Dragon Chicken
Dragon chicken tosses fried chicken strips in a sweet-hot sauce with cashews.
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40 mintotal
Prep 20 min · Cook 20 min
- Serves
- 2
- Difficulty
- Medium
- Spice
- High
Ingredients
Quantities are for 2 servings.
You'll need: Stovetop.
Method
First marinade: in a bowl, combine the sliced chicken strips with the measured soy sauce, ginger-garlic paste, a pinch of salt and the beaten egg. Mix until evenly combined.
Add the measured cornflour and all-purpose flour (maida) to the marinated chicken. Toss it hard by hand until a very thick, sticky coating covers every strip completely.
Heat plenty of oil to medium-high in a large kadhai. Add the coated strips one at a time so they do not clump together. Fry for 5-6 minutes until the outside sets into a crisp, golden-brown crust. Lift onto absorbent paper.
5–6 min
Using the same hot oil, flash-fry the cashews for 30 seconds. Lift them out the moment they turn golden and set them aside.
30 sec
Make the glaze: heat a little oil in a wide wok over high heat. Flash-fry the crushed garlic, ginger and halved dried red chillies. Toss quickly for about 15 seconds, until the dried chillies darken noticeably.
15 sec
Add the thinly sliced onions to the wok. Stir-fry them quickly for 60 seconds so they start to caramelize but keep their crunch.
1 min
Turn the heat down. Add the red chilli paste, tomato ketchup, soy sauce, sugar and a pinch of salt to the wok. Stir quickly to bring the sauce together.
Boil the sauce for 30 seconds, until it thickens and turns glossy and bubbling.
30 sec
Turn off the heat. Add all the crisp chicken strips and the reserved golden cashews to the wok at once.
Toss quickly and firmly so the sticky red glaze coats the chicken and the cashews completely. Garnish generously with spring onion greens and serve immediately.
How to tell it's done
A sharp, shattering coating painted with a sticky, mirror-glossy red sauce, sweet and very hot at once, with the rich snap of roasted cashews all through it.
Getting it right
Tip
Dragon chicken lives on its two sides: a fiery chilli heat set against the measured sweetness of ketchup and sugar, with fried cashews tying the two together. Keep to long, slender strips rather than cubes; that cut is part of the dish.
What to serve it with
Serve it hot, straight out of the wok. It makes a striking starter on an Indo-Chinese menu.
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