Chicken 65

Chicken 65 is a spicy, deep-fried chicken dish originating from Chennai (Madras), India, as a bar snack, entree, or quick snack. The flavour of the dish comes from ginger, cayenne pepper, mustard powder and vinegar although the exact recipe can vary. It can be prepared using chicken on or off the bone.

While the name "Chicken 65" is universally used to refer to the dish, there are many different stories for how the name came about. It is generally acknowledged that no one knows which (if any) of these anecdotal theories are correct

• Chicken 65 is alleged to be a dish introduced in 1965 at the famous Buhari Hotel restaurant in Chennai by its founder A.M.Buhari, a pioneer in the South Indian food industry. They also offer Chicken 78, Chicken 82 and Chicken 90, introduced in 1978, 1982 and 1990 respectively.Amitabh Bachchan Kaun Banega Crorepati (first season), featured Chicken 65 as a Buhari invention and also Siddarth Basu's Quiz Time in Doordarshan in the 90's featured it too.
• The dish is said to require 65 days to prepare the marinade, but this is unlikely for reasons of freshness and flavour.
• One account claims that the dish emerged as a simple meal solution for Indian soldiers in 1965.
• Another account claims that it is a dish containing 65 chilli peppers devised by an enterprising hotelier.
• The name is also claimed to relate to a requirement for the meat to be from 65-days-old chickens.
• Yet another source claims that northern Indian army soldiers frequented a military canteen in Chennai. Its menu were written in Tamil, the local language. As most of the soldiers could not read Tamil, they made their choice by citing the number of the dish on the menu. The dish's popularity spread among the soldiers by word of mouth. They'd simply ask for "number 65"; soon, the dish officially became to be known as Chicken 65. (Source http://www.vahrehvah.com)
• Some food critics credit its invention to Ananth Reddy Mandra, a cooking prodigy from Hyderabad who is said to have mastered 65 cuisines from across the sub-continent. According to some, he took elements from all the 65 cuisines to perfect one dish.