Chicken Chettinad is chunks of chicken marinated with turmeric powder, lemon juice, garlic, ginger, spice powders and curd and is then mixed into a fiery curry made up of onions, tomatoes, ginger-garlic paste and curry leaves in a rich combination of spices like coriander seeds, dry red chilies, fennel seeds, cumin seeds, cinnamon, cardamom, whole peppercorns, star anise, cloves, black stone flower and grated coconut. Goes well with dosa, appams or plain rice.
This was always one of my favorite curry. My uncle and aunt from Mumbai likes this curry and whenever they visit Bangalore they go to authentic South Indian restaurants to have this curry. This curry is somewhat similar to Goan Chicken Xacuti as they use grated coconut and roast the spices. In Goa too we prepare chicken curry in a similar way and that might be another reason, why we like this curry.
I got this recipe from Aarthi's blog and slightly tweaked it. Marinated it with some extra ingredients like curd, garlic and ginger and some spice powders like kasoori methi and tandoori chicken masala. I did not add saunf to the curry as my hubby does not like saunf/fennel seeds The original recipe mentions addition of 2 tsp saunf.
When I was cooking this chicken curry, my entire house was filled with the heavenly aroma just as Aarthi metioned and we all relished this Chettinad chicken curry.
Also try other chicken curries like Chicken Saagwala and Green Chicken recipes from my blog.
Recipe Source: Chicken Chettinad
Prep. Time: 60 Min's, Serves: 4
Ingredients:
For Marinating the chicken:
1/2 kg chicken pieces
10 garlic pods
1/2 inch ginger
2 green chilies
1/2 cup curd
1 tbsp turmeric powder
1 tbsp kasoori methi
1 tbsp lemon juice.
2 tsp tandoori chicken masala
For the curry:
2 large Onions
2 Tomatoes
2 tbsp Ginger Garlic Paste
20 Curry Leaves
2 tbsp Oil
For Chettinad Masala:
3 tbsp coriander seeds
5 Dry Red Chilli
1 tsp Cumin Seeds / Jeera
1 inch Cinnamon Stick
Kalpasi / Black Stone Flower - 3 pieces (dagad phool/patthar ka phool)
2 tsp Whole Peppercorns
5 Cardamom Pods
1 Star Anise
4 Cloves
1/4 cup Fresh grated coconut
Chopped Coriander Leaves for garnish
Marinate the chicken by applying ingredients mentioned for marination, and keep it in the fridge for minimum 30 Min's.
For the chettinad masala.
Heat a kadai and dry roast all the spices except grated coconut.
Once the spices turn golden add coconut and roast till the grated coconut turns brownish. After it turns brownish, switch off the gas and let it cool.
After cooling grind it to a smooth paste by adding sufficient water.
Cut onions length wise and chop the tomatoes into small pieces.
Heat oil in a pressure cooker, when it gets heated add onions and saute till it turns soft.
Add curry leaves and ginger garlic paste. Saute for a min.
Add marinated chicken and mix well. Then add chopped tomatoes and mix. Cover the cooker and cook for 4 whistles. Switch off the heat and wait till the heat gets released.
Now open the cooker and pour the contents of cooker into a kadai. Add more water if needed. I added another 1 cup water.
Add the ground masala and mix well. Cover and simmer for 15-20 Mins.
Garnish with coriander leaves and serve with rotis, phulkas, bread or rice.
