Chicken Raja
A chicken starter recipe with flavorful indian spices and sauces.
Ingredients
To marinate chicken
- 500 grams boneless, chicken breast, cut into bite sized pieces
- 1 egg
- 1 tbsp ginger-garlic-green chili paste
- 1/2 tsp turmeric powder
- 1/2 tsp pepper powder
- 3 tbsp corn flour
- salt, as per taste
- 1.5 tbsp rice flour
To make the chili-garlic paste
- 4 red chilies
- 4-5 cloves garlic
To prepare the base sauce
- 1 small onion, cubed and petals separated
- 1 small capsicum, cubed
- 10-15 cloves garlic, finely chopped
- 2 green chilies, finely chopped
- 2 inch piece of ginger, finely chopped
- 1 tbsp tomato ketchup
- 1 tsp soya sauce
- 1 tsp vinegar
- salt, as per taste
- 1/4 tsp garam masala
- 1 tsp fresh cream
- 1 tsp crushed kasuri methi
- handful of chopped coriander leaves
- 1 tbsp oil + extra for deep frying the chicken
Instructions
To prepare the chili-garlic paste
- In a bowl of warm water, soak the red chilies for 20 minutes.
- Grind the chilies and garlic with little water to a smooth paste and set aside.
Marinate the chicken
- Marinate the chicken with all the ingredients except for the rice flour listed under 'To marinate the chicken' and set aside for 30 minutes.
- Just before deep frying the chicken, add the rice flour to the marinated chicken and mix well.
- Heat oil in a kadai on medium flame for deep frying.
- When the oil is hot, add marinated chicken pieces to it and deep fry it until light-golden on all sides.
- Drain the fried pieces onto a plate. Repeat until all the chicken pieces are fried.
To make the base sauce
- Cut the onions, capsicum, garlic, ginger and green chili as shown in the picture.
- In a pan or a kadai add 1 tbsp oil and let it heat on a medium flame. When the oil is hot, lower the flame and add the chopped garlic, ginger and green chili and saute until the raw smell disappears.
- Add the capsicum and saute for a minute.
- Add the ground chili-garlic paste to the kadai and saute well until the raw smell of the chili disappears. (for a minute or two)
- Add the tomato ketchup, soya sauce and the vinegar and mix well.
- Add the garam masala and the fresh cream and mix well.
- Add the crushed kasuri methi along with the cut onions and mix until the onions are well coated with the sauce.
- Now add the fried chicken pieces and coat them evenly with the sauce and let it cook for a minute or two on a low flame.
- Turn off the stove and add the chopped coriander leaves and mix well.
- Serve hot.
Notes
- Cut the chicken pieces along the grain to make sure the tenderness is locked inside the chicken even after cooking.
- Add rice flour just before frying the chicken.
- Fry the chicken on a medium flame. This ensures that the outer layer is crispy while the inside is still tender.
- Deep fry the chicken until evenly golden on all sides.
- Prepare the red chili-garlic paste according to your level of spiciness.
- To prepare the sauce, you can use the oil leftover from frying the chicken while it is still hot.
- While frying the ginger, garlic and green chili, make sure the flame is on low. Do not burn the garlic.
- While preparing the sauce, if it turns dry, then add a splash of water.
- Add onions in the end to make sure it stays crispy.