Chilli Chicken

This post is shared by Julian:

One of my favorite foods is rather uncommon and unexpected in my opinion. This food is Indian-style chilli chicken. Chilli chicken is a dish which takes small pieces of fried chicken fried with peppers and afterwards simmers them on high heat in a pan with an assortment of spices as well as the peppers which reduces into a delicious red chilli sauce. This is then served all over rice and often accompanied with naan, a traditional Indian type of flatbread. It is less spicy than one would expect but still delicious nonetheless.

As a young child I absolutely despised Indian food; actually any food with exotic spices or flavor for that matter. I distinctly remember in middle school when my mom made chicken tikka masala it pained my soul to consume the dish. That all changed last summer when I went to India's, a local Baton Rouge restaurant on Essen Lane. I pored over the menu believing there was nothing good to be found, and finally settled on the chilli chicken as my choice, expecting to be disappointed. Once the food was brought out, it was love at first bite. It was a perfect level of spice and the mixture of chicken, chilli sauce, and rice was golden. I now go to India's almost every single weekend. Despite the dish being quite expensive (fourteen dollars?!), it's worth it because it's so much food that I can split it up into up to three separate meals. Although middle school me never could have imagined it, chilli chicken is now one of my favorite foods.