Andhra Restaurant-Style

Chilli Chicken

Recipe

Andhra chilli chicken recipe is a spicy, restaurant-style starter that, despite its name, has little to do with Andhra cuisine. The dish gets its name from Bangalore's restaurants and street vendors, who borrowed the region's reputation for chilli-laden food to describe this chicken preparation. Marinated chicken is tenderised, then cooked, and finished with a fresh-off-the-pan tempering of cumin, curry leaves, and green chillies, along with a fresh coriander-chilli paste that gives the dish its signature green hue and heat. The single most useful trick behind this chilli chicken recipe, which is unique to it, is soaking the chicken in buttermilk overnight, or for at least a couple of hours if time is short. This step tenderises the meat without needing a separate tenderiser, like yoghurt or vinegar, and it also makes the marinade penetrate better. After draining off the buttermilk, the chicken is mixed with onions, lemon juice, ginger-garlic paste, red chilli powder, garam masala, and turmeric, then left to sit before it goes on the stove. This chilli chicken recipe requires the marinated chicken to be cooked on medium heat until tender, and to be adjusted with less or more heat and water for the perfectly moist chilli chicken. The tempering towards the end is the hallmark of this chicken recipe. Cumin seeds splutter in hot oil before curry leaves and slit green chillies go in and are fried; then the cooked chicken and a fresh coriander-green chilli paste are added and fried for another few minutes, for the perfect appetiser.