Andhra Style Green Chilli Chicken

Today's recipe is a delicious and spicy Andhra style green chili chicken. This is the fourth recipe I am sharing for this year's Christmas menu. This is a spicy notch up to the regular dry chicken roast recipe. Chicken lovers will love this simple, yet flavorful chicken with the enticing flavor of chilies and spices. For me, this is absolute comfort food and has the deep essence of homey South Indian food. It is perfect with steamed rice and rasam. I spent most of my childhood in Andhra Pradesh and most of my childhood memories are surrounded by flavors of Andhra food. Andhra cuisine is known for its diversity- it is rich, tangy, hot and flavorful. They have some of the best spiciest delicacies and I have already shared some of my favorites like pulihora, Andhra fish curry, gongura pickle, Aavakaya,etc.

Andhra chili chicken is common in the restaurant menu in Bangalore and Delhi. But it is not the regular Indo Chinese chilly chicken that you find all over India. This chicken recipe is made with fresh green chilly. The green chilly paste is the main ingredient of the marinade. Fresh, slender Indian green chilly is packed with flavor. It adds a fierce heat to curries and has a spicy pungent flavor. You can cut back on chilly powder and black pepper powder. The spiciness is balanced with the sourness from yogurt, lemon juice and the flavors of earthy spices.

Back home this is a common chicken recipe and mom makes this often. She also has her own special homegrown green chili, a kind of long thin variety that is less spicy. She often says the smaller the chilly the spicier it will be! The trick here is to get as much of flavor as possible from green chilly and not the intense heat. Removing the seeds and scraping the membranes that hold the seeds will make it less spicy. You can also use a combination of hot and sweet peppers/chills. You can also add sliced green chilly in hot oil and fry for a minute. This will help to infuse the oil with chilly flavor but not the intense heat. Remove the fried chilly from the oil. If you like you can use it as a garnish before serving. Try this yummy chicken and let me know how it turned out for you.

To make the marinade for this chilly chicken, you will need lots of green chilly. The marinade has green chilly, ginger and garlic with the flavor of earthy spices, like cumin, and garam masala. It is also slightly tangy with the addition of yogurt/ curd and lemon juice. Yogurt also helps to keep the meat soft and juicy. Add curry leaves for authentic south Indian flavor.
What makes this chicken special is the spicy thick masala coating. The trick to get the perfect dry roast chicken is to not adding water. The chicken oozes out water and cooks. Once all the water evaporates and the chicken is cooked reduce the heat to low medium and allow the chicken roast and get slightly crispy. Roasting the chicken will give a unique aroma.

I have shared a lot of chicken recipes in this space. Here are a few chicken recipes if you are interested.
Spicy Almond Chicken
Korean Chilli Garlic Chicken
Chicken Cutlet
Jamaican Jerk Chicken
Chicken Liver Fry
Malabar Chicken Fry
Coq au Vin/ Anglo Indian Rooster Curry

Andhra Style Green Chili Chicken

Cooking time- 20 minutes
Recipe type- Chicken side dish
Cuisine- Andhra/ Indian

Ingredients
Chicken- 1 lb
Turmeric powder- 1/2 tsp
Yogurt- 1 tbs
Cumin powder- 1/2 tsp
Garam masala- 1 tsp
Coriander powder- 1 tsp
Sliced green chilly- 2 (optional)
Salt to taste
Lemon juice- 1/2 lemon
Curry leaves- a few
Oil as needed
Ghee- 1/2 tsp

To make the paste
Green chilly-6-8
Ginger- 1 inch thick piece
Garlic- 5-6 pods
Coriander leaves chopped- 1 tbs
Shallots- 1 or 2
Cashew nuts- 3-4

Wash and clean the chicken. You can use chicken with bones or boneless chicken. Pat dry with a paper towel. Marinate with salt, turmeric, and yogurt. Set this aside for 10 minutes.
Make a smooth paste of green chilly, ginger, garlic, coriander leaves, shallots, and cashew nuts. Marinate the chicken with this paste, Mix well and set aside for at least half an hour.
Heat oil in a pan and add sliced green chilly. Saute for a minute, drain the fried chilly and set aside.
In the same oil add the marinated chicken. Saute and fry for 3-4 minutes or till the chicken changes color to slightly brown. Cover and cook for 5 minutes. There is no need to add water. The chicken oozes out water and will cook. Once all the water evaporates and the chicken is cooked reduce the heat to low medium. Add garam masala, coriander powder and cumin powder and curry leave. Mix well and allow the chicken roast and get slightly crispy. To finish off add 1/2 tsp of ghee, lemon juice and garnish fried green chilly. Serve warm with steamed rice, fried rice or with bread.