Spicy Chili Chicken

Chinese New Year has come and gone, marking the end of my extravagant feasting forays which has been in overdrive ever since Thanksgiving last year. Settling back into my regular diet of good ol' steamed rice with a couple of simple dishes, the first thing that came to mind was something spicy, easy to prepare, and low fat ! Eenie, meenie, minie... Rendang ? Curry Chicken? Hot and Sour Fish? ...Nope. A simple Spicy Chili Chicken ? Yeah sure, why not ! The ingredients for this Chili Chicken recipe is actually quite versatile. A combination of spices and chilies ranging from cumin to turmeric and jalapeno to serrano can be used... Whatever floats your boat basically.

Preparing this dish always bring back fond memories of my carefree college days. It was the the beginning of the oriental buffet restaurant boom here in the states. Back then, those eat-till-u-drop-for-under-five-bucks joints were heaven for starving college students such as myself, who have been surviving on one too many packets of instant noodles for lunch and dinner... and breakfast... and supper. Well... you get the picture. One of the very few spicy dishes available at most of the buffets back then was the Spicy Chili Chicken. Come winter and early spring, a few buddies and myself would get together there once in a while and pile our plates high of that good stuff with extra glasses of iced water sitting on our tables just in case.

Okay, back to the present. As I was on the phone with mom, I decided to pick her brain for some spices to include in chili chicken. Oh boy, I ended up with a shopping list for like 101 spices, some of which I don't think I can even find in an encyclopedia! She must have forgotten that I'm not in Malaysia... hehe. Anyway, I've decided to narrow it down, mainly to whatever is available in my kitchen at the moment :P I am also going to pan-fry the chicken bone-in, which IMHO is tastier that way. So here it is, my simple version of the Spicy Chili Chicken.

Spicy Chili Chicken Recipe

Ingredients:
1/2 a chicken ( cut up into serving portions )
1/2 tsp mustard seeds
1/2 tsp coriander seeds
2 tsp turmeric powder
1/2 tsp garam masala
3 tbsp red chili powder
chopped serrano chilies ( remove seeds, OR use red chilies for a milder taste )
1 tbsp minced shallots
1 tbsp minced yellow onions
dried red chili pods ( remove seeds )
water
salt and sugar to taste

Method :
1) Marinate chicken with red chili powder, turmeric powder, and garam masala spice. Set aside.
2) Stir-fry the minced shallots, yellow onions, coriander, mustard seeds, serrano chilies, and dried chili pods till fragrant. Add chicken and pan fry on both sides until nicely browned.
3) Add water, salt and sugar to taste. Cover and simmer on low heat for 10-15 minutes OR until fully cooked.