Method
Chilli chicken is an essential dish in China and is very popular in India and many other countries too. Several variants of the dish are available too however the classic recipe is all about the use of minimal and extremely base ingredients.

Some of the traditional chilli chicken recipes call for leek or Pandan leaves and Kafir lime leaves for flavouring. But, the bottom line remains the chilli. Different kinds of sauces and chillies are used to make this spicy dish. Some of the variants are red dry chilli, chilli peppers, jalapeno, etc. Of course there are the deseeded versions too that are not that spicy.

This ubiquitous entree can be tried out with different kinds of meat - beef, pork, lamb, prawn, fish, crab meat, mutton and so on.

Pre-preparation:
Fry the chicken pieces till golden brown ensuring they are not overcooked as it would have to go thought another round of cooking.

Method:

1. In a bowl add the corn flour, salt, chili powder, pepper powder, sugar, egg and mix well.
2. To the egg batter add the chicken pieces and deep fry in the oil ensuring it`s not overcooked.
3. Remove and place on an absorbent paper or kitchen towel to drain excess oil.
4. In a separate heavy bottom wok add oil and heat.
5. Add the ginger, garlic, green chillies and saute.
6. Add the onion and fry till brown.
7. Add the red chili sauce and dark soy sauce and mix well.
8. In a cup add corn flour with some stock and make a paste.
9. To the onion mixture add the chicken stock followed by the corn flour paste.
10. Give a good stir and let it come to boil.
11. When the stock comes to boil add the vinegar.
12. Once mixed well add the chicken pieces to the boiled stock and simmer till it thickens further.
13. Saute some broadly cut capsicum and add it as garnish over the thickened chilli chicken.

Note:
1) If you want to make it as gravy increase the chicken stock.
2) If you want the chilli chicken to be more spicy you could add Worcestershire sauce or Tabasco.
3) You could use the breast of the chicken and cut it into cubes to get proper boneless meat.
4) This dish can be made with bone too. However, restaurants mostly stick with boneless pieces of chicken.
5) Some Chinese style chilli chicken like Sichuan style chilli chicken call for use of Sichuan pepper and dry red chilies.