I could write a whole monologue about my love for this Dragon Chicken Recipe but all I’ll say…is…Dragon chicken is my all time faaaaaaavorite Indo-Chinese cuisine and lets just leave at that. Also, I would marry it if I could (True story)

So Indo-Chinese cuisines are basically just Chinese food, spiked with a little bit of Indian spices to make it more appealing to the average brown man. Apparently it was developed by a Chinese Community living in Kolkata for over a Century….(click here to read more)

Dragon Chicken is one kick-ass chicken dish, that you will fall in love with the moment you try it. It is a classic fried chicken-in-sauce kinda recipe, similar to the Asian Spicy Meatballs I did the other day. Although it does have chili oil in it, its surprisingly medium on the heat scale and has a more sweet after-taste. It’s usually eaten with rice or pasta. However, this talented chicken works just as well for starters if you keep the sauce on the drier side.

This recipe makes use of the chili oil, the recipe to which I posted earlier (spoiler: it takes only 10 mins to make)

I’ve made this recipe probably over 50 times by now, and I can easily say it has now become my go-to recipe whenever I make Asian food. If you aren’t sold by now to try this….well…:P you are one tough cookie. If you are going to try it…lemme give you a little step by step action. 

STEP BY STEP PLAY DRAGON CHICKEN RECIPE

STEP 1 – PREPARE CHICKEN PIECES

First course of action is to cut the chicken in cubes and marinate it in eggs, corn flour, flour and seasonings. 

I personally prefer keeping the chicken overnight for the marination…but I don’t always have time for that. So I just marinate it, stick it in the fridge for half an hour, meanwhile I prepare the other things and take it out and fry it.

Frying the chicken will probably take a little longer than regular frying because the color takes a little while to develop with this kind of a coating. So just fry them at high and keep an eye on that color. 

Fun fact: My friend is a health nut and bakes these chicken cubes instead of frying. Turns up just fine as well. 

Once you are done frying, you are gonna set the chicken aside and get started with part 2. 

Dinner party tip: If you are making these for a party, you could totally fry the chicken wayyyy in advance. Like I am saying early morning for a dinner that night. 

STEP 2 – GRILL BELL PEPPERS

In a wok or pan, add 1 tbsp of chili oil (I’ve linked the recipe for chili oil out right here, it takes hardly 10 minutes and is super easy to make I promise) and saute red bell peppers. Add those peppers to your chicken pile. Again….this can be done way in advance. 

(Of course you can use any bell pepper that you have at hand, but red works visually very well with this dish)

STEP 3 – PREPARE SAUCE

Saute chopped garlic in chili oil until they turn golden brown.

After that, add 1 cup water and let that garlic water simmer. Just dump allllllll the sauce ingredients in. (starting with chili powder) and let it cook for a bit. That’s pretty much it!

STEP 4 – ASSEMBLY

All you gotta do now, is add the chicken back to the sauce. Let it cook for a little bit to warm up the chicken.This is the time where you decide what consistency of the sauce you want to keep. Let it cook a bit more if you want it to be dry.

Dish out the chicken, sprinkle a little sesame seeds and green onions, dig right in.

RECIPE SUBSTITUTES, FIXES AND REMIXES

1. Dragon beef
   You can use the same recipe to make Dragon beef. Just boil the beef pieces in garlic ginger, salt and pepper. Cook for 30 to 40 mins or until the beef gets tender, after that, follow the same steps for dragon chicken. 

2. Healthier substitutions
   Bake the chicken instead of frying. Coat in oil and Bake at 200 c for 15 minutes. Flip over and do for another 4 minutes.

3. To make a more saucy dragon chicken
   Add an extra cup of water and 1 tbsp of corn flour and an extra tbsp of honey.

4. A party starter
   To make this chicken as a starter, cut the chicken in slightly larger cubes. Also, keep the sauce on the drier side by over cooking for 2 3 extra minutes. And finally, serve with tooth picks inserted in the chicken cubes

5. Pairing the Dragon
   Dragon chicken is usually eaten with fried rice or chow mein noodles. Throw in a quick Cashew Salad and you’ve got yourself a dinner menu.

QUICK AND EASY DRAGON CHICKEN RECIPE

Print

Dragon Chicken

A spicy sweet, fried chicken gravy, infused with Chinese flavors. Usually eaten with rice or Chinese noodles.

