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

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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.

Lets dig right into the basic steps of the recipe. 

STEP 1 – PREPPING THE BEEF STRIPS

The first step is going to be to cut the beef steak into thin strips and marinate it into a mixture of salt, pepper, lemon juice, cornflour, all purpose flour and ice cold water. Ideally, any stir fried beef recipe calls for beef flank steak cuts which are either used for steaks or are also known as undercut beef cut.

Keep the marinated beef for half an hour or so and fry at high flame until they turn golden brown. Remove the beef from the oil and set aside.

STEP 2 – STIR FRYING BELL PEPPERS

Next up are the bell peppers. Some versions of this recipe also add sliced onions in their recipe, but I prefer just the colorful bell-peppers for my version. Simply stir fry the bell peppers at high flame in a little oil. I love using assorted colorful bell peppers, but by all means, use whichever ones you have at hand. Set the veggies aside with the beef and proceed with the last step.

STEP 3 – PREPARING THE SAUCE AND ASSEMBLING

In a cup or a bowl, add all the sauces (listed in the recipe card below) and mix them well so that they form a nice homogeneous mixture. Set this sauce aside and get back to the wok.

Add a little oil in the wok (I am not using a cast iron pan). I personally like using Chili Oil for this step and for stir frying bell peppers as well. Alternatively, you can use regular oil too, if you don’t have any chili oil at hand.

The garlic needs to be sauteed and turned golden brown. Once the garlic turns golden brown, add the sauce mixture and let it cook for a good 4 to 5 minutes. This is a good time to taste the sauce and check if you want to adjust the salt levels.

The beef needs to stay a little crispy so make sure your wok and sauce are bubbling hot when you add the veggies and beef in it. Once you add the beef, don’t cook for a longer duration. Just give it a good saute for 2 to 3 minutes and dish it out. 

RECIPE ALTERATIONS AND SUBSTITUTIONS

If you don’t have beef steak in the house, we can also tweak the recipe to use any boneless beef you have at hand. Remove the bone from the beef, cut the beef into strips. And boil the beef strips in water for 30 to 40 minutes along with a little bit of salt, pepper and garlic ginger paste. Proceed with the all the steps as listed above in the same way. 

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Crispy Beijing Beef Recipe

Cornstarch coated beef strips, deep fried until crispy, covered in delicious brown sauce along with stir fried bell peppers.

Course Main Course

Cuisine Chinese/Indo Chinese

Prep Time 10 minutes minutes

Cook Time 20 minutes minutes

Marination time 30 minutes minutes

Total Time 1 hour hour

Servings 4 servings

Calories 438kcal

Author Wajiha

Ingredients

BEEF MARINADE

• 1/2 kg flank beef steak or skirt steak or undercut beef cut into thin strips
• 1 tbsp garlic ginger paste or powder
• 1 large egg
• 3 tbsp cornflour
• 3 tbsp all-purpose flour
• 1 tbsp lemon juice or juice of 1 lemon
• 1/2 cup ice cold water
• 1 tsp salt or to taste
• 1 tsp black pepper

SAUCE & VEGGIE

• 4 tbsp oil
• 3 cloves of garlic finely chopped
• 1 tbsp tomato paste
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1 tsp sugar
• 1 tbsp Hot sauce
• 2 tbsp soy sauce
• 2 tbsp Oyster sauce
• 2 tbsp Vinegar
• 4 tbsp Worcestershire sauce
• 1/2 cup water
• 2 tsp cornflour

Other ingredients

• Oil for frying
• 2 cup sliced bell peppers assorted
• handful of chopped green onions

Instructions

MARINADE AND FRYING

• Mix all the ingredients for the beef marinade and add the beef strips to it. Marinate the beef for about half an hour in the fridge.
• In a wok or frying pan, deep fry the beef strips at high flame until they turn golden brown. Set the fried beef aside
• In a wok or frying pan, add 2 tbsp of oil and stir fry all the sliced bell peppers at high flame for 2 to 3 mins.
• Remove the bell pepper from wok and set aside.

SAUCE AND ASSEMBLY

• In a bowl, add all the ingredients for the sauce (except oil and garlic) and form a homogeneous mixture
• Add another 2 tbsp of oil in the wok and saute chopped garlic at medium flame until they turn golden brown.
• Add the sauce mixture in the wok and cook for 4 to 5 minutes at medium to high flame.
• Add the fried beef and bell peppers in the sauce and saute for another minute or 2.
• Serve the dish hot, garnished with chopped green onions.
• Eaten best with noodles or rice.

Notes

If you don't have premium steak cut beefs, then use regular boneless beef strips but boil them with salt pepper and garlic for 30 mins. And then continue the recipe as is.

Nutrition

Serving: 1g | Calories: 438kcal | Carbohydrates: 11g | Protein: 27g | Fat: 32g | Saturated Fat: 9g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 5g | Monounsaturated Fat: 17g | Trans Fat: 0.1g | Cholesterol: 76mg | Sodium: 2055mg | Potassium: 553mg | Fiber: 1g | Sugar: 3g | Vitamin A: 97IU | Vitamin C: 5mg | Calcium: 39mg | Iron: 4mg

The post How to make Crispy Beijing Beef at home appeared first on Butter Over Bae.