Indo-Chinese Szechuan Chicken

Ingredients
2 pounds/1 kilogram chicken (skinless, boneless breast or thigh cut into 1.5-inch cubes)
1 egg
5 tablespoons flour (all-purpose)
3 tablespoons corn flour
Salt to taste
1 teaspoon black pepper (freshly ground)
4 inches cooking oil (for deep frying chicken, you use a deep fryer)
3 tablespoons vegetable oil (or canola/sunflower cooking oil)
3 spring onions (chopped coarsely, bulb and leaves)
1 cup Indo-Chinese Szechuan sauce
1 large bell pepper (green, with seeds removed and chopped into 1-inch squares)
2 cups stock (chicken)
Steps to Make It
Start to heat the cooking oil for deep frying. The temperature should ideally be between 180 to 190 C / 356 to 374 F.


While the oil is heating, put the chicken into a large mixing bowl and add the egg, flour, corn flour, salt to taste and pepper to it. Mix well until the other ingredients form a thick paste that coats the chicken well. If the paste is not thick enough, sprinkle a little more corn flour and mix well.


Once the oil is hot, gently add a few battered chicken pieces at a time and fry until crisp and golden in color. Drain well and remove from the oil. Keep aside on paper towels for later use.

In another pan or wok, heat on high, add the 3 tablespoons vegetable/canola/sunflower cooking oil. When the oil is smoky hot, add the spring onions (reserve a little to garnish the dish later). Saute for a minute.

Add the Indo-Chinese Szechuan sauce and chicken stock. Mix well. Cook for 2 minutes.

Omit this step if you want the dish to be a dry one or would like to serve it as an appetizer: Mix 1 tablespoon of corn flour with 1/2 cup of cold water and stir to mix well. Make sure there are no lumps in this mixture. Pour into the above gravy and stir well. The gravy will start to thicken. Once this happens, turn off the heat.

Now add the previously fried chicken pieces to this gravy. Stir well to coat all the chicken with the gravy. Spoon into a serving dish, garnish with reserved, chopped spring onions and serve.