Calcutta Chilli Chicken

Calcutta Chilli Chicken

In our hostel days, we used to have two days a month when special dinners used to be laid out.And being fed the bland dal-chawal and a miserly piece of fish on most days those two days were looked up to.But the menu, more or less, used to be staple - Indian Styled Fried Rice and Chili Chicken whereas on the other day it used to be Biryani.I vividly remember, we used to queue up with the plate in our hands and the cooks used to pour the fried rice and chili chicken on our plates.Those days chili Chicken wasnt the Boneless variety.But rather they were hard bony pieces, but we loved it a lot.The Chili Chicken which I cook is heavily inspired by the Hostel's Chilli Chicken.It is very much similar to the dry Chilli chicken excepting the fact that I use one sauce more and it tends to be little sweet-ish. Much like the Bengalis love it - Rich in taste and bursting with flavours.
And as you can already forsee, there are a few very good combinations to choose for this dish with Paranthas and Bengali Fried Rice.

Stage I: Preparing the Batter
Ingredients:

• Boneless Chicken -  250 gms.Cut into 1.25 inch cubes.These pieces will be a little bigger than the Dry Chilli Chicken.
• Corn Flour - 4 tb sp.
• Egg - 1.
• Dark Soya Sauce - 2 tb sp.
• Green Chilli Sauce - 2 tb sp.
• Red Chilli Sauce - 1.5 tb sp
• Salt: To taste.

Mix the ingredients together and keep aside for 2 hours.

Stage II - Frying the Chicken

• Ingredients: Marinaded Chicken Slices.
• Vegetable Oil - 6 tb sp. 

Procedure:

• Heat the vegetable oil in a wok.
• Once oil gets hot, take the chicken slices from the batter and fry until the chicken pieces turn golden brown.
• Remove the fried chicken pieces and put them on a tissue to soak in the excess amount of oil.

Stage III:Cooking

• Green Chilli - 3.Slit.
• Garlic - 4 cloves.Sliced.
• Black Pepper Powder - 1 tsp.
• Onion - 1 Medium.Peeled Slices
• Capsicum/Bell Pepper/Smila Mirch - 1 
• Dark Soya Sauce - 2 tb sp
• Fried chicken pieces.
• Corn Flour - 1.5 tb sp.
• Vegetable Oil - 3 tb sp
• Sugar - 1.5 tsp
• Salt - To taste

Procedure:

• Under medium oven setting, heat the vegetable oil in a wok.
• Once the oil gets hot, add the sliced garlic,black pepper and green chillies.
• A garlic-y smell will evolve with a touch of the green chillies.
• Add the Peeled Onion Slices and Capsicum to the wok.Then add the sugar.
• Wait until the onion turns brown and the rawness of the capsicum disappears.
• Then add some amount of water and dark soya sauce
• Dissolve the corn flour in a little amount of cold water and add it to the mixture.
• Stir immediately upon adding the corn flour otherwise the corn flour will become crumbles.
• Note that immediately the mixture will become thick and dense/
• Add the chicken pieces then.
• Add some more water and cover the wok with a lid.
• Let the chicken cook for 35-40 mins - at the end of which it should be done.

Serve with paranthas/Bengali Sweet fried rice.