Thoughts of the lovely chicken tikka, tossed in green and red bell pepper, I had at a dinner party lingered on my mind; and so I intended to replicate it but then ultimately turned up with something I enjoyed cooking my way.
Ingredients:
- Boneless Chicken – 850gms cut into small sized pieces
- 1 Onion sliced
- 1-2 medium sized capsicums –de-seeded and diced into quarters
- 1 tsp Soya sauce(dark)
- 1 tsp Chilli sauce
- ¼ tsp vinegar
- ½ tsp Tomato sauce/ketchup
- Oil
For Marinating:
- Lime Juice – 2 tbsp
- Curd – 2 tbsp
- Ginger garlic paste – 2 tsp
- Dry masalas( mentioned below)
- Salt to taste
- Corn flour (sprinkle 1 tsp over the chicken)
- Food colouring – a pinch
To prepare the Dry masala:
- 200 gm of chilli powder
- 120 gm of turmeric powder
- 80 gm of cumin powder
- 100 gm of Black pepper powder
Blend together and store in a clean and dry, air-tight container as readymade ‘Chicken 65’ masala. This also can be used for any other Indian dish which needs a similar kind of marinating process.
{Just in case, you are not preparing the readymade masala, add the above dry masala ingredients according to proportion of the chicken and the spice required and mix well.}
Method:
- In a bowl, mix all of the mentioned marinating ingredients. Refrigerate the chicken and allow the marinating to remain for 12hrs(or overnight- the longer it marinates, the better )
- In a pan, heat oil. Add sliced onions and sauté till onions turn translucent.
- Now add the diced capsicum and stir fry.
- Then add the marinated chicken pieces and fry well.
- Sprinkle very little water and cook on low flame with lid(Stir-fry in between to ensure that the chicken does nit stick to the pan)
- When the chicken is well cooked, remove lid and stir once.
- Now add the chilli sauce, soya sauce, tomato sauce/ketchup and vinegar.
- Stir-fry well till the sauces coat the chicken pieces and the preparation becomes dry.
- Serve hot with fried rice or rotis as side dish.
Preparation Time: 35-40 minutes
Standing Time (for marinating): 12hrs/overnight
Serves: 4