Dragon Chicken: An Easy Indo-Chinese Starter

Indo-Chinese food has become a staple for all of us now. From the streets to the restaurants, Chinese dishes like Chowmien, Manchurian or a simple stir fry of vegetables in Chinese sauces have become an everyday part of our diets. With the continuous innovation in the food scenario of India, each day a new set of Indo-Chinese dishes are being invented by either chefs or commoners that are worthy of our attention.

It is believed that the first recorded Chinese to have visited India was Yang Tai Chow in the year 1778. He settled in the then British capital of Kolkata to look for better money prospects. Over the years, many like him settled down in India and infused Indian ingredients with Chinese sauces. As immigrants tend to do, the Chinese assimilated Indian sensibilities and beliefs. They even acknowledged one of our goddesses Kali as their own and offered noodles, chop suey, rice and vegetable dishes in rituals as a sign of unity.  

Chinese food mostly consists of meat but India having a large percentage of vegetarian population invented a spate of vegetarian dishes. However, that did not mean that meat-lovers could not find anything on an Indo-Chinese table. The usage of Chicken and Mutton in Chinese dishes slowly became a common thing in Indian Restaurants with a wide array of non-vegetarian inventions like Chilli Chicken, Chicken 65 and more.

Ingredients-

• 250 gms boneless chicken
• 1 tsp salt
• 1 tsp white pepper
• ½ tsp Cornflour
• ½ cup refined flour
• 1 Egg
• 3 tsp oil
• 1 tsp ginger
• 2 tsp garlic
• 1 tsp green chilli
• 4 dried red chilli
• 1 chopped onion
• 2 tsp tomato sauce
• 1 tsp soya sauce
• 1 tsp red chilli sauce
• 1 chopped bell peppers
• 1 spring onion
• White sesame seeds

Steps-

Frying the chicken-

1. Cut the boneless chicken into long pieces. Add ½ teaspoon salt and ½ tsp white pepper. Mix it well and keep it aside.
2. In a separate bowl, take 3 tablespoons of maida or refined flour, cornflour, white pepper and salt. Mix the dry ingredients together. Slowly, add water to the mixture. Add one egg to the mixture. Whip the mixture properly.
3. Add the boneless chicken to the mixture and coat the chicken properly.
4. Heat oil in a wok and fry the chicken pieces till they are golden brown.

The final dish-

1. In a separate wok, heat 2 tablespoons of oil. Add ginger, garlic, dried red chillies and green chillies and cook for 2-3 minutes.
2. Add onions and stir. Add red chilli sauce, soya sauce and bell peppers and stir for 2-3 minutes.
3. Now add fried chicken to the wok and stir for some time. 
4. Garnish with chopped spring onions greens and white sesame seeds.