Chicken 65

It is boneless and deep-fried, and the heat is red chilli rather than a masala.

Chicken, Egg. Not vegetarian — contains chicken.

Ingredients

• 700 g boneless chicken thigh, in 2 cm pieces
• 3 tablespoons ground red chilli
• 150 g thick yoghurt
• 2 tablespoons ginger-garlic paste
• 4 tablespoons cornflour
• 2 tablespoons rice flour
• 1 egg
• 1 1/2 teaspoons salt
• oil for deep frying
• 25 curry leaves
• 4 green chillies, slit
• 2 tablespoons oil, for the tempering
• 1 onion and 1 lemon, to serve

Method

1. IT IS BONELESS AND DEEP-FRIED, AND THE HEAT IS RED CHILLI RATHER THAN A MASALA. Its article is unusually honest about how little else is fixed: a spicy, DEEP-FRIED chicken dish, PREPARED USING BONELESS CHICKEN, whose FLAVOUR CAN BE ATTRIBUTED TO RED CHILLIES -- but THE EXACT SET OF INGREDIENTS FOR THE RECIPE CAN VARY. So three things are the dish and the rest is open. Three tablespoons of ground chilli for four people is what that first clause means, and it is why this is not a mild dish made interesting by spices.
2. THE PIECES ARE SMALL AND GO IN TWICE. Two centimetres. Fried once at a moderate heat to cook through, rested, then a second short fry at high heat for the crust.
3. THE COATING IS CORNFLOUR AND RICE FLOUR, NOT WHEAT. Both stay crisp after the tempering; wheat flour goes soft the moment anything wet touches it.
4. THE EGG IS THE BINDER AND THERE IS ONE. More and the coating turns to batter.
5. THE MARINADE IS SHORT. An hour. The yoghurt is there to carry the chilli onto the meat, not to tenderise it.
6. THE TEMPERING IS WHERE THE CURRY LEAVES GO, AFTER THE FRYING. Twenty-five of them with the green chillies in hot oil until they crackle, then the fried chicken tossed through for thirty seconds.
7. THIRTY SECONDS, NOT MORE. Long enough to pick up the oil and the leaves, short enough to stay crisp.
8. IT IS SERVED WITH ONION AND LEMON, WHICH ITS ARTICLE SPECIFIES. An onion and lemon garnish -- raw and sharp against something very hot and fried.
9. THE VEGETARIAN VERSIONS ARE ITS ARTICLE'S OWN AND THEY WORK. Paneer 65 and Gobhi 65, using paneer or cauliflower. Cauliflower wants blanching first; paneer wants no second fry.

Our own recipe. This one was written for this site rather than taken from anywhere, so there is no source to point you at. The quantities and the order of the steps are choices, not the only way to do it.

Filed under India · All recipes