Devilled Chicken Sri Lankan
“A fiery, glossy chicken stir-fry tossed with onions, capsicum and tomato in a sweet-sour-hot 'devilled' sauce. A bar-and-buffet favourite that bridges Sri Lankan and Chinese cooking.”
Where it comes from
Devilled dishes grew out of Sri Lanka's mid-twentieth-century 'hotel' and Chinese-restaurant scene in Colombo, where cooks adapted Cantonese stir-frying to the island's love of chilli. By the 1970s 'devilled chicken' was a fixture of wedding buffets and seaside bars, its name borrowed from the British colonial habit of calling fiercely spiced food 'devilled'.
On the plate
Sticky, sweet-hot and savoury all at once, with charred onion edges and soft peppers giving way to juicy chicken. The vinegar-ketchup sauce hits like a tamarind-spiked sweet chilli, leaving a slow building heat.
How it works
High-heat stir-frying caramelises the sugars in ketchup and onion for the glossy lacquer, while the brief marinade and a flour-free sear keep the chicken juicy. Vinegar balances the sweetness and lifts the chilli.
Variations
Devilled pork, devilled prawns, devilled beef, devilled cuttlefish, vegetarian devilled paneer
On the Palate
Ingredients
Serves 4
How it's made
8 steps · Show ↓20 min active · 30 min waiting
How it's made
8 steps · Show ↓- 130 min
Cut chicken into bite-size pieces and marinate with soy sauce, pepper, chilli powder and a little salt for 30 minutes.
- 28 min
Heat oil in a wok and fry the chicken in batches until lightly browned, then set aside.
- 33 min
In the same wok, saute sliced onions, green chillies and curry leaves until fragrant.
- 42 min
Add chunks of capsicum and tomato and stir-fry over high heat for two minutes.
- 52 min
Stir in tomato ketchup, chilli sauce, soy sauce and a pinch of sugar to build the devilled sauce.
- 63 min
Return the chicken and toss until every piece is coated and glossy.
- 73 min
Splash in a little vinegar, check the seasoning and cook until the sauce clings.
- 81 min
Finish with spring onion and serve hot with rice or bread.
