Chettinad is especially known for its cooking method and ingredients used in their traditional cooking one such ingredient is shared here,
Chettinad Chicken is very famous for its special fresh ground masala, aroma, and flavor of this Masala enhances the taste and increases your appetite.
From Tamilnadu in South India, Chettinad Chicken is a fiery curry. Specialty in this is the freshly ground spices, we add and the method followed on cooking makes this dish tastier and world-famous dish. This Chettinad chicken masala is so tasty, spicy, and aromatic dish liked by all ages and matches with most of the main dishes from south to north.
Ingredients to roast and grind:
1 tbsp poppy seeds
1 tsp coriander seeds
1 tsp cumin seeds
1 tsp aniseed/fennel seeds
3-5 dry red chilies
1″ piece of cinnamon
2 cardamom pods
3 cloves
1/4 cup grated coconut
Ginger-2 inches peeled
Garlic-5 pods peeled
Cashews or Almond-5nos,
(Instead, fried gram also can be used for thickening)
Additional ingredients to make the curry
2-3 tbsps vegetable/sunflower/canola oil or ghee
10-15 curry leaves
2 large onions sliced fine
2 tomatoes chopped fine
1 tsp chilli powder (optional)
1 kg chicken
Salt to taste
2 tsp lime juice
Chopped coriander leaves to garnish
To Season:
Cinnamon-2 pieces
Fennel seeds-1 teaspoon
Clove-2
Cardamom-2
Birinji leaf-little
Curry leaf little
To Marinate:
Traditionally chicken is not marinated before cooking in Chettinad chicken. As they used to cook in low fire for a long time in the pot, olden days they used a mud pot for cooking chicken it will get well absorbed the added to it. Nowadays, we use a pressure cooker to get cooked tender and to cook fast in a gas stove. So you can marinate by mixing turmeric powder and salt for 15 to 20 minutes for good absorption of the spices.
https://youtu.be/I1b0Q8Iooro
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To grind:
Heat a heavy pan or skillet on a medium flame and slightly roast the poppy, coriander, cumin and fennel seeds, dry red chilies, cinnamon, cardamom, cloves, and coconut. Remove from flame and allow it to cool. Grind the mixture into a coarse powder or wet grind paste
To cook:
Keep the Kadai in the stove. Season it with the above-mentioned ingredients. items are given in ‘to season’ in 2 tablespoons of oil.
Add the onions and saute with a pinch of salt for 3 minutes.
When the onions turn transparent add the ginger, garlic, sauté for some time
Add the chopped tomatoes. Sauté till the whole thing gets smashed
Now add the chicken pieces saute for a while in the medium flame.
Add the ground paste, Sauté it nicely to mix all the masala over the chicken pieces.
You can see water oozes out from the chicken. Reduce the flame and cook for 10 to 15 minutes. (Close and cook for 15 minutes you can add water if you need).
Once you find that the chicken pieces are almost cooked increase the flame so that the gravy becomes thick. Cook for another 5 minutes in simmer. If you want more gravy finally add 1/4 cup of coconut milk.
That’s it…spicy & aromatic Chettinad Chicken ready. Garnish with cilantro and curry leaves and serve hot with rice/idly/dosa or hot Rice.
Chettinad Cookbook - Learn and Serve 