Course Main Course

Cuisine Chinese/Indo Chinese

Prep Time 10 minutes minutes

Cook Time 15 minutes minutes

Total Time 25 minutes minutes

Servings 4 servings

Calories 420kcal

Author Wajiha

Ingredients

Chicken Marination

• 500 gm boneless chicken cut in cubes
• 1/2 tsp Salt
• 1 tsp White pepper
• 1 tsp Garlic powder or garlic paste
• 1 large Egg
• 2 tbsp Corn flour
• 2 tbsp Flour
• 2 tbsp Sriracha sauce
• Oil for frying

Sauce

• 1/4 cup chili oil
• 4 cloves garlic finely chopped
• 6 tbsp Honey or brown sugar
• 1 tsp Red Chili powder
• 1 pinch Orange food color
• 2 tbsp Vinegar
• 1/2 tsp salt or to taste
• Sesame seeds to sprinkle
• 1 big red bell pepper cut in square
• 1 tbsp Sriracha sauce
• 1/3 cup Tomato paste
• 1 cup water

Instructions

• Marinate chicken cubes with all the ingredients for chicken marination and cover and refrigerate for minimum 2 hours or overnight
• Deep fry the marinated chicken until golden brown and set aside.
• In a wok add a tbsp of chili oil and saute the bell peppers at high flame, set it aside.
• In the same wok, add the remaining chili oil and fry chopped up garlic until brown.
• Add in chili powder, stir a bit and add 1 cup of water.
• When the water starts to boil, add all the remaining ingredients for the sauce and let it cook for 3 to 4 minutes.
• Now add your fried chicken and bell peppers to the sauce and coat evenly.
• Cook for another 3 mins to warm up the chicken and dish out.
• Top with sesame seeds and chopped green onions.

Notes

You can add more water to create a more saucy dragon chicken.

Nutrition

Serving: 1serving | Calories: 420kcal | Carbohydrates: 38g | Protein: 28g | Fat: 18g | Saturated Fat: 3g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 2g | Monounsaturated Fat: 12g | Trans Fat: 0.01g | Cholesterol: 80mg | Sodium: 1170mg | Potassium: 745mg | Fiber: 2g | Sugar: 29g | Vitamin A: 543IU | Vitamin C: 14mg | Calcium: 34mg | Iron: 2mg

I hope you guys have fun making and devouring this family favorite! Click here if you want other Main course options! and Here if you are looking for more starter options.

And most importantly, if you guys have any confusions, questions, threats or kinds words…just leave a comment below and I will get back to you ASAP! 

The post Dragon Chicken Recipe appeared first on Butter Over Bae.

These Asian-flavored meatballs are coated in a delicious garlic brown sauce. Unlike being sweet like the Teriyaki Chicken, these meatballs have a more garlicky and chili flakes infused flavor and a mellow sweet after-taste. 

Oh and did I mention, you only need 30 mins to whip this recipe up! Again like so many Chinese dishes, this one is just as versatile as it is easy, and quick.

3 ways to serve these Meatballs

1. Skip the sauce and you have a great grilled/fried appetizer to add to your menu

2. Keep the sauce very thick, and add toothpicks to each balls and you have a starter

3. Keep the sauce liquidy, and you have a main course staring right at ya.

And like all Chinese main entrees, like the dragon chicken, this meatball goes well with rice and pasta both, with a side serving of a good old salad.

STEPS OUTLINE FOR MAKING THE SAUCY CHICKEN MEATBALLS

Ok, if you’ve ever made any kind of meatballs before, you know the drill. If you haven’t, lemme just walk you through the steps quickly

STEP 1 – MAKING THE MEATBALLS

First, we are going to start with some finely chopped veggies, like carrots, bulbs of the green onions and garlic by putting them in a chopper.

Make sure you are chopping them towards the fine side. You can even chop the green shoots of the green onions, but I like to slice them by knife. 

Dump all your veggies, mince meat in a bowl along with some breadcrumbs, an egg and a tbsp of cream cheese.

PRO TIP: The cream cheese is added to make the meatballs soft even if they get overcooked. 

(If you are looking for a healthier alternative, you could use Greek yogurt instead of cream cheese)

Then we are just gonna add all the seasonings (mentioned in the recipe card below) and proceed to the next step.

Oil your palms and make the meatballs. 

If you find handling the meatballs difficult these are one of the 3 things you can do:

1. You can add another tablespoon of breadcrumbs so your mixture will become easier to handle.
2. You could keep your meatball mixture in the freezer for 15 minutes and then try making the balls.
3. You can use an icecream scooper to scoop out evenly sized balls on to an oiled baking tray and flash freeze it. Take it out and perfect the shape of the balls by hand. 

Next we are going to fry/grill/bake the meatballs. 

