Chinese in essence but born in India, dragon chicken is an “Indian Chinese” dish that combines Chinese cooking techniques with Indian flavors.
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
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?
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
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.
Notes
Updated from a recipe originally published in January 9, 2017
