The Chinese Connection: Kolkata And Its Chilli Chicken Recipes

Of the many dishes available in the Indo-Chinese cuisine, there has been few as popular as the ‘chilli chicken’. Alongside popular Indo-Chinese cuisines like the ‘chowmein’, and ‘schezwan chicken’, the chilli chicken is synonymous with the indo Chinese cuisine which is in an amalgamation of Indian spice meets oriental cooking mainly of the Chinese hakka communities.
 

 

Chilli Chicken Recipe

A characteristic to the chilli chicken is its availability, you can find it in the streets and in the menu of gourmet restaurants, such is its popularity, the chilli chicken recipe is loved by all and a must know recipe for cooks of all levels.

For all its popularity the dish itself is fairly simple, consisting basically of chicken pieces, according to preferences, bell peppers, ginger and garlic, lemon juice, you can have it dry or with gravy which is known for being thick in consistency, due to its simplicity and ease in cooking, there have been several variants of the chilli chicken throughout the places it is popular and it all started in Kolkata.

The History

The Hakka people with its long history of migration are said to have originated from the Yellow river in Northern China, migration spread them across South East Asia, especially in places like Malaysia, Singapore and Indonesia. Kolkata being a metropolitan City by that time, also attracted the Hakka people to migrate to the city, as it was accessible by land and being a hub of cultural and political significance was a place of newfound dreams.

It was migrating to Kolkata that gave birth to a unique amalgamation we now know of as indo-Chinese cuisine which some refer to as hakka. Traditional Chinese cuisine has very little resemblance to the indo- hakka cuisine, unlike traditional chinese cuisine, indo-hakka foods used spices quite extensively. Dishes like the manchurian chicken, schezwan, chowmein, garlic chicken, ginger chicken, jalfrezi chicken all use generous amounts of spices in them, providing the dishes tastes unique to them.

The chilli chicken recipe coming out from the hakka people living in Kolkata is a simple mix of chilli sauce and soya sauce to chicken pieces, the dish is sold by street vendors in almost all parts of not only Kolkata but the rest of the nation and worldwide as well. Its variants like the chilli fish, chilli prawn, chilli mutton are all cooked in the same manner using the same chilli chicken recipe while substituting the meat. Chilli chicken is a dish enjoyed by many worldwide, its humble roots and origins have made it a staple in street food in the streets of Kolkata, and the city’s love and adoration for it has generated the fame it now earns nationally and globally.