There is a Buhari hotel in Chennai. And in 1965 Buhari hotel made fried chicken, which is now famous worldwide. And that chicken is called “Chicken 65”.
The most interesting thing is that it has a lot of stories. Some people say, that spices were brought from 65 different villages, that’s why it is chicken 65. Or some people even say that it has 65 different spices, that’s why it is chicken 65.
See the moral of the story is, whatever story is correct, the dish is great. And there are so many versions of this recipe that I have seen. So I just thought, the “Chicken 65” which I feel is right, I should make once for sure!
So I went to Buhari, which alleged inventor of Chicken 65. I learned a bit myself and a bit from them and saw what exactly they do. So I will try to recreate the recipe. For that, we need to marinate the chicken first and this is the most important part. And after marination leave it because the chicken needs to get tender, the marination needs to seep in. And when the marination seeps in, then we fry it.
Now, it’s like even every small shop, has its own different spice mix for chicken 65. Everyone uses a different mix while marinating chicken and that’s the beauty of it. That’s why in Chennai, one chicken 65 will never taste like the second chicken 65. But the commonality in all of them will be that it will be very tasty at any place you eat it from.
Okay, so there are many recipes of it that imply it should have sauce. Some people also toss the chicken in ketchup after frying. But, classically it is dry tossed chicken. Dry tossed! Which means crisp fried chicken and quickly dry tossed. Authentically chicken 65 is not made in the sauce where it invents.
See, chefs give their own twist to all famous recipes, so recipes get complicated. And when a recipe gets complicated, different versions are made. For me, this is what a chicken 65 recipe should be.
Steps For Making Chicken 65 Recipe At Home
Equipment
- Pan
Ingredients
Marination
- 250 gm Boneless Chicken cut in small cubes
- ½ Cup Yogurt
- 1 tbsp Ginger Garlic Paste
- 1 tbsp Curry Leaves chopped
- 1 tbsp Black Pepper
- 1 tbsp Roasted Cumin Powder
- 2 tbsp Kashmiri Red Chilli Powder for colour
- Salt To Taste
Other
- 2-3 tbsp Rice Flour add before fry, not in the marination (after marination)
- Oil For Fry as required
Tempering
- 1 tbsp Oil
- 3-4 Green Chilies cut in julienne
- 1 tbsp Garlic chopped
- Few Curry Leaves approx 10-12
- Black Pepper To Taste
Instructions
For Marination
- In a bowl, take washed boneless chicken and add marination ingredients such as yogurt, ginger garlic paste, curry leaves, black pepper, roasted cumin powder, Kashmiri red chili powder, salt and mix it properly.
- Keep aside for 1 hour marination.
- After 1-hour marination, now we add rice flour and again mix it properly.
- Now chicken is ready to deep fry in heat oil.
- After frying, keep it aside on absorbent paper to drains the excess oil.
For Tempering
- In a hot pan, add oil, green chili, garlic, curry leaves and saute till fragrant.
- After that add fried chicken and toss it. Then add black pepper powder and again toss it.
- Now your Chicken 65 is ready to serve.
Video
Notes
- Don't add rice flour in marination because chicken needs to get tender, the marination needs to seep in properly.
- Don't hesitating if you add extra curd in marination because later it will combine well with the rice flour.
Also, try other Indian Chicken Starter recipes: