Indo-Chinese Chili Chicken with Fried Rice

Indo-Chinese food is a cuisine that isn't well known in the US, but is an incredible fusion of Chinese and Indian ingredients and techniques. Many Indo-Chinese dishes are somewhere between a stir-fry and a dry curry, and tend to be spicy and fried. This chili chicken is a simple, delicious one-pan dish.

The chicken is coated in a mix of soy sauce, garam masala, and corn starch. The corn starch is used as a thickener, and you want a sauce that is thick enough to stick to the chicken. You should let the chicken sit in the sauce for 30 minutes or more to let it set a bit.

When you are ready to start preparing the food, heat some oil in a frying pan. Don't be stingy with the oil, it will keep food from sticking to the pan. Once the oil is hot, add dried chilis and fry for about 5 minutes, stirring regularly. This frying adds the flavor of the chilis to the oil. Add in the coated chicken, and cook it until its done. In this stage, stir as little as possible to allow the crust to fry on. Remove the chicken and chilis with a slotted spoon to let the oil drain off.

You don't want to let the chili oil go to waste, and fried rice is a good way to put it to use. In this case, I added tomatoes, onions, curry leaves, and an egg and let them fry up a little. I then added cooked rice and a little bit of soy sauce and fried it all up for another few minutes.