Andhra Style Chili chicken

Andhra style chili chicken is a very popular dish here in Bangalore. It is very different from the more popular Indo-Chinese variant Chili chicken that we are all used to having in India. Just like everything “Andhra style”, this one too is very spicy and uses a ton of green chilies. So much in fact that you can think of it as a pickle of chilies and chicken.

Andhra Style Chili chicken is a quick fix for a starter as well as the main course. It has minimal ingredients and requires no finesse to cook. If you have a party of friends coming over, do try this one — we guarantee that it will be a big hit!

DISCLAIMER — This dish is very spicy and hence uses a lot of oil to balance the spice

Let’s get straight to the recipe:

Ingredients:

1. 1 kg curry cut chicken, with bones
2. 20–25 chilis — reduce if you are using very spicy chilis
3. 1 bunch of fresh coriander leaves (100g)
4. 1/2 bunch of fresh mint leaves (Optional)
5. 7–8 garlic pods
6. 1-inch of ginger
7. 2 tsp garam masala
8. 1 tsp red chili powder
9. 1 tsp turmeric powder
10. 1 tsp ginger garlic paste
11. 1/2 cup refined oil
12. 1 cup curd
13. 2 lemon
14. 2–3 medium-sized onions

Method:

1. Wash the chicken and marinate it with curd, red chili powder, turmeric powder, salt, and lemon juice. Skip the lemon juice if your curd is very sour. Marinate for an hour.
2. Take half the chilis, coriander, mint, ginger, garlic and onions and blend them into a thick paste. Add a minimal amount of water if needed.
3. Heat the oil in a pan. Remember not to be stingy with oil here.
4. Now add the remaining chilis and wait for them to crackle. Remember to slit them before you add, or you might end up with injuries! (whole chilis will fly in the air)
5. Add green paste prepared in step #2 and start frying. Add the juice of 1 lemon. Fry till the water is reduced and the raw smell is gone.
6. Now add the marinated chicken and roast it with green paste for 8–10 min. This will make the chicken absorb the masala well. If you have added sufficient oil, then the oil and the paste would be enough to cook the chicken. If however, the mixture is too dry, add a cup of water and some ghee and continue cooking.
7. At this point, you can decide on how much gravy you want in the chicken and add water accordingly. We recommend a thick gravy which goes well with the rice as well as can be used as a starter.
8. Done. Serve with some onion and lemon wedges.

Suggestions:

• The level of spice reduces over the course of cooking. So don’t be alarmed if it’s too spicy at the start. The spice level will eventually go down by the time you’re done.
• Since this dish has a lot of oil, it can be stored for a long time. We at home treat it like a pickle and take some of it out to accompany our meals, up to a week. Again, the spice level goes down progressively with each day.
• If you are going to make a starter, it is generally recommended to use a single cut. Say just leg or thigh pieces. We recommend you use just thigh cuts for this recipe.

Inspiration for this blog:

We are big fans of Andhra Style Chili Chicken served at Nagarjuna and Rahhams! Do try it out there if you get a chance. We’ve heard a great deal about Fishland Hotel’s Green Chili Chicken but are yet to try it.

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