Chicken 65 is a starter I used to have in my favourite Curry house back in the UK (the sree krishna in sw17) - It's a southern indian restaurant and this is a recipe that is aparently popular as a bar-snack in southern india. (Think of it as an alternative to a chicken tikka starter crossed with popcorn chicken - Although much much tastier than that sounds)

The recipe is based on one I found online somewhere that has been modified according to my taste via experimentation and what the owner of the restaurant told me when i told him we were moving to canada and I'd miss his establishment. He even gave me an uncooked portion in the marinade so we could have it one more time before we left the country.

I made this dish a couple of days ago, but forgot to take pics - I'll try and add some next time I make it


Makes a starter for 2

For the marinade:
Boneless Skinless Chicken Breast - 1 lb (cut into bite size pieces)
Ginger Garlic Paste - 2 tsp
Coriander Powder - 2 tsp
Very Hot Chili Powder 0.75  tsp (vary depending on the potency of your chilli powder)
Cumin Powder 0.25 tsp
Turmeric powder 0.5tsp
Garam Masala 0.25 tsp
Cornflour - 2 tsp
Rice Flour - 1 tsp (chickpea flour would also work)
Natural Greek Yoghurt  2 tbsp
Red Food Colour - 0.25 tsp
Lemon Juice - 1 tbsp
Egg - 1 (beaten)
Salt  pinch (to taste)
 

Other ingredients:

Oil - for frying

Curry Leaves - a decent stalks worth
Green Chilies - 2 halved

Raw onion slices - few just to garnish
Half a Lemon cut in wedges
Shredded lettuce to garnish

 

Method:

1.Mix all the ingredients listed under 'For the marinade' and mix well. Add the chicken
2.Allow it to marinade for a minimum of 2 hours at least - the more time the softer the chicken 65 will be - I usually go overnight.
3. Heat about 1cm of oil in a pan and fry curry leaves and green chillies till crisp and set aside. (You can also include pieces of ginger and garlic with the tempering ingredients).Then add the chicken pieces in batches and fry until crispy.
The batter should form a thin crisp delicious shell around the chicken
 

Serve immediately with the same sort of things you would with a chicken tikka - (on a sizzling cast iron platter if you have one) with raw onion,lemon wedges,shredded lettuce etc and raita to dip/pour on top.
you can also garnish with the chilli/curry leaves if you want.
 

The raita I use is based on one from this site that I modified slightly
1 cup natural greek yoghurt
2 tsp mint sauce
1 tbsp mango chutney (with the chunks mashed)
couple squirts lemon juice
1tsp runny clear honey
a few drops of the oil off the top of lime pickle
couple of drops of green or yellow food colouring if you want

mix thoroughly then let it sit for at least an hour then adjust according to taste -
milk to thin, extra yoghurt to thicken, extra mango chutney for sweetness, extra lemon for tartness

Hi CF7
I'm from Wimbledon(Merton Pk)
I have been to the Scree Krishna once many years ago and it does have great reviews
I think then it was for vegetarians Now I head for the Pakistani Restaurants past Tooting Broadway st
In more resent years a great Restaurant has opened in Morden of all places
And yes I am a Chelsea Fan was given tickets for the last home game and we were truly awful  ;D
Cheers Michael

The sree was one of the first curry houses i went to , back when i was a teenager, but when i moved to canada i kind of forgot about it. When i moved back to the uk in 2007 i ended up living in colliers wood just down the road from it, noticed it on the bus and gave it a try and it was amazing - it's now being run by the son of the guy who was running the place when i first went there - when me and the missus had our final curry there before moving back to canada, he gave us some marinated chicken65 so we could have one last taste the next day before heading to the airport. Nice guys in there and great food - if you go there I'd recommend you start with a chicken masala dosai and/or chicken 65 (they used to split the dosai for me and the missus and we'd share the chicken 65) and then take something from the chefs specials sections - i like the karaikudi and chettinad dishes.

paprika by south wimbledon station is also not a bad place in the more modern indian style - (the "devils tomato" starter is a memorable highlight) but we rarely went ther because the sree was closer and our favourite.

Hi there - my path has pretty much followed yours. I'm in Toronto (High Park area).

You will get a ton of useful advice on bases and recipes. Personally I use a rotation of the Chewtikka base, Zaal base, and Little India.

If you are looking for a BIR style curry, the absolute closest I've found is a restaurant in Peterborough, Ontario called Shafiqs. In fact, I've found nothing in Metro Toronto that comes closer to BIR than Shafiqs. There are some excellent "authentic Indian" ones though.

If you're east of Toronto, make the trip to Shafiqs!

For getting some of the hard-to-find ingredients and spices, I use Bombay Bazaar in Markham.

-- Josh

Thanks for the heads-up on shafiqs - next time I'm out towards peterborogh I'll try and get there - would have been useful to know a few years ago when my motherinlaw had a cottage out towards hastings which is close by.
I usually get my curry supplies at patel brothers (on markham just north of lawrence in scarborough) - pretty good selection, but beware the chilli powder - their medium is nothing of the sort.

There are a few southern indian restaurants in scarborough that I have either tried already or are on the list, but nothing so far to match my favourite BIR

On a slightly different tangent - have you encountered many decent hakka establishments? - my favourite is the lin garden (pharmacy and sheppard - handy for 401 & vic park). Hakka is the one food that i really missed from canada when I went back to the uk - surprised it hasn't made any impact.

Welcome mate - we won't mention Basel (oops)

I agree - Let's not
Let's also not mention the toronto maple leafs or mayor rob ford