Tuesday, April 27, 2010

Chilly Chicken

Chilly Chicken is one of our family favorites. Considering the fact that it is an Indo-Chinese dish, I used to think that it is a delicacy of the Chinese which we have altered to suit our taste buds. But now my realization is that it is purely an Indian invention using some of the Chinese ingredients.

If you search for a chilly chicken recipe on the web, you would get tons of them. And the interesting part is these recipes vary a lot in the way they are prepared. So I am assuming it tastes different to different people across the world. For us, the best chilly chicken we have had is from the restaurant "Open House" in Trivandrum. We have a list of restaurants that we would visit every time we go on a vacation to India and this is one of them. They do not have a lot of options on their menu, but their chilly chicken and paratta is one of the best I have tasted. So this is an attempt to recreate the "Open House" taste. The recipe is actually from my mom and I have tried to build on that. Not sure whether this is anywhere near the "Open House" taste, but it tasted good and we enjoyed it!


Coconut Oil- 3 tbsp
Chicken- 1 1/2 lbs
Onion- 2 big (chopped)
Ginger - 1/2 cup (chopped)
Garlic- 1/2 cup (chopped)
Green Chilly- 6 (chopped) - reduce depending on your spice
level
Tomato Sauce- 3 tbsp
Green Chilly Sauce- 3 tbsp
Light Soya Sauce- 3 tbsp
Dark Soya Sauce- 2 tbsp
Corn Starch- 1 tsp
Water- 1 tbsp to 1/2 cup
Salt- to taste


1. Heat oil in a pan. You could use refined oil as well.
2. When the oil is hot, add the onions and saute it until transparent.
3. Add the chopped ginger, garlic and chillies and saute until the raw smell is gone.
4. Add the chicken pieces to this. Chicken pieces should be almost cube sized. Boned
chicken would work best and taste best too. I used boneless this time though.
5. Immediately add the sauces - tomato sauce, chilly sauce, light soya sauce and dark soya sauce.
6. Mix everything well and add salt, if needed. Soya sauce has enough salt that you may not need anymore.
7. Let the chicken cook. Keep stirring in between.
8. When the chicken is done, check the amount of gravy in the pan. This would be water from the chicken, as we have not added any additional water to the preparation at this point.
9. Depending on how much gravy you need, use a tbsp to half a cup of water to mix the corn starch (could use corn flour as well) with out lumps. Add this to the pan and mix well.
10. Cook for 2-3 minutes and turn off the stove.


So if anyone reading this has had the "Open House" chilly chicken, make this and let me know what you think!

44 comments:

  1. one of my fav starter, looks mouthwatering...

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  2. looks mouthwatering fathima... great recipe...we too love chilly chiken ..

    Love
    KS

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  3. Seeing the snap only i am slobbering...just thinking how much tasty it would be...I am loving it....:)

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  4. This one is my fav ...always love chinese food.

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  5. Lovely picture of the forever tempting chilly chicken.... Other than Indian cuisine, I think Chinese is another option for everyone.. It has something special & luscious for everyone.... Be it veg or non veg.... Very yummy!!!!

    Ash....
    (http://asha-oceanichope.blogspot.com/)

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  6. Wooow!!!Fathima,,chilly chicken looks great dear with lot of red onions hmm looks superb n delicious..makes me hungry n mouthwatering..

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  7. Cant take my eyes from the chicken, wat a tempting chilly chicken, mouthwatering here..

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  8. i tried to comment, but ur comment box was not there. now its ok.
    Chilly chicken is my fav. i like to have it with porotta.
    yummm. looks very tempting.

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  9. yeah I agree with asha ... next to indian , My vote is for chinese ... this looks incredibly good .. beautiful presentation as well

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  10. wow....drooling here..looks so yummy n spicy!

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  11. Heard a lot about open house chilli chicken from my husband.but never got a chance to taste it.Lemme try this...

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  12. looks mouthwatering fathima... great recipe...we too love chilly chicken ..

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  13. Chili chicken looks too delicious...very tempting clicks :)

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  14. Lovely and yummy chilly chicken!! Its one of our favorites..

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  15. Wow!!! it is looking very delicious.

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  16. Asalamwalikam,
    First Time Here,lovely recipe and beautiful pic..too


    http://hyderabadicuisinerecipes-angel.blogspot.com/

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  17. Welcome back..dish looks nice!!

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  18. Hy Fathima,

    Such a coincidence...My recent recipe is chilly chicken too. I love your version n perfect presentation too. Some Awards are waiting for you in my blog. Stop by to collect them.

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  19. I love chilly chicken very much. One of my favourite dish. Looks delicious, spicy and mouth watering.

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  20. Spicy chili chicken sounds so great! yum!

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  21. hey Fathima
    thanks for dropping by... love the look of the chilli chicken, one of my fav dishes as it happens. will try your recipe out as well. Look forward to 'sharing' meals over this space. cheers.

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  22. Hi Fathima! Ur chilli chicken looks yumm ya! Wish I can have some now...;)

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  23. what a tempting looking chilli chicken!!!! Mouthwatering clicks dear

    Deepa
    Hamaree Rasoi

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  24. This chilly chicken is so so absolutely delicious:-)))))

    Am also here to tell u something interesting!!!
    SUper giveaway at this link...psst psst, am sure u love LE CRUESET ,dont ya?
    Well its jus one of the goodies u can chose:-))))

    http://brightmorningstarsfoodie.blogspot.com/2010/04/my-1st-sunshine-giveaway-thanxxx-aton.html

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  25. Hii Fathima,,How are you there dear?..Thanks for ur lovely comment on my recipe n thanks for ur information reg South African event dear,,sure i will participate in that event dear.

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  26. tempting..this looks very different from what i usually make..will have to try this one day!!

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  27. lovely and yummy looking chili chicken. My all time fav one. Pics look awesome. Beautiful clicks.

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  28. Like almost everyone else I too love Indo-Chinese :-)This looks too good

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  29. This looks absolutely delicious..its one of my favorites...You have a wonderful space...following u...

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  30. i love chilli chicken too...havent made it in a while but this is making me want 2 make it right away

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  31. The chili chicken looks fabulous! Spicy and flavorful. Just what I love!

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  32. The Dish lukks very yummy and nutritious....
    Wish I get this thru post !

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  33. Seems the Chicken used for the dish is frm a royal family....Its so Ricchhh........!

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  34. Its Ummy, thanks a lot!!!! I tried one more thing to this, I fried the chicken mixed with a little turmeric and chilly powder and then added to this. Almost there with the Open house taste. You wont believe, one
    of my reasons to regularly visit TVM is Open house.

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  35. Red Chilly powder is the key for that recipie. I had the privilage of the cook from Open House to make chilly chicken for us at my house.

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    Replies
    1. Thank you for sharing this info. Now I need to try altering the recipe with that combination to see if I can reach that wonderful taste!

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  36. I came across your blog while looking for some chilli chicken recipes and liked a lot. How amazing! I will keep an eye on your post.

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  37. I m from Trivandrum, settled in Canada.. I miss 'Open House' chilly chicken alot.. Thanks for posting the recipe... I made it.. And was wonderful...

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