Chicken 65

With parents I never feel that I am a grown up and that too a married woman. I still feel like a teenager with bursting temper and unreasonable demands. I may have been upset with them for umpteen number of times but I always felt the aura of their abundant and self-less love all around me. I have been staying away from home for many years now and we do struggle to get our quality time together as a family. My husband understands my secret desire to be with them. So in his own way he tries to bring us together every year. Indeed, I am heavily blessed that my husband loves my family equally.

My father is a busy man and since childhood we have always seen him like that. But age doesn’t seem to have slowed him down. He still works passionately and untiringly. Life has been tough and his calmness keeps on surprising me. Now I am fast progressing towards completion of second year of my married life and now it’s the first time that he is coming to see me, him and our world far away. For this memorable day, I decided to make one of my fav chicken dishes- Chicken 65. I have avoided egg in this recipe as papa is allergic to eggs. But the exclusion of egg doesn’t make it any less tasty. They loved it and here is my recipe for the mysteriously named Chicken 65.

Chicken 65

Serves: 3 to 4 persons

Ingredients :

Marinate the chicken with the following ingredients:

Chicken- 500 gms (boneless and cut into bite size pieces)

Lemon juice- 3 tsp.

Chili powder- 3 tsp.

Black pepper powder- 1 tsp.

Turmeric powder- ¼ tsp.

Ginger-garlic paste- 1 tbsp.

Rice flour - 1 ½ tbsp.

Salt to taste

For Special 65 wala tadka

Curd- 1 cup

Garlic- 4 tsp. (finely chopped)

Ginger- 3 tsp. (finely chopped)

Green chilies- 3 (slit into halves)

Curry leaves- 3 small spring

Coriander powder- 1 tsp.

Kashmiri chili powder- 2 tsp

Chili powder- ¼ tsp.

Black pepper powder- ¼ tsp.

Turmeric powder- ¼ tsp.

Oil- 2 tsp. + oil to deep fry

Salt to taste

Procedure:

 Marinate the chicken with the above mentioned ingredients for marination except rice flour and salt for 1 hour. Meanwhile take curd, turmeric powder, kashmiri chili powder, chili powder and coriander powder. Whisk the curd well and keep it aside. Now heat oil in a Kadhai, and on the other side add rice flour and salt to the chicken and mix everything well. Make sure that the chicken pieces are well coated with rice flour. Now deep fry the chicken over low medium flame till crisp from outside and cooked inside. It may take about 2-3 minutes. Take care not to overcook the chicken otherwise it may turn hard. Strain the fried chicken and keep it aside.

Take about 2 tsp. oil in a pan and once hot add garlic, ginger and green chilies. Fry it for few seconds till fragrant. Then add curry leaves and fry for few seconds. Then add the curd mix and stir continuously to avoid curdling. Cook it for few minutes. Then pour in the chicken pieces and continue cooking till the curd is reduced and the chicken pieces are well coated. Do cook over high flame till done. Sprinkle black pepper powder and serve hot.

Chicken 65 tastes best with Biryani or roti.

Notes:

If you like egg, it may be used in the marination. Along with it do add some corn flour for giving the chicken pieces an even coating of the egg.

The recipe is high on spice level, so you may reduce the amount of chili powder used to your preference.

I forgot to add mustard seeds in the tadka, so if you want you may add about 1/4 tsp. of mustard seeds.