Chettinad Chicken curry : GMT

I am a Sikh and have grown up on north indian cuisine. For a long time my knowledge of cuisines of the southern states of India was limited to dosas and idlis. But it is now slowly growing and some of my favorite dishes come from down south. The use of coconut and curry leaves in a lot of their dishes is what particularly draws me to the cuisine of the south, though the cuisine is not just limited to these two ingredients. The food of the state of Kerala is one of my favorites. Appam and stew, iddiyapams, kerala fish fry is something I could eat any number of times as possible in a week.

I could also eat this chettinad chicken recipe that I am sharing today every week.

The recipe is from my favorite book on Indian cuisine: India: The Cookbook by Pushpesh Pant.

If there is one Indian book you want in your collection it should be this book.

Pushpesh Pant has written an encyclopedia on Indian cuisine and you can find recipes from all different parts of India. While the steps may sometimes require a little knowledge of indian cooking, the recipes have never disappointed me.

This chicken recipe belongs to the food native to the Chettinad region of Tamil Nadu comprising of Madurai, Tirunelveli and Karaikudi regions. For centuries Chettiars, a caste of traders have lived there and cooked up dishes that are hot and scream pungent with fresh ground masalas.

I have shared a recipe from this region before- pepper chicken chettinad (or koli milagu masala). The spices in both the recipes differ slightly and hence the final outcome also differs. While both the recipes are good, if I had to choose one, the chettinad chicken curry would rate slightly higher.

Traditionally the chicken is not marinated before cooking in Chettinad chicken curry, because in olden days the chicken would be slow cooked for a long time.  And while the recipe given by Pushpesh Pant doesn’t call for the chicken to be marinated,  you can marinate it for a bit before using it.

Chicken Chettinad

 

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Prep time

30 mins

Cook time

45 mins

Total time

1 hour 15 mins

 

Cuisine: Indian

Serves: 4

Ingredients

• ½ cup organic unsweetened dessicated coconut (or use a fresh coconut, peel and cut into small pieces)
• 2 tsp poppy seeds
• 1 tsp fennel seeds
• 1 inch cinnamon stick
• 3-4 green cardamom pods
• 2-3 cloves
• 1 tsp turmeric powder
• ¼ cup vegetable oil
• 1 large onion, chopped
• 1 inch piece ginger, peeled and finely chopped
• 4-6 cloves garlic, chopped
• 1 tbsp chilli powder, or according to taste
• 2¼ pound chicken (1 kg), cut into pieces (you can marinate it in a little salt, curd and ginger garlic paste)
• 2 tomatoes, chopped
• juice of 1 lime
• few curry leaves
• salt, to taste
• 4 tbsp cilantro (coriander), to garnish

Instructions

1. In a spice blender or food processor/blender, make a paste out of the coconut, poppy and fennel seeds, cinnamon, cardamom, cloves and turmeric powder, adding a little water if necessary.
2. In a heavy based pan, heat the oil and fry the onions for 6-8 minutes, until light brown. Add the ginger, garlic and red chilli powder along with the spice paste and fry for another 1-2 minutes.
3. Add the chicken and fry for 6-7 minutes till the chicken is no longer pink.
4. Add the chopped tomatoes and fry for 5 minutes till the moisture evaporates. Add in 1.5 cups water (2¼ cups if you want more liquid curry) and season with salt. Stir well.
5. Cook for about 30 minutes on medium low flame, or until the chicken is cooked through and the oil separates.
6. Add the lime juice and the curry leaves. Garnish with cilantro.

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