Kolkata style chilli chicken is packed with extra punch keeping all the flavorful goodness of Indo-Chinese food intact. It’s sizzling spicy and insanely addictive!
Kolkata has an intricate relationship with Chinese food, Indo-Chinese food to be specific. You will find specific localities dedicated to scrumptious Chinese food and you will be spoilt for choices. When I was little, I used to freak out on these Chinese delicacies, chilli chicken being the most addictive one. Chilli chicken which you get in the fancy Chinese restaurants is very different from the typical Kolkata style chilli chicken and today I bring this very tempting dish to you from my city of joy. In Kolkata style chilli chicken, you will find small bone-in pieces which is unlikely in the fancier ones; but it has the charm of its own. When I was in college, my luxury afternoon snack was this super-yummy chilli chicken which we used to share among friends with utmost glee!
Gone are those college days but I could not yet get over the deliciousness of my Kolkata chilli chicken. Hence, I had to recreate that magic in my kitchen and share it with you all. I made this Kolkata style chilli chicken more than couple of times at home, but could not click the process photos, so was waiting to make it again and share the fully stocked recipe with you all. I hope the step-by-step photos in the slideshow below help you all to make my recipes at home and delight you and your family in the same way as mine.
Kolkata is simply amazing in terms of street food which is what I miss most of my birth city. During my last trip to Kolkata, I gorged on my favorite street foods to my heart content and then I made this Kolkata style chilli chicken at home to treat my parents. This dish is loved by all and is totally customizable to your liking. Me and my hub like it super-hot, so I add more green chillies than usual when I make it for us; but if you are making it for kids or a not-so-spice-loving family member, cut down on the green chillies. Also, you can add little more sugar to make it a more kid-friendly chilli chicken. Nevertheless, this chilli chicken is a crowd pleaser and can be perfect for parties. You just keep the fried chicken ready a day before and make the sauce/gravy on the day you are serving it.
If you want the fancy restaurant style Chinese chilli chicken, you can head over to our other blog (Flavor Quotient) here and get the recipe. This chilli chicken is made with boneless chicken breasts and have soft and succulent cubes of chicken in the spicy soy based sauce. Both these chilli chicken can be made as a starter or with gravy for the main course – just take your pick and be ready to rock in your kitchen!
- Chicken – 1 kg, bone-in & skinless cut into small pieces
- Egg – 2
- Garlic – 10 to 15 cloves, minced
- Soy sauce – 2 tbsp
- Green chilli sauce – 2 tbsp
- White vinegar - 1 tbsp
- Cornflour – ¼ cup
- Salt and black pepper to taste
- Enough vegetable oil for deep frying chicken
- Vegetable oil – 3 tbsp
- Dry red chili – 4, broken
- Green chili – 6 to 8, slit lengthwise
- Minced garlic – 1 tbsp
- Green capsicum – 1, large, cut into 1-inch cubes
- Onion – 4, medium, cut into large pieces and scales separated
- Soy sauce – 2 tbsp
- Green chili sauce – 2 tbsp
- White vinegar – 1 tbsp
- Sugar – 1 tbsp
- Water – ½ cup
- Cornflour – 1 tbsp
- Wash the chicken thoroughly and drain out as much water as possible. Take them in a large bowl.
- Now add eggs, minced garlic, soy sauce, green chili sauce, vinegar and corn flour to the chicken. Season then with salt and pepper. Mix everything really well preferably with hand. Let them marinate for 30 minutes.
- After 30 minutes, heat vegetable oil in a deep kadhai. Once the oil is hot, reduce the flame to medium. Then drop chicken pieces into hot oil one by one with some marinate around it. Fry the chicken pieces in batches; don’t overcrowd the pan.
- Fry the chicken on medium flame for 5 minutes, then flip them over and fry for another couple of minutes until they turn brown. Take the out in a bowl and set aside.
- In a small bowl prepare the sauce for chili chicken by mixing soy sauce, green chilli sauce, vinegar, sugar and water. Whisk them well and set aside.
- Heat a wok and add 3 tablespoons of vegetable oil. Once the oil is smoking hot, add dry red chilies, minced garlic and slit green chilies. Sauté them on high for few seconds.
- Then toss in the capsicum and onion pieces, stir fry them on high for couple of minutes. You don’t need to soften the veggies too much.
- Now pour in the prepared sauce into the wok and continue stirring. Once the sauce come to a full boil, drop in the fried chicken pieces. Mix them well to coat with the sauce.
- At this stage, you can add about 1 cup of hot water if you want more gravy. If you want dry chili chicken, then continue stir-frying until all the excess water is absorbed and the sauce cling to the chicken. Check and adjust for seasoning if needed.
- Finally sprinkle freshly chopped coriander leaves and serve the chili chicken warm. Enjoy!
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