Place all the ingredients mentioned under 'For the marinade' in a large wide based bowl and mix everything together. Add 2-3 teaspoons or just enough water to achieve a thick paste. Add the chicken lollipops to the bowl and mix until all the pieces are evenly coated with the marinade. Keep aside for at least 20 minutes, overnight for best results. You may marinate the chicken for upto 48 hours before frying them.

When you are ready to fry the chicken, prepare the batter to coat the pieces. For this, take all the ingredients except the 1/2 cup water mentioned under 'For the batter' in a bowl. Add the water in parts while continuously whisking the ingredients to achieve a smooth, lump free batter. The batter should neither be too thick nor too thin. If you drop it with a spoon from a height it should fall in a steady stream.

Heat the oil for deep frying in a kadai/deep saucepan. The oil should be medium hot, if it is too hot, the coating will burn too quickly leaving the chicken uncooked. The oil may take a while to arrive at the correct temperature so have patience. If the oil is not hot enough you will end up frying them for too long resulting in ultra-oily chicken lollipops that no one will want to eat. To test the readiness of the oil drop a little batter into the oil and it should bob up to the surface at the count of 8 or 9 and sizzle.

When the oil is ready, take the marinated chicken lollipops and dip them all into the batter - this is an alternate way of coating them. By placing all of them together they will all turn out evenly spiced. If you dip them one by one, when you get to the last few pieces of the lollipops, all the spice from the previously dipped lollipops will make the batter too spicy and you may get lollipops that range from mildly spiced to very spicy ones. However, you can use any method you like.

Drop as many coated lollipops into the hot oil, as the pan can comfortably accommodate. Do not overcrowd or it will mess up the temperature of the oil thereby taking longer and resulting in lollipops that may not be evenly cooked inside. Fry until the lollipops are golden in colour.

Using a slotted spoon/spatula take them out and transfer them onto an absorbent kitchen tissue. Serve hot with tomato ketchup or a dip or chutney of your choice