Andhra Chilli Chicken

Andhra chilli chicken is a hot, spicy, and mildly tangy indulgence that you’ll get addicted to!

If you have been to my blog before, you would have come across some of the interesting chicken recipes I shared before. However, this recipe is different from them all!

For us humans, food is not just a means to survival. It’s a much deeper relationship that starts from our childhood, and we keep building on those memories as we grow. We associate the look, smell, taste, and texture to the food memories that we have stored in our brains. It’s these memories and the emotions they drive that complete our eating experience!

If you live in Bangalore, or if you have visited this city, you’ll know that this modern metropolis has a vibrant food scene. You get all kinds of cuisines here. Options available at restaurants, pubs, and roadside vendors vary from the authentic cuisines of Karnataka to diverse foods from across the country! A string of such restaurants offers great-tasting specialties from the Andhra cuisine. Their delicacies include full course meals that are worthy of a feast and biryanis that you can never get tired of eating. While I love their biryanis, my personal favourite is the Andhra style chilli chicken.

I love the Andhra chilli chicken so much that I have been trying to figure out a recipe that I can cook at home. I thought if I could replicate this at home, I don’t always have to visit a restaurant to devour one of my favourite chicken dishes!

This post is the result of that long journey that I embarked on for the perfect home-cooked Andhra chilli chicken! I experimented with a variety of chillies trying to find out the right about of spicy heat. I tried and tested tamarind and lime juices to find the right balance of tanginess. After multiple trial and errors, I came close to the flavours, but it wasn’t the same that I had in my food memories. Just when I thought I’ll have to give up, a friend of mine, who is from Andhra, came to my rescue. He said his mom makes the best chilli chicken that he has ever tasted! When he returned after a long weekend, he got me his mom’s recipe that has now formed the foundation of this post.

There aren’t many ingredients required to make this Andhra chilli chicken. The green chillies that I have used are the most commonly found variety, And if you are wondering about that tanginess – it’s not tamarind and it’s not lime juice! The unique ingredient that forms the character of this recipe is khus khus (poppy seeds). A ground paste made with ginger, garlic, khus, cardamom, and cloves form the masala base for this chilli chicken.

Check out the recipe! Tried it out this weekend! It’s hot and highly addictive! You have been warned!!

Print Recipe

5 from 1 vote

Andhra Chilli Chicken

Andhra chilli chicken is a hot, spicy, and mildly tangy indulgence that'll add to your food memories. It's fiery and highly addictive! You have been warned!

Prep Time10 mins

Cook Time30 mins

Total Time50 mins

Course: Main Course, Main Dish, Side Dish

Cuisine: Andhra

Servings: 4 people

Ingredients

• 500 grams chicken cut to small pieces
• 2 large onions thinly sliced
• 6 green chillies slit to halves and cut again
• 1/2 teaspoon turmeric powder
• 1/2 teaspoon chilli powder
• 2 sprigs curry leaves
• salt
• 1/4 cup Cilantro (Coriander leaves) chopped

For the paste

• 1 1/2 tablespoon khus khus poppy seeds
• 1 inch ginger cut to small pieces
• 7 cloves garlic
• 2 cardamom
• 2 cloves

Instructions

• Let's start with the ingredients for the masala paste. Grind together the khus khus, garlic, ginger, cardamom, and cloves.
  
• Grind to a paste. It shouldn't be too coarse.
  
• Heat some oil in a pan, and saute the onions on a medium flame.
  
• When they start turning brown, add the ground paste and green chillies.
  
• Mix well and cook further till the onions are soft and tender, all the raw smell of ginger and garlic is gone.
• Add turmeric powder, curry leaves and salt, mix well, and cook for a couple more minutes.
  
• Now add the chicken pieces, stir gently to get them uniformly coated in the onion and masalas in the pan.
• Close the lid, and cook on a low flame for 10 minutes.
• When you open the lid after 10 minutes, the chicken should be cooked in its own juices.
  
• Add chilli powder and chopped coriander leaves.
  
• Mix well. Check for salt and more if required. Cook for another 5 minutes on a medium flame without the lid to reduce the gravy to a thick consistency.
  
• Andhra chilli chicken is ready. Serve hot with rice or roti.

Notes

• The green chillies used in this recipe is the regular variety that you'll find in all Indian vegetable stores
• Tweak the amount of chillies based on your preferences and the heat that you can handle 😉
• I slice the chillies horizontally and then cut them into halves