Dragon Chicken Restaurant Style My Food Story

on Oct 15, 2021, Updated Jul 03, 2024 Imagine a fire breathing dragon. Now imagine the same when you eat this dish. Haha okay I’m exaggerating – its not that spicy! But seriously, favourite order everytime we eat Chinese outside! And here’s why I love about Dragon Chicken so much:

Crispy strips of fried chicken that are marinated in a spicy mix and flavoured from within. No bland tasting chicken hereLots of cashew nuts, onions and capsicum for crunch and textureSweet and spicy sauce (more spicy than sweet) that coats every piece of chicken and really gets into crevicesTakes 30 minutes from start to end and you’ve got yourself a super tasty, addictive appetizer that everyone will LOVE

Ingredients for Dragon Chicken

Here are the main ingredients you’ll need: Chicken Thighs: Highly recommend using boneless, skinless thighs because they can withstand the high cooking temps without drying out. If you are not a fan, use breasts instead but cut them slightly thicker Egg White: Creates a crispier, lighter coating Binding Agents: Rice flour and all purpose flour for the batter which will create the crispy coating. Replace all purpose flour with corn flour for gluten free batter Seasoning: Soy sauce, red chilli powder or cayenne, pepper, salt. Don’t skip the chilli powder because it gives it that unique red colour and that spicy kick Aromatics: Finely chopped ginger and garlic – lots of it. They add layers and layers of flavour Veggies: Onions and capsicum that are cubed. Green capsicum adds spiciness without the heat Cashew nuts: You can skip them but we love the texture they add! Sauces: Red Chilli sauce (made from scratch – recipe in notes), dark soy sauce (I recommend Chings for that typical Indo chinese flavour), Ketchup (because sweet and spicy) and vinegar Cornflour: For thickening. Sub with corn starch, tapioca starch or potato starch

Step by Step Recipe

This recipe is generally served as an appetizer, but if you are into it, you can serve this as a dry-ish main dish with some egg fried rice. It’s fantastic both ways! And so easily customizable – just add a little water while tossing the chicken to make it more saucy so you’ll have some gravy if you want this for main course.

Richa’s Top Tips

Use chicken thighs vs breast for chicken that stays juicy till the end. Breasts tend to dry out fasterMake red chilli paste at home if possible. Its easy – soak dried red chillies in hot water for 10-15 minutes and then grind them to a thick paste. Homemade is punchier! But in a pinch, use chilli flakes. If you use chilli flakes, the colour of the sauce won’t be as redMarinate the chicken for at least 10-15 minutes or up to 2 hours if you have the time. This builds flavour from the inside outGet everything in place or your mise en plac before you start cooking. This is especially important with chinese cooking because the stir frying is always so fast – in this case, the actual stir frying takes only 5 minutes!You can deep fry or shallow fry the chicken. It only needs 2-3 minutes total because the chicken is cut into 1/2 inch stripsToss the chicken right before serving so that it still remains crisp. The longer it sits in the sauce the softer it becomes and we are looking for nice, crispy chicken!

There you have it! All my tips, tricks and notes to make the best dragon chicken! This is a really simple stir fry thats so fast and easy you won’t believe it came out of your kitchen.