2-3 days back I decided to cook chili chicken yet another time. The first time I had tried my hand in cooking chili chicken, it turned out to be a disaster. My mother and sister couldn't have the gravy because of the over usage of the ingredients!! Though I pretended to enjoy it to the fullest :D
This time I tried to be careful about the quantity of ingredients I used. At first I marinated the chicken with corn flour,vinegar,etc. As long as I don't have to deal with fire, things are fine with me. Now I turned on the gas oven and put the wok. After it got heated, I put the oil in it. I was very much aware of what happens when you fry something in hot oil. Its really more 'violent' when you fry chicken or fish rather than vegetables! Last time a little oil had splattered on my hand. Though a little oil spurt isn't that dangerous :P ,yet just the idea of it freaks me out! So while the oil was getting heated, I went to my cupboard and took out my lab apron and put it on :P .... but then suddenly I realized that my forearm was bare and I needed something to cover it. So I took a towel and wrapped it around. :D
By the time I was 'prepared' to fry the chicken, the oil got heated up. I lowered the flame and put a piece of chicken in the wok.
Suddenly there was a 'terrible noise' and oil started splattering. I ran out of the kitchen with the khunti in my hand, as if the ghost of that chicken was haunting me! My mother came to my rescue and put the chicken pieces in oil and asked me to continue frying. The oil spurting hadn't stopped and I was wondering if its safe to start frying! I couldn't gather enough courage and again called on my mother. But by that time, the pieces were over fried!After the chicken, came the frying of onion,capsicum,etc! I fried them myself. Everything went on well. At last I put the over fried chicken pieces and the chicken stock along with some cornflour in the wok and mixed them with the fried vegetables. The gravy turned white! I called my mother again. She said I had put excess cornflour. My sister was worried right from the beginning thinking about the fate of our dinner! She was now considering maggi as a better option!
My mother tried to nullify the effect of the extra cornflour, yet there was an unpleasant taste in the gravy! At last she had to put the entire thing in a pressure cooker (!) ! It worked!!!! The unpleasant taste was gone and we all had that HAPPILY for our dinner. :D
