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Feed your appetite for cooking with Penguin’s expert authors

Feed your appetite for cooking with Penguin’s expert authors

Chicken 65

Chicken 65

by The Tamil Prince from Tamila
Try this recipe for Chicken 65, a south Indian dish of deep-fried chicken marinated in The Tamil Prince's unique masala blend.
Serves 8-10
Total 10 min, plus marinating
Cook 10 min

From the book

by The Tamil Prince

Introduction from The Tamil Prince

The snack of all snacks and the star of the thali. I could easily polish off a few portions of these in one sitting. They’re so crispy, yet so light. Coated in my own masala blend, which I’ve tweaked over the years. Completely moreish and best enjoyed with a pint, or more.

Ingredients

1kg chicken breasts, trimmed of sinew and sliced into 25g strips
500ml rapeseed oil, or sunflower oil
For the masala coating
1½ tsp table salt
1 tbsp, plus 1 tsp hot chilli powder
juice of ½ lemon
50g ginger paste
50g garlic paste
2 tbsp coriander powder
1 tbsp cumin powder
50g gram flour
25g rice flour
25g cornflour
1 tbsp fennel seeds
1 tbsp whole black peppercorns
To serve
wedges of lime
slices of red onion

Method

1

In a large mixing bowl, combine 1 teaspoon of the salt, 1 tablespoon of the chilli powder and the lemon juice. Add the chicken to the bowl and use your hands to mix so the chicken is evenly coated. Add the ginger and garlic pastes and mix to coat the chicken in the pastes. Leave to marinate for 10 minutes.

2

Add the coriander powder, cumin powder, gram flour, rice flour and cornflour to the marinated chicken and mix well. Add the
remaining hot chilli powder, the remaining salt and 2 tablespoons of cold water. Mix again until the mixture thickens and begins to cling to the chicken.

3

In a pestle and mortar (or a spice grinder), crush the fennel seeds and black peppercorns until coarsely ground. Add the crushed
peppercorns and fennel seeds to the chicken mixture. Mix well and leave to marinate for a further 10 minutes.

4

Heat the oil in a large high-sided frying pan over a medium heat. To check the oil has reached the right temperature, drop in a small piece of bread. If the bread bubbles and turns golden, the oil is ready.

5

Using tongs or a large, slotted spoon, gently place the chicken, piece by piece, into the pan. You might need to do this in a few batches to avoid overcrowding the pan. Cook the chicken for 5 minutes, or until cooked through, turning halfway. Once cooked, transfer the chicken to a plate lined with kitchen paper to absorb any excess oil.

6

Leave to stand for a few minutes and serve with wedges of lime and slices of red onion.

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