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Chicken Calcutta

A fried chicken dish simmered in cream of chicken soup, apple juice, ginger, celery seed, green pepper, and soy sauce, served over rice.

From the Recipes Wiki (Fandom) · 13 ingredients
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Why it works: Garlic and onion match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 29,058 recipes. Both carry furaneol, which smells caramel, strawberry. The science ↓

Chicken Calcutta

Time30 minutes

Ingredients

Directions

Brown the chicken

  1. Season the chicken pieces with salt, pepper, and garlic powder.

  2. Heat the vegetable oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat.

  3. Add the chicken to the skillet and brown it on all sides.

  4. Drain all but 2 tablespoons of the fat from the skillet.

Make the sauce and cook

  1. Add the chopped onion to the skillet and brown it lightly.

  2. Stir in the condensed cream of chicken soup, apple juice, ground ginger, and celery seed.

  3. Cover the skillet and simmer for 30 minutes.

  4. Add the green pepper strips and soy sauce; cover and cook for 5 minutes longer.

Serve

  1. Serve the chicken over hot cooked rice.

Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)

738Calories
40 gProtein
24 gFat
92 gCarbs

Counts 13 of 14 ingredients. The other 1 aren't in our nutrition table and add nothing above, so the real totals are higher.

What these numbers assume: 13 portions
IngredientPortion assumedkcal
Rice1 cup cooked (158g) white206
Chicken100g cooked165
Olive Oil1 tbsp (14g)119
Apple Juice1 medium (182g)95
Cream1 tbsp (15ml) heavy51
Onion1 medium (110g)44
Bell Pepper1 medium (119g)31
Soy Sauce1 tbsp (15ml)9
Black Pepper1 tsp ground (2.3g)6
Celery Seed1 stalk (40g)6
Garlic1 clove (3g)4
Ginger1 tsp grated fresh (2g)2
Salt1 tsp (6g)0
Soupnot in our table0

One typical portion per ingredient; the recipe's quantities are not counted. A rough guide only, not for medical or dietary planning.

Recipe from the Recipes Wiki (Fandom).

Steps grouped into stages for easier reading; the method is the source's own.

Explore the science

The flavor team

The pairs that carry this dish. Each one is judged two ways: how much their aromas overlap, and how often cooks already put them together.

  1. Garlic + oniontop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together29,058 recipes

    Shared aroma: furaneol (caramel, strawberry).

  2. Pepper + celerytop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together16,012 recipes

    Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).

  3. Garlic + gingertop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together6,402 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).

  4. Onion + celerytop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together18,518 recipes

    Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

  5. Chicken + garlictop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together10,850 recipes

    Shared aroma: 3-ethyl-2,5-dimethylpyrazine (roasted, nutty).

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

What each ingredient does

Frying chicken
Provides the main protein, and browning it builds flavour in the skillet.
Condensed cream of chicken soup
Forms a creamy, thick sauce that coats the chicken and rice.
Apple juice
Adds sweetness and liquid that gently simmers the chicken until tender.
Chopped onion
Browns lightly to add savoury depth to the sauce.
Green pepper
Adds fresh, crisp texture and a mild vegetable bite after simmering.

The step that matters

Browning the chicken on all sides. Browning creates flavour through the Maillard reaction. Pale chicken that is crowded or not turned will steam instead, leaving the sauce bland and the skin soft.

Swap the apple

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (chicken, pepper, garlic, onion, cream, ginger, celery):

  1. Limefits better
  2. Lemonfits better
  3. Avocadofits better
  4. Applethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against chicken, pepper, garlic, onion, cream, ginger, celery. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.

“What each ingredient does” and “The step that matters” were written by Claude from this recipe’s own method and reviewed in samples by CompKitchen.

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