Chili Chicken

Red hot chili chicken

Chili Chicken is chicken cooked in a red sauce containing onions, tomato, paprika and hot red chilis.

INGREDIENTS

PREPARATION

This dish can be made mild, when it is very similar to chicken paprika, or ferociously hot, or wherever between these limits you prefer. The heat is controlled simply by the type and amount of hot chili - choose the type and quantity which suit you. Using fresh chilis will give the best flavour, but using powdered chilis gives easier control of the heat. If you have little experience try two medium (thumb) sized hot (3 little chilis) red chilis from the supermarket, or one level tsp cayenne pepper (chili powder). Be cautious - it is simple to add more, but hard to take it out (although adding some cream to the dish will calm things a little). If you like the flavour of Tabasco sauce you can add heat by using it instead of chili powder and adding it a few drops at a time until the heat is right.

The chicken thighs are best cooked with skin on and bone in for flavour, but the finished dish will contain slightly more fat, and you may prefer to use skinless boneless thighs. You could use drumsticks or whole legs if you prefer but I like the size and shape of thighs. Chicken breast pieces work, too, but leg meat gives a better flavour and texture to this dish.

Sauté the onions, garlic, peppers and chilis in the oil until onions are soft and just turning golden. (The onions, bell peppers and chilis may be chopped quite small or just sliced in rings, depending on whether you want large or small pieces of vegetable in your sauce. The peppers and chilis should have had their stalks and all their seeds removed before chopping.) Add the chicken pieces and cook until they're no longer pink.

Add the spices, stir thoroughly for 60-90 seconds and add the liquid, and the tomato purée and the stock cube if used. Bring to the boil and simmer for 30-60 minutes at the lowest possible heat necessary to maintain boiling, stirring occasionally and adding water if necessary to prevent drying out. The sauce is thickened by the paprika, but if you like a thicker sauce add a little wheat flour or cornflour blended into a couple of tablespoons of water, stir well and bring back to the boil for 60-90 seconds. Serve at once, or allow to cool, store in the refrigerator overnight, and reheat and serve the following day, when the flavour will be even better.

Garnish with chopped coriander (and for the very brave) one or two whole raw bird's eye chilis, and serve with rice.

1 Variously known as peppers, bell peppers, sweet peppers and capsicum

2 European style fermented ("hard") dry cider - don't use unfermented apple juice unless it's very dry

3 Cayenne pepper or chili powder consists of dried powdered hot chilis. This is what should be used for this dish. There is another spice which is also called "Chili Powder", which is used to make the Tex/Mex dish "Chile con Carne" - this one is a mixture of powdered hot chilis with cumin, oregano and other herbs and spices. Since they have similar appearance it can be hard to tell which is which. "Chili powder" in a supermarket is likely to be the blend, in an Indian grocery it will probably be the powdered chilis, but "Cayenne pepper" or "powdered chili" will always be the one you want. (If you do make a mistake and make this dish with the wrong one don't worry - it will still be good.)

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