Don’t worry if the meatballs aren’t cooked all the way through as they are going to be cooked a little more in your sauce. After grilling/frying/baking, keep your cooked meatballs aside.

PRO TIP: You can freeze the meatballs after cooking them and use them at a later date. 

STEP 2 – MAKING THE SAUCE

For preparing sauce, its gonna start in the very basic curry-starter kind of a way.

We are gonna add some oil to a pan and saute some chopped garlic and onions.

Once they turn a really nice golden brown color, add all the sauce ingredients like the vinegar, sriracha sauce, oyster sauce, ketchup, chili flakes, honey, salt and let it cook. I add half a cup of water to my sauce when I am making this as a Main Course. Skip the water if you want to make this as an appetizer. 

Let the sauce cook for about 2 to 3 minutes and add in your meatballs.

Let it cook for another 5 minutes and turn of the flame. I love garnishing this with green onions and sesame seeds. 

RECIPE ALTERATIONS

HEALTHIER MEATBALLS

• Use Greek Yogurt instead of cream cheese
• Bake meatballs instead of frying.
• Use low sodium organic sauces to prepare the sauce. 

ADJUST SPICE LEVELS

• To create a rather spicier version of this recipe, use chili oil to prepare the sauce and up the level of chili flakes and Sriracha sauce
• To reduce heat in this recipe, skip the red chili flakes from the meatballs and sauce. 

Print

Asian-style Saucy & Spicy chicken meatballs recipe 

Asian flavored meatballs prepared in a garlic and chili infused brown sauce. Eaten usually with Rice and/or Pasta

Course Main Course

Cuisine Chinese/Indo Chinese

Prep Time 15 minutes minutes

Cook Time 15 minutes minutes

Total Time 30 minutes minutes

Servings 22 meat balls

Calories 46kcal

Author Wajiha

Ingredients

To make the Meatballs

• 500 gm boneless chicken mince
• 4 cloves garlic
• 1 medium carrot
• 4 stalks green onions (scallions)
• 1 tsp salt
• 1 tsp red chili flakes
• 1 large egg
• 3 tsp panko breadcrumbs
• 1 tbsp Cream Cheese or Greek Yogurt
• 1 tbsp Sriracha sauce
• Oil for frying

For the Sauce

• 1 medium onion finely chopped
• 3 cloves garlic finely chopped
• 4 tbsp of cooking oil
• 1/2 cup water
• 4 tbsp Ketchup
• 1/2 tsp salt or to taste
• 4 tbsp Oyster sauce
• 2 tbsp honey
• 1 tsp red chili flakes
• 1 tbsp Sriracha sauce

Instructions

MEATBALLS

• In a chopper, add the carrot, garlic and the white bulbs of the green onions. Chop them finely.
• Chop the green shoots of the green onions separately.
• In a bowl add chicken mince, chopped veggies and all the ingredients listed for meatballs (Except oil)
• Cover the meatball mix and refrigerate for half an hour.
• Oil the palm of your hands, scoop 1 tbsp of the chicken mince and form balls.
• Cook the meatballs and set them aside

TO COOK THE MEATBALLS:

• Fry them directly in some oil at medium flame.
• Grill them at medium flame on a grill pan
• To bake them: Preheat oven at 165°C (325°F) for 20 minutes. Bake for 20 minutes in the preheated oven
• PREPARING THE SAUCE
• In a large pan add oil, chopped garlic and chopped onions. Saute them at medium flame until they turn golden brown.
• Add all the ingredients to the sauce in the pan and cook for 2 3 minutes.
• Add meatballs, cover the pan and allow to cook for another 3 to 4 minutes.
• Adjust the level of sauciness to your liking, overcook to reduce the sauce or add more water to increase the sauce quantity.
• Serve the meatballs with sprinkled sesame seeds and chopped green onions.

Notes

If you want to freeze the meatballs, Grill them at high flame for a minute or so and freeze them in a ziplock back. (they will be undercooked, but will retain their shape and moisture) To use them at a later date, just defrost and prepare them by baking/grilling or frying.

Nutrition

Serving: 1meatball | Calories: 46kcal | Carbohydrates: 4g | Protein: 5g | Fat: 1g | Saturated Fat: 0.3g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 0.2g | Monounsaturated Fat: 0.5g | Trans Fat: 0.003g | Cholesterol: 15mg | Sodium: 340mg | Potassium: 117mg | Fiber: 0.3g | Sugar: 3g | Vitamin A: 549IU | Vitamin C: 2mg | Calcium: 7mg | Iron: 0.2mg

The post Asian-style Saucy & Spicy chicken meatballs recipe  appeared first on Butter Over Bae.