I finally did it! Chicken 65, the popular spicy deep fried starter, from South India.
You may wonder why is it called 65. There are many funny stories out there about the name of this dish: is it called 65 because it takes 65 days to cook or because it requires 65 spices or because the chicken used is 65 day old or a chicken that lay 65 eggs, etc. Most probably though, it is called 65 because of the year this dish was introduced, in 1965.
There are many different variations of making chicken 65, different styles – restaurant style, Andhra style or Hyderabadi style, Tamil Nadu style, etc. And, from today, My Indian Taste style!
I have tried to create an easy and mild spicy recipe for this Chicken 65 I share today, so I don’t claim this is the authentic perfect Chicken 65 (if anything as such exist), but a close adaptation for my Indo-European taste.
Enjoy! And if you search for more Indian chicken starters or other spicy grilled chicken recipes, you may want to take a look at these:
Chicken 65 recipe step by step
Into a big bowl mix all the marination ingredients. Set aside for at least 1 hour. Overnight marination is the best for a soft chicken.
Once the chicken is marinated, heat oil in a deep pan. Stir and fry the chicken until it gets cooked and golden brown in color, on both sides. Once cooked, remove it on a kitchen tissue.
In the same deep pan, heat some more oil if needed. Add cumin seeds and when they start to sizzle, add garlic, green chilli and curry leaves. Stir fry for one minute then add red chilli powder, 2 tbsp yogurt and 2 tbsp water. Stir for 30 seconds. Add fried chicken and toss on medium heat for 2 minutes.
Note: Fresh curry leaves are not easily available in Western markets, you can find them at your local Indian market or you can buy online on amazon
Serve hot as a starter or a side dish.
- <strong>Marination:</strong>
- 250 gm boneless chicken, cut into small pieces;
- 1 tsp grated/paste ginger;
- 1 tsp crushed garlic or garlic paste;
- 1 tbsp lemon/lime juice;
- 1 tbsp yogurt;
- 1 egg;
- 10-15 fresh curry leaves;
- pinch of turmeric powder;
- 1/2 tsp ground black pepper;
- 1/2 tsp salt or as per taste;
- 2 tbsp rice or corn flour.
- <strong>Seasoning:</strong>
- 1 tsp cumin seeds;
- 1 tsp garlic;
- 1 or 2 green chillies (as per taste);
- 1/2 or 1 tsp red chilli powder (as per taste);
- few curry leaves;
- 2 tbsp yogurt;
- 2 tbsp water;
- oil to fry.
- Into a big bowl mix all the marination ingredients. Set aside for at least 1 hour. Overnight marination is the best for a soft chicken.
- Once the chicken is marinated, heat oil in a deep pan. Stir and fry the chicken until it gets cooked and golden brown in color, on both sides. Once cooked, remove it on a kitchen tissue.
- In the same deep pan, heat some more oil if needed. Add cumin seeds and when they start to sizzle, add garlic, green chilli and curry leaves. Stir fry for one minute then add red chilli powder, 2 tbsp yogurt and 2 tbsp water. Stir for 30 seconds. Add fried chicken and toss on medium heat for 2 minutes.
- Serve hot as starter or side dish.
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