Chicken Chettinad

Chicken Chettinad

One of the spiciest, oiliest and most aromatic in India, a distinctive culinary style with judicious blend of spices is known as Chettinad cooking. This scrumptious chicken curry gets it flavor from two distinctive ingredients… Kalpasi and Jaathipoo.

Ingredients-1

1 lb         Chicken (1/2 kg approx, cut into small pieces)
2 tsp        Lime juice
¼ tsp Salt
½ tsp Turmeric powder

Ingredients-2

7 nos Dry red chilli
4 tbsp Corrainder/dhania seeds
1 tsp         Cumin seeds
2 tsp         Fennel seeds
2 tsp         Black peppercorns
3 tsp         Poppy seeds
2 tsp         Split roasted gram/pottukadalai
5 tsp         Dry coconut flakes/ desicated / fresh coconut
2 nos Cinnamon
3 clove Cloves
3 nos Cardamon
2 nos Mace/jathipoo (2 petals)
1 no         Star anise (2 petals)

Ingredients-3

2 nos Bay leaf
3 nos Black stone flower/ kalpasi
3 nos Onion
2 nos Tomato
1 no          Green chilli
1 tsp         Ginger garlic paste
1 tsp         Red chilli powder
6 stks Corrainder leaves (chopped)
10 nos Curry leaves
1 tsp         Salt (or to taste)
5 tbsp Oil
¼ cup Water

Instructions

 Marinate chicken with turmeric powder, salt and lime juice for atleast 1/2 hour. Dry roast all the ingredients from group 2 for about 3 minutes until they slightly release aroma and oil. (Note: For dry roasting – Each spices has to be dry roasted separately. If time is an issue, then combing altogether and roasting is OK.  Either way,  if possible try to dry roast coconut separately, as its got this tendency to burn quickly and doesn’t mingle well other spices.)

Grind the dry masala with ginger garlic paste to make a coarse powder and keep it aside. Heat oil in a pan and add bay leaf and kalpasi ; add chopped onions & green chillies and fry until golden brown; add marinated chicken and fry with onions for a while. Add chopped tomatoes along with red chilli powder, gound masala powder (Just add 3/4 of the masala powder and check the taste, if its not too strong for your taste, then add the rest) and salt.

When the masala turns dark brown add water and garnish with coriander & curry leaves. Serve hot with flaky porotta , biryani or any rice dish.