Tuesday 22 September 2015

CHETTINAD CHICKEN


Chettinad... a region of the Sivaganga district of southern Tamilnadu, is specially known for its spice laden and aromatic cuisine. Its cuisine is famous for its use of a variety of spices in its dishes.... both vegetarian and non-vegetarian. The dishes are quite hot with freshly ground spices and they usually top a dish with a boiled egg. They use a variety of sun dried meats and salted vegetables and generally use fish, prawn, lobster, crab, chicken, lamb, a variety of vegetables as the main ingredients. Most of the dishes are eaten with rice and rice based accompaniments.

The spice lover in me will definitely be in love with Chettinad cuisine. I thought to try out its Chicken Curry first. I explored through a number of recipes to cook an authentic version of Chettinad Chicken, a really spicy and aromatic one. Finally I zeroed in on this one with slight moderation. Moreover I used less amount of chillies according to the taste buds of my men. Spicy does not always mean use of lots of chillies, in fact its about all the spices taken together. Let us do it.

Recipe Courtesy : Indianfoodforever site.

INGREDIENTS :
Chicken : 1kg
Tomato : 2medium[chopped]
Onion : 2 medium[chopped]
Ginger Paste : 1tsp
Garlic Paste : 2tsp
Grated Coconut : 1/2 medium cup
Poppyseed : 1tsp
Fennel Seed : 1/2tsp
Coriander Seed : 1/2tsp
Cumin Seed : 1/2tsp
Mustard Seed : 1/4tsp
Cinnamon Stick : 1inch
Green Cardamom : 2
Cloves : 2
Star Anise : 1/2
Dry Red Chilli : 4-5
Curry Leaves : 8-10
Lemon Juice : 2tbsp
Turmeric Powder : 1tsp
Oil : 4tbsp
Chopped coriander to garnish.

METHOD :
Clean, de skin and wash the chicken. Apply salt, half of turmeric powder and the lemon juice. Keep aside for 1hour.

Heat 1tbsp oil in a wok. Roast the shredded coconut, cumin-coriander-fennel-poppyseed, green cardamom, cinnamon, cloves,aniseed, red chillies together.

Grind into paste with little water.

Heat rest of the oil in a wok. Temper with mustard oil and curry leaves.

Add the onions and fry till golden brown. Add the spice paste and fry for 1 minute.

Add the chopped tomatoes and fry for 2-3 minutes.

Add the chicken. Stir well and cover.

Cover cook at low heat till chicken is tender stirring every 5 minutes.

Transfer to a bowl and garnish with chopped coriander.

Serve with rice or chapati.



2 comments :

  1. Chettinad dishes are always good . lot of restaurants here server chetyinad dish because of that.

    ReplyDelete