Chicken 65 (Indian)

[Jim Kingdon]

Lately, I've gotten a taste for Indian food. Although I do eat out,
I'm starting to cook it too (mainly because I want to make recipes
with less salt and in general the way I like it).

Here's one of my recipes (you'll find Chicken 65 in some restaurants,
although what is actually served under that name seems to vary quite a
bit - both in the US and in the restaurants where I've had it in
India).

Sorry for the imprecise quantities - I only measure a few of these
ingredients when I'm actually making it.

Chicken 65

Ingredients:
------------

Marinade:
Fresh ginger
one medium root, grated
garlic (I wrote down "crushed" but I think I probably mince it)
as much as you feel like chopping, maybe 7 cloves
red chili powder (dried whole chilis, crumbled, are one good choice)
Between this and the chilis you add later, you'd have
65 chilis per kilogram of chicken to match the name
"chicken 65". Unless you like really spicy food, you'll
probably want to stop short of the full 65.
turmeric (probably 1 tsp to 1 tbsp)
juice of one lemon
one egg
4 tbsp flour
or 2 tbsp of corn flour (not corn meal, which is coarser)
and 2 tbsp of wheat (regular) flour
I've always just used the 4 tbsp of wheat flour

Fry:
cooking oil
I use canola oil; the usual suspects like safflower and so on should be fine
mustard seeds (probably a tbsp or two)
black or brown mustard seeds both work
cumin seeds
I used whole seeds; cumin powder would also work
red/green chilis
I used some small green ones which the store called "thai chilis"
24 fresh curry leaves
(curry leaf is hard to find. I have substituted basil leaves but
hope to try it with the curry leaves when I find a source.)
1 cup yogurt

Procedure:
----------

Mix all marinade ingredients and marinate bite sized chicken pieces in
the marinade for 0.5 to 2 hours.

Heat cooking oil on stove (I don't measure, but maybe 1/4 cup - if you
end up with an oily or fattening dish, you've used too much; if the
ingredients are sticking and generally not coated with oil, you might
want to add more).

When the oil is fairly hot, add the mustard seeds and cook them until
they pop. I've heard this described as "very hot" oil, but for me it
is more what I'd call "medium" - you don't want the seeds to burn,
which means they'll take a minute or so to pop, rather than doing it
more quickly. If you get a nutty aroma, you are probably doing it
right. Covering the pan is helpful but not strictly necessary - the
popping is less violent than, say, popcorn.

Add chilis and cumin seeds and stir a bit. Shortly thereafter add the
chicken (including whatever marinade is left) and cook until brown on
the outside and each piece is cooked through.

Add the fresh curry leaves and cook for a short time.

Add the yogurt. As soon as you've stirred it in, you're done.

Serve over rice (or with Indian bread such as Naan or Roti, which I
haven't learned how to make yet).

[lmsmi...@yahoo.co.uk]

Hello there, this is my first post message since joiningthe group. I
also enjoy curries and I am going to try out your rec at the weekend

[Jim Kingdon]

> Hello there, this is my first post message since joiningthe group. I
> also enjoy curries and I am going to try out your rec at the weekend

OK, just take further discussion to net.food.asian (non-veg recipes
don't belong in net.food.veg.*).