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Indo Chinese Chilli Chicken Dry (Hot & Crispy)

Tanvi Srivastava
Chilli Chicken is a crispy Indo-Chinese dish tossed in a spicy, tangy sauce made with chilies, ginger, garlic, and soy sauce. It’s irresistibly bold & packed with umami flavors. Perfect as an appetizer or main dish with fried rice or hakka noodles.
5 from 1 vote
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Prep Time 15 minutes
Cook Time 30 minutes
Marination Time 45 minutes
Total Time 1 hour
Course Appetizer
Cuisine Indian
Servings 4

Ingredients
  

For Chicken Marinade

  • 4 tablespoon (38g) cornstarch
  • 1.5 tablespoon (18g) all purpose flour
  • 1 teaspoon dark soy sauce
  • 1.5 teaspoon garlic paste
  • ½ teaspoon salt
  • ¼ teaspoon black pepper powder
  • 1 (55g) whole egg
  • ¾ teaspoon red chili powder (medium hot) I use degi mirch, adjust to taste
  • 550 g skinless & boneless chicken thighs cut into 1 inch pieces

Stir Fry Sauce

  • 1 tablespoon dark soy sauce
  • 2 tablespoon ching’s red chilli sauce or use chili garlic sauce or sriracha
  • 1 tablespoon ching’s green chilli sauce
  • 1 tablespoon ketchup
  • ¾ - 1 tablespoon vinegar adjust to taste
  • ½ teaspoon brown sugar
  • ¼ teaspoon toasted sesame oil
  • ¾ salt adjust to taste
  • ½ teaspoon black pepper powder
  • 3 tablespoon chicken stock or use water

For Stir frying

  • 2 tablespoon oil
  • 1 whole dried Kashmiri chili
  • 6 large garlic cloves finely chopped, use more if your garlic is small
  • 1 tablespoon ginger finely chopped
  • 2 scallions white & green parts finely chopped separately
  • 5-6 green chilies (super hot, adjust to taste) cut into half lengthwise, substitute with thai chilies
  • ½ medium green bell pepper cut in cubes
  • ½ medium onion cut in cubes/petals, layers separated, I use red onion

Instructions
 

Preperation

  • In a large mixing bowl, add all the marinade ingredients—flour, corn starch, ginger-garlic paste, soy sauce, red chili sauce, kashmiri chili powder, black pepper powder, salt and egg. Start whisking. At first it will feel that you need a splash of water but resist. Slowly the marinade will come together into a smooth pasty consistency.
  • Add the chicken pieces and using hands (best tool!) mix very well to coat. Let marinate for atleast 30 minutes to an hour (maximum).
  • While the chicken is marinating, you can do rest of prep work. Finely chop the ginger and garlic. Cut the scallions and keep the green and white parts seperare. Cut and seperate onions into petals(cubed onion). Slit the green chilies lengthwise into halves.
  • In a medium bowl, mix the stir fry sauce by whisking together soy sauce, red chili sauce, ketchup, brown sugar, green chili sauce, vinegar, salt, black pepper powder, sesame oil and water(or chicken stock). Taste and if you want it sweeter, increase the amount of sugar. My recipe is not sweet, but you can adjust! Set aside.

DEEP FRY THE CHICKEN

  • For frying, I use a 10 inch cast iron pot. Since the marinade has high moisture (egg+ soy sauce+ chicken juices), there might be foaming while deep frying. So choose a high walled cooking pot for frying. Also, you won't be able to reuse the oil so use a small size pot and fry in 2-3 batches.
  • Fill oil to about 1 inch deep and let heat up on medium high flame. Once the oil reaches approximately 350°F, with the help of spoon, carefully add the marinated chicken pieces in batches. This is a tedious part of the recipe. Will take you about 15-20 minutes to fry 500g chicken in batches.
  • Deep fry for 5-6 minutes, turning occasionally using a slotted spoon, until golden brown on all sides. Transfer the fried chicken to a tray lined with paper towels to drain excess oil and set aside.

STIR FRY THE CHILLI CHICKEN

  • In a separate wok or kadhai, heat 2-3 tablespoons of oil (you may use the oil from deep frying) on high.
  • Add green chilies, ginger, and garlic and scallion white parts. Sauté for about a minute.
  • Stir in the bell pepper & onion petals.Stir-fry over high heat for 1-2 minutes to char them a little but they should remain crunchy. 
  • Next, add the fried chicken to the wok.
  • Pour the prepared sauce over the chicken and toss very well to ensure even coating. Stir-fry for another minute or two, then turn off the heat.
  • Garnish with chopped scallion green parts and plate immediately. Chilli chicken is best served immediately!

Notes

  1. Adjust the green chilies, chili sauces, and red chili powder to your taste. For milder heat, remove chili seeds or reduce chili quantity.
  2. To achieve the glossy sauce, make sure to not make the stir fry sauce very thin. Also, dont skimp on oil while stir frying thinking that chicken is already deep fried.
Tried this recipe?Let us know how it was!