Green Chili Garlic Chicken

Indo Chinese food was always my favorite items to order during my college days, whenever we used to eat out.  Indo Chinese noodles, fried rice, chili chicken, the list goes on...  When I went to study far away from my home, I found a very good restaurant that served the perfect Indo Chinese food.  Their fried rice and chili chicken was to die for.   And this restaurant was close to the railway  station, which was a great relief to our boring hostel food.   We would look forward for the trips back home to have dinner there.  It was a routine to start the journey back home with a delicious Indochinese dinner.

The chili chicken they served was never red, it was the green chili chicken and it paired really good with Naan or fried rice.  Here I tried to recreate the semi dry version of the Green Chili Garlic Chicken.  This Green Chili  Garlic Chicken is slightly crunchy outside, but juicy and soft inside.  It can also be served as an appetizer too.

Serves - 4

Ingredients:

Chicken Marination

1.5 lbs - chicken tenderloins cut into thin strips

3 tsp - corn starch

1/2 tsp - pepper powder

1/2 tsp - salt

1 tsp - light soya sauce

1 - egg white

3 - 4 tbsp - oil for shallow frying

For the sauce

3 - hot green chilies splits

1 - shallot chopped

5 - garlic chopped

1 tsp - thinly sliced ginger

1/2 cup - water

1 tbsp - dark soya sauce

1 tsp - sugar

1 tbsp - green chili sauce (refer notes)

1 tsp - corn starch

1/3 cup - water

1 - small green bell pepper thinly sliced

1 -2 tbsp - sesame oil

2 stems - green onions chopped for garnish

Directions:

• Combine all the ingredients listed for chicken marination together.  Cover and refrigerate for 15 minutes.
• In a frying pan, heat up the oil and shallow fry the chicken pieces in batches. Cook the chicken on 2 minutes on one side and flip them and cook for another minute.  The chicken pieces should be thin enough to be cooked within 3 minutes.  Make sure the chicken is cooked all the way through, but not overcooked.  Strain and remove them from oil into a paper towel lined bowl.
• Heat a wok and add sesame oil.  To this add ginger, garlic, shallots and green chili and sauté till the garlic is light golden color.  Add soya sauce, green chili sauce and sauté for 30 secs.  Add 1/2 cup of water and let it come to boil.  
• Mix corn starch with 1/3 cup of water and add it to the boiling sauce.  Add sugar and let the sauce cook well and thicken.
• Add the fried chicken pieces and mix well.  Add the sliced bell pepper and cook on high heat till all the sauce is coated well on chicken pieces and the bell pepper is slightly wilted.
• Garnish with green onions and turn off the flame.  Serve them with fried rice or Naan or Chapathi.

Notes:

• Make sure the chicken pieces are thinly cut into stripes, so that they can be cooked faster.
• Overcooking the chicken will make the meat tougher.  Chicken tenderloins works well in this recipe.
• If you don't have green chili sauce, you can either make it by grinding 1/2 cup of hot green chili & 1/2 cup of water.  Cook them on medium heat with 1/2 tsp of sugar and 1/2 of salt, till the sauce thickens up.  Add 1 tbsp of vinegar and let it cook for another minute.  You can store it in a air tight container in the fridge.  Alternatively you can add 1 tbsp of green chili paste.
• This is a semi dry version dish.  If you like more sauce, double the sauce ingredients.