Name: Dragon Chicken
Prep time: 15 min
Cook time: 15 min
Total time: 60 min
Ingredients: 6 to 7 chicken thigh fillets (skin on, about 400 to 500 grams); 2 to 3 bird's eye chilies (or use whatever chili grows locally in your region); 1 onion; 2 to 3 bell peppers; 4 cloves garlic; 1 thumb-sized piece ginger; 1 large egg; ⅓ cup flour; ⅓ cup tapioca starch (or corn or potato starch); 2 tablespoons soy sauce; 1 teaspoon salt; ½ teaspoon ground black pepper; 2 tablespoons soy sauce; 2 to 3 tablespoons ketchup; salt (to taste); pepper (to taste); sugar (to taste); 3 to 4 cooking oil

Chinese in essence but born in India, dragon chicken is an “Indian Chinese” dish that combines Chinese cooking techniques with Indian flavors.

Dragon Chicken in serving plate with rice on the side

Surprised that there is a Chinese-Indian fusion dish? If you look back at Asian history, there have been Chinese diasporas for centuries. And these Chinese who left their homeland to settle in different parts of Asia brought their cuisines with them. Legend has it that dragon chicken was born in the Hakka community of Kolkata.

Quick to figure out that Indians love spicy, oily preparations, the Chinese merely masala-fied and greased their cuisine into a glutinous, winning combination.
Source: CNN Travel

Dragon Chicken

Recipe by Connie Veneracion

Dragon chicken is a spicy dish. You can adjust the level of heat to your tolerance level, of course. What’s the point in cooking dragon chicken if it’s so hot that you can’t eat it anymore, right?

Prep Time 15 mins

Cook Time 15 mins

Marinating 30 mins

Total Time 1 hr

Course Main Course

Cuisine Asian Fusion

Servings people

Print Recipe

Ingredients

6 to 7 chicken thigh fillets skin on, about 400 to 500 grams
2 to 3 bird’s eye chilies or use whatever chili grows locally in your region
1 onion
2 to 3 bell peppers

For the marinade

4 cloves garlic
1 thumb-sized piece ginger
1 large egg
⅓ cup flour
⅓ cup tapioca starch or corn or potato starch
2 tablespoons soy sauce
1 teaspoon salt
½ teaspoon ground black pepper

For the sauce

2 tablespoons soy sauce
2 to 3 tablespoons ketchup
salt to taste
pepper to taste
sugar to taste

For frying

3 to 4 cooking oil

Instructions

Pat the chicken thigh fillets dry. Cut into strips about half an inch wide.
Slice the chilies and onion.
Cut the bell peppers into matchsticks, discarding the seeds and white pith.
Grind the garlic and ginger (Alex used a mortar and pestle) into a paste. Divide into two portions and set one portion aside.
In a large bowl, make the marinade by mixing together one portion of the garlic-ginger paste, egg, flour, starch, soy sauce, salt and black pepper. Add the chicken, mix well and allow to steep for 30 minutes.
Make the sauce by mixing together the remaining portion of garlic-ginger paste, soy sauce, ketchup, salt, pepper and sugar.
In a wok or frying pan, heat enough cooking oil to reach a depth of at least three inches. Fry the chicken, in batches if necessary to avoid overcrowding the pan. Cook the chicken pieces until browned and crisp. Scoop out and move to a strainer.
Pour off the oil from the pan leaving only about a tablespoonful.
Stir fry the chilies, onion and bell peppers in the hot oil. Pour in the prepared sauce and cook until thickened.
Toss the fried chicken strips in the sauce.
Serve your dragon chicken as an appetizer or with rice as a main dish.