Chicken Chettinad

Chettinad is a small area in Tamilnadu state of South India. Perhaps, Chettinad is more famous for its mouth watering, spicy non-veg cuisines than its geographical importance. The specialty of Chettinad cuisines are freshly ground spices and any dish topped with a poached egg. Chettinad is a comparatively dry area, surprisingly opposite to the hot and humid Tamilnadu. This environmental factor is also reflected in their cuisine. As with other South Indian dishes, Chicken Chettinad is prepared with coconut, coconut oil and curry leaves. But if you are not comfortable with any preparation with coconut oil, you are free to use any white oil. The killer combination of rice and Chicken Chettinad is one of the hot cuisines in South India. It is also taken with rice based supplements like idli, uttapam, dosa, appam etc.
Now start making this exquisite preparation and note down the ingredients –

Difficulty Level – Easy

Serves for – 4 persons

Marinating time – ½ hour

Preparation time – 1 ½ hours

Ingredients –
Chicken – 800 grams (with bone, skinned), cut into small pieces
Onion – 2, medium sized, finely chopped
Tomatoes – 2, large sized, finely chopped
Red chili powder – 2 teaspoonfuls
Turmeric powder – 2 teaspoonfuls
Lemon juice – 15 ml
Oil – 30 ml
Water – 2 cups
Fennel – 2 tsp
Cumin seed – 1 tsp
Black pepper – 1 ½ tsp
Poppy seeds – 3 tsp
Desiccated coconut powder/ fresh coconut – 5 tsp
Cinnamon – 2 Nos
Cloves – 2 Nos
Cardamom – 3 nos
Star anise – 2 petals
Curry leaves – 10 Nos, big size
Green chili – 2 Nos, chopped
Split roasted gram – 2 tsp
Garlic – 10 cloves (make a paste)
Ginger – 1 ½ inch (make a paste)


Marinade
Marinade the chicken with lime juice, half of the turmeric and salt for half an hour.

The Procedure
• Heat a frying pan. Dry roast fennel, cumin seed, black pepper, poppy seeds, cinnamon, cloves, cardamom, star anise and split roasted gram. Put all of them in a grinder and make a powder. Add ginger and garlic paste into it. Add some water. Make it a thick paste.
• Put a thick bottom pan over the flame. Add oil into it. Fry the onions till they become golden-brown.
• Add the curry leaves, green chili, chopped tomatoes, the spice paste, red chili powder, coconut powder/ finely chopped fresh coconut and remaining turmeric into it. Fry the whole mixture for 2-3 minutes or till oil moves out from the mix.
• Add the chicken marinade into it. Mix the spice and the chicken thoroughly. Cover the lid of the frying pan and cook for 5 minutes in medium heat. Make sure that spices do not get burnt by mixing them one more time.
• When the spices get dark brown in color, add the water and salt. Cover the lid. Cook it till the chicken pieces become tender.
• Garnish with freshly chopped coriander leaves. Sprinkle some coconut powder and lemon juice over it.
• Serve hot with rice.

Tip
• If your taste suits, you can add a little more chili powder.
• If you find it difficult to get fresh curry leaf, which is one of the most important ingredients, you can get dried curry leaves in any store. Soak it in some warm water before use.