Chilli chicken

Cut boneless skinless chicken thighs into fairly thin bite-size pieces. Add crushed black pepper, a teaspoon Kashmiri chilli powder, a teaspoon each grated garlic and ginger, a teaspoon soy sauce, 2 teaspoons lemon juice and a teaspoon oil; mix and marinate 30 minutes to an hour.

Dry roast cloves, fennel seeds, green cardamoms, cinnamon stick and star anise in a pan over medium-low heat, stirring, just until fragrant and not brown, which makes the dish bitter; transfer to a bowl, cool and grind to a fine powder.

Mix the sauce: a chicken stock cube, a quarter cup ketchup, a tablespoon soy sauce, a tablespoon green chili sauce and about half a cup of hot water.

Mix a tablespoon of corn flour with three tablespoons of water into a lump-free slurry.

Just before cooking, add about 2 tablespoons corn flour, a tablespoon plain flour, an egg and a teaspoon of the spice blend to the chicken for a thin light coating; too much flour makes it doughy; add a little more corn flour, never plain flour, if watery.

Heat oil over medium-high, not smoking. Fry the chicken in a single layer in batches on medium heat, turning after a few minutes, until golden brown and cooked through, no more than eight minutes for thin pieces; do not overfry.

In 4 tablespoons of the frying oil on medium-high, fry two dry red chilies, then a teaspoon grated ginger and chopped garlic.

Add onions and green bell pepper and fry on high a few minutes, keeping them crisp.

Add the sauce and a splash of water and bring to a rolling boil; taste and adjust. Add whole green chillies, a teaspoon sugar and the remaining spice blend.

Thicken with about a tablespoon of the slurry, a little at a time; it thickens more as it cools.

Turn off the heat, add the fried chicken, chopped green onions, toasted sesame seeds, a teaspoon toasted sesame oil and crushed black pepper; do not boil the chicken in the sauce. Serve with white rice, noodles or fried rice.