A Bong's Kitchen

Some time back, after coming home from office, my husband started raving about a particular Chinese restaurant where he and some of his office colleagues had gone for lunch. He couldn't stop gushing about the Chilli Chicken that he had there. He didn't believe me when I told him that the taste could be very well replicated at home as well, that I could prepare Chilli Chicken just the same way. So I had to prove him. It isn't actually very difficult to make Chilli Chicken at home, the chicken pieces are marinated in sauces, corn flour and crushed pepper. They are then deep fried and seasoned again with thesauces, onion and capsicum. It tastes a little sweet, somewhat hot and a bit sour too and goes very well with fried rice or noodles. They may even be served with rotis. Unlike the restaurants, I didn't use any food colour or ajinomoto. Instead I used kashmiri red chilli powder and also used egg white solution for marinating the chicken pieces. My husband absolutely loved its taste and simply couldn't believe that it could be cooked at home.

Ingredients :

Chicken cubes - about 200 gms
Corn Flour - 2 tbsp
Egg white - about 3-4 tbsp
Soya sauce - 2 tbsp
Chili sauce - 2 tbsp
Tomato Sauce - 2 tbsp
Sugar - a pinch
Vinegar - 1 tbsp
Crushed Black peppercorns - about 1 tsp
Red Capsicum - 1/2 a piece, cut into small pieces
Onion - 1 medium sized, cut into small pieces
chopped garlic - 1 tsp
Spring Onions celery - 2 nos, cut into 1 inch long pieces
Salt
Kashmiri Red Chilli Powder - 1 tsp

Method :

In a bowl, take the chicken pieces, and add soya sauce, chili sauce, vinegar and crushed black pepper, mix nicely and leave them to marinate for about an hour.
After they have got marinated, add corn flour, red chilli powder and salt to the chicken pieces and also add egg white to it and mix nicely so that the chicken pieces get coated nicely.
Now heat enough oil in a deep bottomed pan and fry the chicken pieces and drain off on a paper towel to soak all the excess oil. Then in another pan, heat about 2 tbsp of refined oil, add chopped garlic, chopped onions, chopped green chilies, chopped spring onions, chopped capsicum and celery and saute them all for a few minutes but don't fry them for too long. They should remain crunchy
Then add soya sauce, chilli sauce, tomato sauce, a pinch of sugar, kashmiri red chilli powder and the crushed peppercorns and mix nicely. Add the chicken pieces and keep tossing and turning the spices and the chicken pieces over high flame for another 3-4 minutes so that the flavour of the sauces get into the chicken pieces. Now garnish with chopped celery and serve hot with fried rice or haka noodles.