Baked Indo-Chinese Chilli Chicken Curry – This delicious Indo-Chinese chilli chicken dish sits half way between a curry and a stir-fry, but it baked for a healthy alternative with no extra oil added. It tastes like an authentic Chinese chilli chicken or curry dish, one that you might enjoy in a high-end Chinese restaurant, and it can be started the night before you want to serve it. Baking all of the ingredients together means that you only have one dish to wash up too, for the win!
Chinese New Year 2018
Year of the Dog
The Dog is the eleventh of all zodiac animals. According to one myth, the Jade Emperor said the order would be decided by the order in which they arrived to his party. Monkey, Rooster and Dog were in another country, helping a god defeat evil spirits. After, they set off to the party together. Because they arrived at the same time, the Jade Emperor went by the order they met the god in the other country. Thus, Dog became eleventh.
The Dog is also associated with the Earthly Branch (地支—dì zhī) xū (戌), and the hours 7–9 in the evening. In the terms of yin and yang (阴阳—yīn yáng), the Dog is yang.
In China, it is still popular to name dogs Wàng Cái (旺财). It means “prosperous wealth” and comes from dogs’ barking sounds (旺旺—wàng wàng).
(Taken from Chinese New Year 2018)
Today’s recipe for Baked Indo-Chinese Chilli Chicken Curry was created especially for Chinese New Year and the year of the dog, which is my year as it happens! It’s a simple but extremely delicious chilli chicken curry, that is full of Asian flavours…….it crosses two styles of cooking, insofar as it tastes like a stir-fry, but being baked has far less oil in it, and, it also has that rather unique flavour that you get with a Chinese style curry. The great thing about the recipe, apart from its good looks and delectable taste, is the fact that you can assemble part of it the night before you need to cook it, allowing the chicken to bathe in a spicy, rich marinade that not only infuses flavour into the meat, but adds depth of colour and tenderises it. Simply add the vegetables along with the spices, seasonings and sauces next day, mix well and the bake for a splash-free kitchen with the minimum of washing up.
Chinese New Year in 2018, started on the 16th February, that being the first day of the Chinese New Lunar Year, and the festivities will continue for two weeks, so there is plenty of time to take advantage of cooking Chinese cuisine, and enjoying more Asian inspired meals using Chinese ingredients, spies and seasonings. I already have some delectable Chinese recipes on Lavender and Lovage, lots of them stem from, and are inspired by my time living in Hong Kong……I will share a list of some of them at the end of this post. I used a Patak’s Madras curry paste pot in this recipe, as one little pot is a handy portion and there is no need to open a large jar or bottle, but, you can use any curry paste that you have to hand. The high proportion of veggies in the recipe add a valuable two of your five-a-day to you daily intake, and you can add even more veggies if you wish, by adding mushrooms to the recipe. The printable recipe card is shared below, along with some of my other Chinese and Asian inspired recipes…….that’sa all for today, Kung Hei Fat Choy, Karen.
Baked Indo-Chinese Chilli Chicken Curry
Print recipe
| Serves | 4 to 6 |
| Prep time | 24 hours, 20 minutes |
| Cook time | 35 minutes |
| Total time | 24 hours, 55 minutes |
| Allergy | Soy |
| Meal type | Lunch, Main Dish |
| Misc | Pre-preparable, Serve Hot |
| Occasion | Casual Party, Formal Party |
| Region | Chinese |
| By author | Karen S Burns-Booth |
Ingredients
- 500g skinless, boneless chicken thighs, diced (sometimes called chicken thigh fillets)
- 1 each red, green and yellow pepper, trimmed and roughly diced into chunky pieces (also known as bell peppers)
- 1 large red onion, peeled, and roughly diced into chunky pieces
- 2 cloves garlic, peeled and finely chopped
- 2.5cm fresh ginger, peeled and finely sliced
- 1 hot green chilli, trimmed and finely sliced
- 1 tablespoon Madras curry paste (I used half a tub of Patak's Madras curry paste)
- 150ml water
- 4 tablespoons tomato ketchup
- 2 tablespoons dark soy sauce
- spring onions, sliced (to serve)
- fresh coriander leaves, chopped (to serve)
Marinade
- 2 tablespoons cornflour
- 1 tablespoon Madras curry paste (I used half a tub of Patak's Madras curry paste)
- 2 tablespoons dark soy sauce
- 2 tablespoons water
Note
This delicious Indo-Chinese chilli chicken dish sits half way between a curry and a stir-fry, but it baked for a healthy alternative with no extra oil added. It tastes like an authentic Chinese chilli chicken or curry dish, that you might enjoy in a high-end Chinese restaurant, and it can be started the night before you want to serve it. Baking all of the ingredients together means that you only have one dish to wash up too, for the win! (Recipe adapted from Patak's)
Directions
| Step 1 | Place the diced chicken thigh meat into a bowl (or in the dish you intend to cook the recipe in) and add the marinade ingredients, mix thoroughly, cover and set aside in a cool place overnight, or for at least 3 to 4 hours until you want to cook the chicken. |
| Step 2 | The next day, or when you intend to cook the dish, pre-heat the oven to 200C/400F/Gas mark 6 and place all of the ingredients, including the marinated chicken, into a large oven-proof dish, and mix together. (Not including the spring onion and coriander which are added just before you serve the recipe) |
| Step 3 | Bake for 30 to 35 minutes until the chicken is cooked, but the vegetables still retain a bite to them. Check halfway through baking to make sure that there is enough liquid in the dish, and if necessary, add some more water if it is too dry. |
| Step 4 | Scatter the chopped spring onions and coriander leaves over the top and serve with egg fried rice or egg noodles with some extra soy sauce on the side. |
Chinese and Asian Recipes:
Chinese Chicken Egg Roll Wraps
Vietnamese Rainbow Vegetable Summer Rolls
Sweet and Sour Chicken (Healthy Takeaway Recipe)
Hoisin Chicken and Pepper Stir-Fry
Ron says
Indo-Chinese fusion food sounds like a winner to me. One of my favorite Chinese dishes is garlic marinated chicken thighs, but I never thought of using curry as well. Now, do I pin it on my Asian board or my Indian food board. Both, I think. Thanks for another great recipe and the lovely post.
Anna @ Once Upon A Food Blog says
I love the look of all your Chinese recipes. This looks delicious as do the Salt and Pepper Fish Goujons. I’ll be sure to give them both a go!
Buffet aan huis says
Wow! This looks so delicious! It’s my favorite!
Sally says
Made this last night and really enjoyed it with noodles. Easy, tasty recipe and froze half for another meal for the 2 of us.
I must admit to softening the onions and peppers in a little oil before adding them to the marinaded chicken though.