Chicken 65 Turns Chennai Into A Top 10 Food City

Chennai has been named one of the top 10 food cities by National Geographic. This comes right after being featured in Lonely Planet’s “Top 10 cities to travel” for 2015. As part of a list featuring cities made famous for specific dishes, Nat Geo named Chennai for the dish everyone knows and loves, Chicken 65. The list is featured in their book “The World’s Best Cities” and looks at several cities around the world made famous for its specific dishes. Some of the cities on the list include, Lyon (France) for its Lyonnaise potatoes, Buffalo (New York) for Buffalo Wings, Bologna (Italy) for Pasta Bolognese and Osaka (Japan) for its street food Takoyaki. 

The Chicken 65, originally invented in Chennai by A.M. Buhari, a pioneer in the South Indian food industry, at his fine dining restaurant Buhari, has an extremely vivid and colourful past. There are different theories from the lores of South India as to how the dish actually got its name. The most popular theory is that the dish got its name because it was made with 65 spicy chillies and eating a plate of Chicken 65 was supposedly a test to prove your manhood. Other popular theories include cutting the chicken into 65 pieces (which is impossible unless you are mincing the meat) and also the fact that the chicken was 65 days old when it was used for preparing the dish (wait, what?). 

Whatever the theories might be, Chicken 65 is considered the most popular side dish in Chennai, whether you are having a nice quiet meal with your family or on a drinking binge with your friends. It is said that every 4 out of 10 side dishes ordered in the restaurants in Chennai is Chicken 65. We don’t know how far that’s true but it’s definitely the case with us whenever we visit the beautiful city. Authentic Chicken 65 can never be replicated and it can only be found on the streets of Chennai, not in a fine dining restaurant. 

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Authentic Chicken 65

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Prep Time

120 minutes

Cook Time

15 minutes

Servings

MetricUS Imperial

Ingredients

• 500 grams of boneless chicken
• 1 tsp of ginger-garlic paste
• 2 tsp of coriander powder
• 3 tsp of red chili powder
• 1/4 tsp of cumin powder
• pinch of Turmeric Powder
• 2 tsp of corn flour
• 3/4 tsp of Rice flour
• 1/4 tsp of red food colour
• 1 tbsp of lemon juice
• 1 egg

Prep Time 120 minutes Cook Time 15 minutes Servings MetricUS Imperial Ingredients 500 grams of boneless chicken 1 tsp of ginger-garlic paste 2 tsp of coriander powder 3 tsp of red chili powder 1/4 tsp of cumin powder pinch of Turmeric Powder 2 tsp of corn flour 3/4 tsp of Rice flour 1/4 tsp of red food colour 1 tbsp of lemon juice 1 egg

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Instructions

1. Combine all the ingredients in a large bowl and mix well
2. Refrigerate it for a minimum of 2 hours.
3. Heat oil in a large pan
4. Add the chicken into the oil slowly and make sure not to crowd the pan
5. Deep fry the chicken pieces until it turns golden brown
6. Remove from heat and serve

Recipe Notes

The chicken can be refrigerated overnight. The longer you marinate the chicken, the softer it will be after frying.