Chicken 65 (Chennai)

Chicken 65 was created in 1965 at the Buhari hotel in Chennai and is now on every South Indian restaurant menu. Boneless chicken is marinated in yoghurt, chilli and ginger-garlic, coated in a little rice flour and fried until crisp.

Serve it hot with onion rings and lemon, or as a side to rice and rasam.

• Serves 4
• Prep 15 min
• Marinate 60 min
• Cook 20 min
• gluten-free · Spicy
• Famous in Tamil Nadu

Ingredients

• 600 g boneless chicken thighs, in bite-size pieces
• 3 tbsp thick yoghurt
• 1 tbsp ginger-garlic paste
• 2 tsp Kashmiri chilli powder
• ½ tsp turmeric
• 1 tsp garam masala
• 1 tsp freshly ground black pepper
• 1 tbsp lemon juice
• 3 tbsp rice flour
• 2 tbsp corn starch
• 1 tsp salt
• Oil for deep frying
• For tossing: 1 tbsp oil, 2 sprigs curry leaves, 3 green chillies slit, 4 garlic cloves chopped

Method

1. Mix the chicken with yoghurt, ginger-garlic paste, chilli, turmeric, garam masala, pepper, lemon juice and salt. Marinate for 1 hour (or overnight).
2. Just before frying, mix in the rice flour and corn starch so every piece is coated.
3. Heat the oil to 175 °C. Fry the chicken in batches for 5–6 minutes until crisp and cooked through. Drain on paper.
4. Heat 1 tbsp oil in a wok. Fry garlic, green chillies and curry leaves for 30 seconds.
5. Add the fried chicken and toss for 1 minute. Serve at once with lemon wedges.

Tip: For a lighter version, bake the coated chicken at 220 °C for 20 minutes, turning once, then toss as in step 5.

Shop the ingredients

Everything you need for this recipe is in stock at Farmah’s – order online or pick it up at Annenstraße 41, Graz.