Wednesday 26 November 2014

Chettinad Chicken Curry

Winter is here!! It's time to cook and eat spicy and delicious dishes!!
Chettinad cuisine is spicy, aromatic and contains the liberal use of oil. Popular spices used are peppercorn, cinnamon, bay leaves, cardamom, nutmeg, green and red chilies, coriander, cumin, curry leaves, star anise etc.
Here I'm sharing my friend Indrani's awesome spicy and aromatic recipe of
Chettinad Chicken Curry-A must try!!



Ingredients:

 6-8 Chicken drumsticks

 4-5 tbsp refined oil 

 salt to taste

 8-10 curry leaves for tempering

 a pinch of hing or asafoetida

 1 medium  onion finely chopped/grated/paste 

 1 large tomato finely chopped or grated.

 1 tsp red chilli powder

 1/2 tsp turmeric powder

 1 tsp sambar masala(I used Everest's Sambar masala)

 1/4 cup warm water

 1-2 tbsp Lemon or lime juice

 To garnish some broken cashew nuts 

 For the Dry Roasted Masala you will need :

 1/4 cup of grated coconut(if not available,you can use Maggi's coconut powder)

 1/2 star anise(some people use fennel seeds-in that case use 1/2 tsp of fennel seeds.I used star anise)

 1 tsp cumin seeds

 1 tsp coriander seeds

 3-4 black peppercorns

 2-3 dry red chillies, or as per your taste

 12-15 curry leaves

 3-4 green cardamom pods

 2-3 cloves

 1 medium cinnamon stick

 1 small ginger roughly chopped

 10-12 cloves of garlic

 10-12 cashew nuts.

 2-3 tablespoon cooking oil to make a paste.

 Dry roast all ingredients in a frying pan above and make a paste. 

 Method:

Take your chicken pieces in a bowl and make slits on the flesh with a sharp knife. Rub your chicken pieces with oil and salt. 

Add the ground masala blend and rub all over your chicken pieces, marinate and keep aside at least for an hour.

Heat oil on high in a thick bottomed vessel. Turn down heat to medium and quickly add curry leaves and a pinch of hing. 

As the curry leaves splatters add the chopped/grated onion. 

Once onion start to soften and change colour to golden add the marinated meat along with any leftover marinade. 

Cook for 2-3 minutes add red chilli powder, turmeric powder, sambhar masala and cook until the masalas are cooked and fragrant.

Add chopped or grated tomato. Mix well with the chicken and the masalas. 

Stir and cook well at least for 2-3 mins and cover on medium flame. 

Cook till the oil and masala has separated and the chicken is almost cooked through. 

Add a little warm water, depending on the consistency of the gravy you want. The gravy should be thick, semi dry and not too runny.

Check the seasoning of salt as desired. Cover and cook for 5 mins or until the chicken is cooked .

Garnish with some broken cashews and few fried curry leaves.

Finish off with a squeeze of lemon or lime juice.

Serve it hot!


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