat and sprinkle the chopped spring onions green and give a quick mix.
Garnish with some more spring onion greens and serve. Enjoy!
NOTES:
● Use boneless chicken for best result. Bone in chicken is not good for chilly chicken.
● If you done want to use egg in marination, you can use 1-2 teaspoon lemon juice. But using egg result in soft chicken and doesnt turn hard once fried.
● I made a dry version, you can make it slightly sauces or semi-gravy/gravy version. Add in water as per your requirement. You will need to add in some cornflour if you are making gravy or semi-gravy version.
● You can also de-seed the red and green chilies and use the chillies as per your heat preference.
● To get the deep red colour of the gravy I prefer to use Kashmiri red chilli powder. It is not spicy but gives a nice deep red colour to the dish.
● Do not add more salt as soya sauce already has salt in it.
● Do not over cook the veggies – onions, capsicums, chillies. They should be crunchy.
● You can also use other cooking sauces and make variations.
RECIPE CARD
Easy Chilly Chicken Dry
Equipment
- Frying pan
- Ladle
- Mixing bowl
Ingredients
For Chilli Chicken:
- 350-400 grams chicken boneless cubes
- 6 cloves garlic finely chopped
- ½ inch ginger finely chopped
- 8 green chilly chopped
- 5 small red chilly chopped
- 2 medium onion large cubes
- ½ of medium green capsicum large cubes
- ½ of medium red capsicum large cubes
- ½ of medium yellow capsicum large
- few leaves spring onion greens
For Chicken Marination:
- 1 teaspoon ginger garlic paste
- 1 teaspoon Kashmiri red chilli powder (paprika or red chilly powder)
- ½ teaspoon peppercorns cracked/crushed
- 1 t teaspoon tomato sauce
- 2 teaspoon soya sauce
- 2 teaspoon cornflour (cornstarch)
- 2 teaspoon all purpose flour (maida)
- 1 egg (use only white)
For Sauce Mixture:
- 1 teaspoon vinegar
- 1½ tablespoon soya sauce
- 2 teaspoon tomato sauce
- 2 teaspoon green chilli
- ½ teaspoon kashmiri red chilli powder
- 2 teaspoon cornflour (cornstarch)
Instructions
- In a mixing bowl add in the chicken and all the ingredients mentioned in the marination list. Mix well and keep them marinated while you make the other ingredients ready.
- In a small bowl add all the ingredients mentioned in the sauce list, mix well and keep aside.
- In a frying pan heat the oil. Once the is heated reduce the heat and add in the marinated chicken. Do not over crowd them.
- Let it fry undisturbed on medium heat for about 2-3 minutes. Turn over the chicken and fry for 1-2 minutes or until golden brown in colour. It will take only 5 minutes approximately to fry the chicken.
- Remove and keep aside. Continue the same with the remaining chicken.
- In a pan heat 2-3 tablespoon of oil (use the same oil used for frying the chicken).
- Add in the chopped ginger and garlic and fry for about 30 seconds.
- Add in the onion, capsicums, green chillies, red chillies and season with salt if required. Stir well to combine and fry for a minute.
- Add in the fried chicken and and toss well for few seconds.
- Stir in the sauce mixture and toss well in high heat coating the chicken and the veggies well with the sauce for about 2 minutes and turn off the heat.
- Note : At this stage you can add in 3-4 tablespoon of water if you like to make it slightly saucy or add water as required to make it semi-gravy (You will need to add 1-2 tablespoon cornflour more if you want to make it a semi-gravy way. Make a slurry and add).
- Take off the heat and sprinkle the chopped spring onions green and give a quick mix.
- Garnish with some more spring onion greens and serve. Enjoy!
Video
Notes
- Use boneless chicken for best result. Bone in chicken is not good for chilly chicken.
- If you done want to use egg in marination, you can use 1-2 teaspoon lemon juice. But using egg result in soft chicken and doesnt turn hard once fried.
- I made a dry version, you can make it slightly sauces or semi-gravy/gravy version. Add in water as per your requirement. You will need to add in some cornflour if you are making gravy or semi-gravy version.
- You can also de-seed the red and green chilies and use the chillies as per your heat preference.
- To get the deep red colour of the gravy I prefer to use Kashmiri red chilli powder. It is not spicy but gives a nice deep red colour to the dish.
- Do not add more salt as soya sauce already has salt in it.
- Do not over cook the veggies – onions, capsicums, chillies. They should be crunchy.
- You can also use other cooking sauces and make variations.
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Well, if you make this chilli chicken recipe, please do leave a feedback in the comments box below or snap a photo and tag Akum Raj Jamir on Facebook and akumrajjamir on Instagram with hashtag #atmykitchen. I would love to see your creations.
Thank you so much for stopping by my blog. I hope you liked the recipe. Your valuable feedbacks are always welcome, I love hearing from you guys and always do my best to respond to each and every one of you.
Happy Cooking!
Love Akum
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