Dragon chicken .... a lip-smacking starter

Dragon Chicken is a favourite for all of us in our home. The kids are a big fan of this starter and when I made them at home last week they loved it so much. Its pretty easy to make and came out delicious. It turned out so good that we made it again the very next day but with little changes to the recipe. Well .... the second I made it I did not deep-fry the chicken as the recipe calls instead tried the shallow fry method. To be honest... I felt it was easier to handle and mess-free and best of all consumed very less oil. So I should say shallow-fry method worked like a charm. I havent used any food colour as the recipe calls so you wont get the restaurant-style colour effect here

Talking about the recipe... I checked out a couple of recipes over the internet and the recipe sounded very simple. Marinate chicken, fry them, toss them in with peppers and other spices... finally garnish with fried cashews and thats it you are done. I had all the ingredients needed so gave it a shot and I should say this recipe is definitely a keeper

Sorry about the pics.... poor lighting so they are looking a little darker in the pic than they actually were

  

Serves... 4-6 ppl

Serve option... Hot

This is what u'll need...

Boneless chicken - 200 gms
Soya sauce - 1 tspn
Red chilli sauce - 1 tspn
Corn flour - 1 tspn
All-purpose flour - 1 tspn
Pepper powder - 1/2 tspn
Ginger garlic paste - 1 tspn
Vinegar - 1 tspn

Oil - as needed 

Salt to taste

For tossing ->
Cashews - 1/4 cup
Red chillies - 2
Garlic cloves - 5-6
Ginger - small piece
Spring onion white / Shallots - 2
Bell peppers - 1/3 of each colour
Soya sauce - 1 tspn
Tomato ketchup - 1 tbspn
Salt to taste

Here is the stir....

• Cut boneless chicken into thin strips and wash them well. Put them in a bowl for marination

• Add salt, soya sauce and red chilli sauce to the chicken

• Sprinkle corn flour and all-purpose flour on the chicken

• Finally add some pepper powder, ginger garlic paste and vinegar to the bowl

• Heat some oil in a wok. Drop the chicken strips into the hot oil and fry them till done

• The first time I deep fried the chicken pieces but the second time I made it I used the shallow-fry method and felt it was an easier and better method 

• Once done drain them from and keep them aside

• To the same oil add some cashew halves and fry for a few seconds till they become crisp. Remove them and keep it aside

• If there is a lot of oil in the kadhai then remove some leaving behind just a tablespoon of oil 

• To this oil add 2 red chillies, finely chopped 5-6 garlic cloves and  1/2 tspn of finely chopped ginger

• Saute all this for a few seconds till the raw smell is gone

• Add sliced spring onion whites / couple of shallots/pearl onions. Fry this for a few seconds

• Thinly slice peppers - I used all three as I had them in hand leftover after making pasta the day before. You can add any or all of them as you want

• Fry this for about a minute or two on high flame

• Add a teaspoon of soya sauce and some tomato ketchup 

• Add the fried chicken to the pan. Toss everything around until chicken is coated with the prepared mix

• Add the fried cashews on top and give it one last mix

• Transfer it to a serving plate or bowl and garnish it with spring onion greens
• Serve hot and enjoy

Note: 

• If you are very particular about colour then add some rd food colouring to get the restaurant style effect
• I would suggest shallow-frying the chicken in a flat pan as it has the same effect as deep frying but definitely consumes less oil
• Dont add too much soya sauce
• Be careful when adding salt as soya sauce already has a lot of salt in it