The magic of Indian Chinese
I’ve said this before, Chinese food is different in every country. Most of the ‘Chinese food’ we get around the world doesn’t even exist in China. I guess it could be said for other cuisines as well but I think Chinese takes the #1 spot. This brings me to Indian-Chinese, a cuisine on it’s own. It has dishes of wonder like American Chopsuey and Gobhi Manchurian. One of the favourites though among most people is Chilli Chicken.
This spicy dish comes in 2 versions. The dry version which is often eaten like an appetizer (or starter as we say in India) and the wet version which has a gravy and is a main course eaten with fried rice or noodles. The vegetarian version of this is Paneer Chilli. Since I’ve already made a Keto Paneer Chilli, today I am whipping up the original, Chilli Chicken Dry.
Obsessing over carbs
Despite using onion, bell peppers, chilli sauce and soya sauce this dish has only 3g net carbs per serving. I think a lot of people tend to obsess a lot over carbs. I’m quite tired constantly trying to explain to people that not all carbs are the same etc etc. I even have a video titled ‘How many carbs is too many?’ to help dispell myths about carbs on Keto. At the end of the day, it’s your choice what you want to eat. You can always make this without the onions and peppers or replace the soya sauce with something else. I’d rather just eat a serving the way it is and enjoy all the flavours.
Nutrition Info (Per serving)
- Calories: 271
- Net Carbs: 3g
- Carbs: 4g
- Fat: 15g
- Protein: 28g
- Fiber: 1g
This recipe makes 4 servings. Get this recipe on myfitnesspal.
- 450 grams Boneless Chicken Leg and Thigh Meat
- 100 grams Green Bell Pepper
- 50 grams Onion
- 20 grams Spring Onion
- 10 grams garlic
- 5 grams Ginger
- 2 Green Chillies
- 10 ml Soya Sauce Try this one
- 10 ml Chilli Sauce of choice I use this one
- 1 Splash White Vinegar Try this one
- 1 Tsp Sesame Oil For the marinade Try this one
- Salt & Pepper to taste
- 1 Tbsp olive oil For cooking I use this one
- Chop the capsicum and onion into chunky pieces (like you would for a kebab on a skewer) and then chop the spring onion and separate the green part from the white and the middle. Also chop the chicken into bite size pieces.
- Marinate the chicken with salt, pepper, sesame oil, vinegar, soya sauce and chilli sauce. Let it marinate for 20 minutes
- Heat the olive oil in a wok and fry the ginger, garlic and green chillies. Once the garlic starts to turn brown, add in the chicken.
- You want to cook this at the highest heat possible and give it all a good mix.
- Once the chicken is halfway cooked you can add in the spring onion middle and whites, the onion and the green bell pepper. If you want the veggies to have more crunch you can add them in later on, more towards the end of the cooking.
- Now give everything a good mix and keep moving it around in the wok and cook till the juices released by the meat have turned into a nice thick sauce and has coated all the veggies as well.
- Now that the chicken has cooked, the veggies too and the sauce is the the consistency you like, finish with the spring onion greens and give it all once last good mix.
- Serve
6 Comments
Amy L Hill
December 8, 2018 at 9:29 pmWhat is soya sauce?
Sahil Makhija
December 11, 2018 at 2:31 pmSoy sauce is a liquid condiment of Chinese origin, made from a fermented paste of soybeans, roasted grain, brine, and Aspergillus oryzae or Aspergillus sojae molds.
N
November 17, 2019 at 9:25 amWhere has the 4g of carbs come from?
Sahil Makhija
November 18, 2019 at 2:47 amthe onions, bell pepper, soya sauce.
Tom
January 3, 2020 at 9:22 pmIf I could offer one suggestion? Ingredient quantities would be easier to understand if they were in standard recipe measurements instead of weights. For example, 1 small onion, 1 medium green pepper, 1 clove of garlic, 2 spring onions, 2/3 tsp soy sauce instead of 10ml, etc. Also, it isn’t clear in the written directions whether the garlic should be fresh or minced or how finely to chop the chilies. When I encounter a recipe that makes me look up translations between quantities/volumes and weights, I tend to move to the next recipe fairly quickly. In this case I’ll do the lookups or watch the video to get a better idea, though many other people might now. Hope that helps – looking forward to trying this!
Sahil Makhija
January 4, 2020 at 6:09 amHi Tom, I’m going to ask you to buy a kitchen scale. It’s simply the best tool for the kitchen. You must understand that I live in India, the size of a small onion in India vs one in the USA is very different. Or anywhere else for that matter. This is why I use weights and also because it’s the most accurate form of measurement. So please do grab that kitchen scale, it’s a friend of life and it’s not expensive at all. Cheers!