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| I usually make it at night so do not have a good, taken in natural light picture of the roast chilli chicken |
I made roast chilli chicken a couple of nights back and put a picture of it on my Instagram stories. We had it as a starter that evening. We usually have it as our main course for dinner though. Paired with steamed rice or boiled soba noodles. The sauce from the dish brings in flavour to the carbs.
I love it because it is a no hassle dish and Kainaz and I both love the way it tastes. I try to use leg pieces. On the bone ideally, or boneless like they were the other day. Or wings.
Unlike the conventional Kolkata chilli chicken, this requires neither the addition of any oil, nor does it take much of my time. Just the sort of dish that is cherished in the Finely Chopped Kitchen.
On seeing the picture that evening, there were some who asked me for the recipe.
Well, I am not sure if there is an exact recipe that I can share but let me tell you how I make it. I used to make a rudimentary version of it in the microwave in the early days of our cooking. Adding soya sauce and chillies to chicken on a microwave cooking dish and then microwaving it till it cooked. Once we had an oven (OTG) I moved to that and later to an air fryer when we got one. Of the three, I prefer the oven/ OTG the most, as it ensures that chicken remains nice and juicy.
So here is what I did. I marinated the chicken in dark soy and added a bit of chilli sauce too. The amount of sauces used are up to you, but do not flood the dish with sauce as that will kill the taste. Do budget for the fact that the chicken will give out its own juices too. The other night I used the Lee Kum Kee soya sauce, a bit of the Thai chilli paste from Seefah and the Sriracha sauce from Tabasco. A bit of salt and crushed black pepper too.
I placed the chicken on a bed of sliced onions to ensure that the chicken would not stick to the baking dish. I added some finely chopped garlic that night. Ginger can be a good option.
See, that’s the thing. One can’t really give the specific recipe for dishes like this but I am sure that you will work your way out.
I preheated the oven for 10 min at 200 C and put in the baking dish with the soya chilli marinated chicken placed on a bed of sliced onions in it. I cover the baking dish with an aluminium foil to ensure that the contents did not dry out. I then put it in the oven for 25 min at 200 C. This was for 500 g cubed boneless chicken thighs. The chicken was from Zorabian chicken and the quality rather good.
I took the tray out after 25 min. Using baking gloves or kitchen mitts while doing so. The tray becomes very hot. I removed the the foil. Gently turned the chicken pieces around. Added some of the sauces from the bottom of the tray on to the chicken using a spoon. I then in some sliced green chillies and green capsicum. I did not do this at the start as they would have got overcooked.
I then put the tray/ dish back in the oven for the 20 min at 200 C. This time uncovered. If using an air fryer then I think you will need 10 minutes less in total, but the timing depends a lot of your kitchen appliances.
Well, that’s about it. Have it by itself. Or with steamed rice. Or the authentic desi way, with fried rice or Hakka noodles.
Hope that helped!
You will find my conventional chilli chicken recipe here
