Chicken 65 Easy recipe – Chicken 65 is a bit of a Chinese/Indian fusion dish. It’s like the Chinese Crispy Chill Chicken you get in the takeaway but with Indian flavours.
I’m not going to go into where the name comes from, there’s plenty of theories, but all I’m bothered about is that it’s an amazingly, addictive dish to eat!
For me, Chicken 65 must be big on flavours. If you haven’t got flavours popping on your tongue, it aint right!
The chicken is marinaded in tandoori or tikka spices. The one featured on here uses my ‘Ome Made Turbo Tikka Masala this is a souped-up tikka mix that has a little extra heat to it plus elements from Chaat masala. It’s seriously good stuff! Whatever brand you use, just make sure it’s a good one and be careful of the salt content, some have a ridiculous amount of salt in them.
The Sauce
It took me a while to produce a sauce that I was happy with. Most recipes have a tomato, ketchup-based sauce which I wasn’t keen on.
With the curry leaves being such an important part of this dish, and believe me it’s not the same without them, I decided to go down a more Southern Indian route. So instead of ketchup I use tomato paste, vinegar, and sugar, you still get the elements of ketchup but a bit more refined. Coconut milk is used which really compliments the curry leaves and chillies and just softens everything a little. I also added tamarind and lime juice which makes the sauce nice and tart which helps cut through the richness of the battered chicken.
So here is my Chicken 65 Easy Recipe…
Chicken 65
Ingredients
Chicken & Marinade
- 850 g Chicken thigh or breast diced to 3cm square… ish
- 1 tbsp tandoori or tikka masala
- 3 tsp garlic & ginger paste or 1.5tsp of freshly chopped of each
- 2 green finger chillies chopped
- ½ tbsp coriander chopped
- 6 fresh curry leaves sliced
- 1 tbsp lemon juice
- 1 tsp salt
- 1 tbsp plain flour
- 3 tbsp cornflour
- ¼ tsp baking powder
- vegetable oil for deep frying
The Curry Sauce
- 3 tbsp oil
- 1 medium onion finely chopped
- 1 tbsp garlic/ginger paste
- 2 tsp mild curry powder/mix powder
- 2 tsp tandoori masala
- 1 tbsp vinegar cider, white wine
- 2 tbsp tomato puree
- 5 tsp sugar
- 1 400ml tin coconut milk
- 1 tsp tamarind concentrate
- ½ tbsp lime or lemon juice
- 1 tsp salt or to taste
Stir Fry
- 3 tbsp oil
- 1 green pepper deseeded and diced
- 1 red pepper deseeded and diced
- 4-8 green finger chillies some sliced, some left whole or to your own preference
- 2 cloves garlic finely chopped
- ½ inch piece of ginger finely chopped
- 1 medium onion cut into large dice and separated
- 1 tbsp coriander finely chopped
- 20 fresh curry leaves
Instructions
Marinate The Chicken
- In a bowl mix all the marinade ingredients EXCEPT the flour, cornflour and baking powder. Cover and put in the fridge to marinate for at least two hours.
Make The Curry Sauce
- Heat the oil in a pan and add the onions. Cook gently 'till soft and beginning to turn golden.
- Add the garlic and ginger paste to the pan and fry for around 40 seconds.
- Add the spice masalas/powders to the pan and fry gently for 30-40 seconds. If it begins to stick, add a splash of water.
- Add the vinegar to the pan and cook until you have a thick paste.
- Add the sugar to the pan and cook until the sugar is dissolved and the mixture is bubbling.
- Add the tin of coconut milk, stir in and bring to the simmer.
- Add the salt, tamarind and lime or lemon juice.
- cook gently for 10 minutes.
- The sauce is now ready so either keep warm or put to cool and reheat when you're ready.
Deep Fry The Chicken
- Heat the oil to around 170℃
- Add the flour, cornflour and baking powder to the chicken and just enough water to make a thick coating.
- Once the oil is hot add between 6 – 8 pieces of chicken carefully to the oil. Don't overcrowd as the temperature of the oil will drop too much and you'll end up with the batter not sticking to the chicken or greasy batter. try to keep the temperature between 165℃ – 175℃.
- Depending on the size of the chicken pieces it should take between 4 – 6 minutes for them to cook. The batter should be a deep golden-brown colour and very crispy. The best way to see if the chicken is cooked is to remove a piece from the oil and use a temperature probe. Insert into the thickest part of a cube of chicken, is it reads 75℃ or over for 20 seconds then its cooked.
- when the chicken is cooked remove from the oil and put to drain on kitchen paper.
Finishing The Dish
- Heat the oil in a Karahi or wok
- When hot, add the curry leaves. be careful as they will splutter.
- Add the onion and stir fry for a minute.
- Add the garlic and ginger and fry for 30 seconds or so.
- Add the battered chicken to the pan along with the peppers and chillies. Keep frying, tossing, and stirring the ingredients for a couple minutes until everything is hot.
- Add the coriander and stir through before serving.
- to serve, place some of the chicken in serving bowls before pouring a little of the warmed sauce over. Serve with some plain rice or Indian style bread.