KOLKATA STYLE CHILLI CHICKEN | TANGRA-STYLE CHILLI CHICKEN RECIPE

Chilli chicken is perhaps the most popular Indo-Chinese dish found both in restaurants and street side stalls. No visit to Calcutta’s Chinatowns (especially Tangra) is complete without an order of chilli chicken. The dry chilli chicken works as a snack, appetiser as well as a side. The gravy chilli chicken is more popular as a side to either chowmein or with fried rice. There are various versions of the chilli chicken recipes.

Although chili chicken is one of the first Chinese dishes to hit the Indian shores, it has since then been modified. The earliest settlers from Tibet first settled in Kolkata. These first settlers escaping from the Chinese socialist forces brought with them their cuisine. Here the food was mixed with spices of our country to become the Tangra Chinese cuisine. This new cuisine is a far cry from the subtle tastes of the East. The new Tangra cuisine is spicy, sweet and sour all at the same time.

INGREDIENTS for CHILLI CHICKEN –

•  250 -500 g boneless chicken thigh (3-cm cubes)

FOR CHICKEN MARINATION –

• ‍‍15 g egg white of half and egg
• 15 g dark soy sauce
• 10 g Chinese cooking wine (optional)
• 2 g ginger paste
• 2 g garlic paste
• 3 g salt
• ½ tsp pepper
• 1 pinch baking soda
• 12 g cornflour

BINDING THE CHICKEN –

• ‍‍¼ cup (30 g) cornflour
• ¼ cup (30 g) all-purpose flour (maida)
• ¼ tsp baking powder
• 3 g salt

FOR MAKING SAUCE –

• ‍‍20 g vegetable oil
• 2 pcs dried red chillies
• 75 g onions (3-cm squares)
• 50 g capsicum (3-cm squares)
• 5 g ginger (finely chopped)
• 5 g garlic (finely chopped)
• 10 g green chillies (2-mm thick, cut on the bias)
• 8 g dark soy sauce
• 8 g light soy sauce
• 10 g Chinese cooking wine (optional)
• 10 g vinegar
• 20 g tomato ketchup
• 15 g red chilli sauce
• 75 g chicken stock (or water)
• 1 pinch MSG
• 1 tsp ground pepper
• 2 g salt
• 20 g sugar
• ~200 g oil for frying

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METHOD For MAKING CHILLI CHICKEN –

CHICKEN PREPARATION –

1. Cut the chicken in 3-cm cubes and set aside.
2. Take a Mixing Bowl and Mix together all the ingredients ‍‍15 g egg white of half and egg, 15 g dark soy sauce, 10 g Chinese cooking wine (optional), 2 g ginger paste, 2 g garlic paste, 3 g salt, ½ tsp pepper, 1 pinch baking soda and 12 g cornflour.
   
3. Pour half of this mixture over the chicken cubes and reserve the other half for use later.
4. Coat the chicken well with the marinade and set it aside to rest for at least 30 minutes, ideally 2-4 hours.
   

MAKING THE SAUCE –

1. To prepare the sauce. Cut onions and capsicum in 3-cm squares, chop ginger and garlic finely, and cut green chillies and spring onions on the bias. Keep everything chopped and ready.
2. Make a sauce solution by mixing together dark soy, light soy, Chinese cooking wine, vinegar, ketchup, red chilli sauce, salt, pepper, MSG and chicken stock in the proportions given in the 'For the sauce' section. Keep this mixture ready as well.
3. Make a cornflour slurry using ½ tsp cornflour and 1 tsp water. Set aside.
4. Now, once the vegetables, sauce mixture and cornflour slurry are ready.
5. Take a frying pan, add 20 g vegetable oil and allow it to smoke. Add dried red chillies, followed by onions and capsicum.
6. Fry on high heat for a minute before adding sugar. Cook the sugar until slightly caramelised (1 minute).
7. This will allow for the creation of the sticky sauce we've come to associate with chilli chicken.
8. Next, add ginger and green chillies, and fry for 30 seconds before adding garlic.
9. Then add the sauce solution. When it comes to a boil, add the cornflour slurry. Turn off the heat and keep aside.

FRY CHICKEN –

1. Back to the chicken: To fry the chicken prepare a mixture of cornflour, flour, salt and baking powder in the proportions given in the 'For breading the chicken' section.
2. Now add the remaining half of the marinade we reserved right at the start. Rub it into the flour mixture thoroughly until you it resembles breadcrumbs in texture.
3. Now, taking chicken pieces 2 or 3 at a time, coat them in the breading, pressing it down so that it sticks to the chicken.
4. Drop them in oil on medium heat, Fry until golden brown and crisp.
   
5. On an adjoining burner, heat up the sauce again. Drain the chicken from the oil and immediately transfer it to the sauce and Toss to coat. 
   

Garnish with spring onions and serve immediately, while the chicken is still crisp.

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