One of my favorite all time meals to eat growing up was crispy, spicy, flavorful chicken 65 but my mom didn’t know how to make it so this craving would only be satiated at restaurants. A couple years ago on Christmas my Chachi learned how to make it and brought it over and it tasted great! My husband enjoyed it as well but him being the picky eater that he is, he had some critique. I have since changed the recipe around quite a bit to make a satisfying, crispier chicken 65 that has become a staple in our household.
Spicy Chicken 65
Crispy spiced chicken stir fried with chilis, sesame seeds, and herbs.
Ingredients
- 2 pounds of boneless skinless chicken cut into bite size chunks, I use chicken tenders
- 1 cup of whole fat yogurt
- 1/4 cup of rice flour
- 1/4 cup of corn starch
- 1/4 all purpose flour
- 1/4 cup of water
- 2 tablespoons of garlic paste
- 2 tablespoons of ginger paste
- 6 thai chilis sliced
- 4 tablespoons of tandoori masala
- 1 teaspoon of cumin powder
- 1 teaspoon of coriander powder
- 1 teaspoon of garam masala
- 1/4 teaspoon of turmeric powder
- Dash of red food color
- 1 tablespoon of sesame seeds
- 20 Curry leaves
- 1 teaspoon of mustard seeds
- 2 tablespoons of chili garlic sauce
- 2 tablespoons of dark soy sauce
- 4 cloves of garlic sliced thinly
- Oil for frying
- 2 tablespoons of oil for stir frying
Instructions
- In a large bowl place yogurt, garlic paste, ginger paste, sliced thai chilis, cumin powder, coriander powder, turmeric powder, garam masala, tandoori masala, and food color and mix well.
- Add all purpose flour, rice flour, and corn starch and mix well. Slowly add water if needed. You want the consistency to be of thick pancake batter.
- Add Chicken to the batter and marinate for 2 hours to overnight.
- In a pan, heat oil on medium high heat and shallow fry all the chicken pieces in batches and strain on a paper towel.
- In a large wok or frying pan, heat two tablespoons of oil medium heat.
- Once the oil is hot, add whole mustard seeds until they begin to pop.
- Quickly add sesame seeds, sliced garlic and curry leaves until everything gets fragrant. This should only take 30-45 seconds.
- Add chili garlic sauce and dark soy sauce and let it bubble for 30-45 seconds.
- Add Chicken and mix well coating all the pieces well.
- Serve with naan and chutney for a delicious meal.
Notes
You can garnish with cilantro, it adds a great pop of flavor. We tend to omit it because my husband isn't a huge fan of it.
Make sure you don't over cook the chicken, because they are tenders and are cut into bite sized pieces they only take 2-3 minutes to cook through.
If you want you can definitely omit the food color, it doesn't add any flavor it is only there for color and appeal.
Fresh curry leaves are great here but if you don't have them dried or frozen will get the job done as well but if you can get your hands on fresh curry leaves it will really elevate the dish.
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