Chicken Chettinad

Submitted by Girl from India

"My SIL gave me this recipe which was given to her by a restaurant chef. I loved the flavours and the arome of this dish when it was cooking and it tasted wonderful too."

 

• Ready In: 35mins
• Ingredients: 14
• Serves: 4

ingredients

• 1 chicken
• 4 dried red chilies, broken by hand into pcs
• 22.18 ml grated ginger
• 22.18 ml garlic
• 29.58 ml dry coconut, grated (khopra) or 29.58 ml fresh coconut, can be used
• 9.85 ml spices, of cardamom,peppercorns,cloves and cinnamon
• 14.79 ml whole coriander seed
• 14.79 ml walnut sized ball of tamarind soaked in water
• 118.29 ml curry leaf
• 29.58 ml coriander powder
• 4 medium onions, sliced
• 29.58 ml oil
• salt
• coriander leaves (to garnish)

directions

1. Heat oil in a wok or fry pan.
2. Roast the coconut, dry red chilli pcs,coriander seeds, whole spices and curry leaves till aromatic.
3. Then add the onions and fry till brown.
4. Add the ginger and garlic and fry for 5 mins more till the raw smell is gone.
5. Add soaked tamarind pulp, chicken, salt and coriander powder.
6. Add 1/2 water if you need a thick gravy.
7. Cook open for 10 mins.
8. Cover and cook till chicken is done.
9. Garnish with fresh cilantro or coriander leaves.

Reviews

[Charishma_Ramchandani]

This South Indian chicken speciality goes very well at my house between my mom and my brother. They affectionately call this "The Many Napkin Chicken" because whenever they eat this, they have a running nose because of the spiciness of this dish. I made this using a 1kg400gm. chicken(washed, cleant and chopped into bite-sized pcs.). I used more coconut than stated in the recipe(To be precise, I used 1 1/2 cups of freshly grated coconut). I did not have whole red chillies on hand, so I substituted that with 1 1/2 tsps. of red chilli powder. The six additional ingredients which I used that are not specified here are 3 tsps. of fennel seeds, 2 tsps. of turmeric powder, 3 large sized tomatoes, 1 1/2 tbsps. fresh lemon juice, 1/4 tsp. garam masala powder and 7 tsps. of poppy seeds(dry roasted in a pan and then soaked in hot water). I used 6 medium sized onions(sliced) instead of four. I did not use tamarind pulp at all(since we are down with bad throats and we aviod tamarind completely when we are sick). I did not use black peppercorns either. As for the ginger and garlic, I made a paste of both using a little water and then used it in the recipe. How I made this chicken is actually pretty much like what you have mentioned, but still, in order to help those who try this recipe in future, I will mention what I did. Firstly, I cleaned, washed and chopped the chicken pcs. into bite sized pcs and kept it aside. Then, in a blender, I made a paste(using a little water) of the poppy seeds, red chilli powder(1 tsp. only), 6 small green cardamoms, fennel seeds, 6 cloves, turmeric powder and a 3 inch pc. of cinnamon. I kept this aside. Then, I heated oil in a pot. To it, I added the curry leaves(use fresh always) and onions which I stir-fried until they were golden and the raw smell was gone(Took about 10 minutes). Then, I stirred in the ginger and garlic pastes and stir-fried on medium flame for about 15 minutes. Next, I added the paste of the green cardamoms and other spices prepared above. I stirred in a little water, mixed well and cooked on medium flame for 5 minutes. To this I added the remaining red chilli powder and a little bit of water. Then I added in the coconut, a little water and chopped tomatoes. I mixed this well and cooked on high for a few minutes. Then, I added in the chicken pcs. and mixed well. Then, I added salt to taste(2 tsps), lemon juice and garam masala powder. I cooked this on medium-high flame for 30 minutes until the chicken was tender, my house smelt wonderfully aromatic and the food was ready to eat. I garnished this with lots of fresh corriander leaves, chopped and served it with steaming hot white long-grain Basmati rice. It was gone before I could take a breath and sit down for my meal;-)!!! This is a recipe I've enjoyed making because my family loves it! Thanks for posting!

 

[Indian flava]

It was AWESOME!