299. Chicken 65 - Recipe

Chicken 65

My Kitchen My World, the name says it all. The world comes to us in our kitchens.

Members stay in their own kitchens and travel around the world through cooking the food of different countries. What a wonderful way to learn something new and to introduce tasty new dishes to our families.

I have been to Iran, Turkey, Guatemala, Ireland, Spain and Ethiopia without stepping out of my house.


We are visiting Pakistan this week and I have been learning about its diverse cuisine.

Pakistani food is influenced by its western neighbours, Afghanistan, Turkey, Iran and by India on its eastern border. So the food has unique, distinct characteristics depending on the region and people.

The Indian influence is seen in the cooking of Pakistani Punjabis, Sindhis and Muhajirs. They use more spices in their food; whereas the cooking of Pakistani Pashtuns and Baluchese is similar to their neighbours to the west.

I noticed this trend when I read some of the recipes. I had seen similar recipes in Persian and Turkish cookery books, e.g. the Pakistani, Zurda, a sweet yellow rice is similar to Zerde, the Turkish yellow rice pudding. Zerde means yellow in Persian. Kheer, is similar to the Indian rice pudding of the same name.

My impression is that Indian diet is mainly vegetarian whereas meat is a major part of Pakistani diet. Vegetables and beans are also important. Wheat is the main staple of Pakistani diet and rice is also popular. Chinese and American cuisine have also been adopted by some city people. There is a recipe that uses Pepsi cola and the Chicken 65 that I am making has soy sauce in it!

Chicken 65 are spicy chicken nuggets. There are many interpretations about the 65 - that it was first served in 1965, that there are 65 spices in the recipe, that the chicken is 65 days old! Whatever the origin of the name, it is a delicious appetizer and is popular in Pakistan and India.


Here is my version of Chicken 65 that I adapted from Cooking with BJ:

Ingredients:

A pound of boneless chicken

Marinade:

A quarter cup of cornstarch
A quarter cup of unbleached flour
A teaspoon of soy sauce
A teaspoon of sweet chilli sauce
2 teaspoons of turmeric
Lemon juice
Salt and pepper to taste
One egg, beaten
A tablespoon of garlic paste
A tablespoon of ginger paste
A tablespoon of shredded chili
2 tablespoons of chopped cilantro

Half a pound of cooked fingerling potatoes

Oil for frying

Method:

1. Wash and pat dry the chicken. Cut the chicken into 1-1/2 inch cubes.
2. Mix the marinade in a bowl. Put the chicken in the marinade and stir to coat the pieces of meat. Cover and let the meat marinate for several hours in the refrigerator.
3. About an hour before you will cook the dish, remove the marinated chicken from the refrigerator and bring to room temperature.
4. Heat the oil in a deep fry pan and fry the chicken pieces in small batches. It takes about 3-1/2 minutes per batch. Drain on paper towels.
5. Coat the pieces of potatoes with the marinade left in the bowl and fry the potatoes for about 2 minutes.

Serve as an appetizer. We ate them with naan.

This recipe is submitted to Andrea of Nummy Kitchen who is the moderator for My Kitchen My World, Pakistan. She shares the duties with Lauren of I'll Eat You.

MKMW was started by (and is the brainchild of) Susan of She's Becoming Doughmesstic.