Chicken 65- Restaurant style….

The holy month of Ramadan is here and many will be busy praying. By the time of sunset, it will be iftar i.e evening meal, which we have after long hours of fasting in summer. Iftar is usually enjoyed with friends and family. A variety of foods are prepared for iftar which includes fruit juices, appetizers, main meals, desserts and so on. Each region has there own special iftar dishes. During Ramadan fasting, we have to take care of our health and so we have to eat healthy.

In India, during fasting, at the time of sunset we will have some light food like pathiri, chole bature, falafel, appam so on, and after praying we will have heavy meal like rice/ chapatis. But after coming to US, because of the long hours of fasting, by the time of iftar it will be night and so we will have direct dinner. No need of spending much time in kitchen. But my daughter was not happy as she cannot eat any appetizers  or light snacks and so when she insisted, I thought of making something that we can eat along with rice or chapatis and ended up making chicken 65.

I love chicken 65 that which we get in restaurants, with lot of curry leaves on top. I tried making a restaurant style and it came out perfect. I know that a fried snack is not good during fasting, but having it in very less quantity is fine.

Ingredients:

1. Boneless Chicken- 250 gms
2. Ginger and Garlic Paste- 1 tbsp
3. Red Chilli Powder- ½ tbsp
4. Salt- as required
5. Yogurt- 2 tbsp
6. Lemon Juice- 1 tbsp
7. Turmeric Powder- 1 tsp
8. Corn Flour- 2 tbsp
9. Maida- 1 tbsp
10. Oil- deep frying

For Tempering:

1. Oil- 1 tbsp
2. Curry Leaves- few
3. Chopped Garlic- 2 tbsp
4. Chopped Ginger- 2 tbsp
5. Green Chillies- 3 nos
6. Yogurt- 2 tbsp
7. Red Chilli Powder- 1 tsp
8. Turmeric Powder- ½ tsp
9. Coriander Powder- 1 tsp

Method:

1. Mix the boneless chicken pieces along with yogurt, ginger garlic paste, red chilli powder, pepper powder, lemon juice and turmeric powder, for about 1 hour.
2. Heat oil in a pan for deep frying. Meanwhile add corn flour and maida to the marinated chicken and mix well.
3. Fry the chicken pieces by not crowding the pan and cook on medium flame. Once the pieces turn golden brown in colour remove on kitchen towel.
4. Heat oil in another pan. Add the curry leaves, chopped garlic, chopped ginger, slitted green chillies, yogurt, red chilli powder, turmeric powder, coriander powder and salt. Stir well.
5. In the above toss the deep fried chicken pieces and stir on high flame till all the moisture gets absorbed and now the chicken is well coated with the yogurt mixture.
6. Remove onto serving plate and enjoy.