From Tamilnadu in South India, Chettinad Chicken is a fiery curry. There's no reason why you can't reduce the chillies to suit your own palate though. Chettinad Chicken tastes great with parathas (bread) and even plain boiled rice.
Ingredients:
- 1 tbsp poppy seeds
- 1 tsp coriander seeds
- 1 tsp cumin seeds
- 1 tsp aniseed/fennel seeds
- 3 dry red chillies
- 1" piece of cinnamon
- 2 cardamom pods
- 3 cloves
- 1/2 cup grated coconut
- 2 tsps ginger paste
- 2 tsps garlic paste
- 2-3 tbsps vegetable/sunflower/canola oil or ghee
- 10-15 curry leaves
- 2 large onions sliced fine
- 1 star anise
- 2 tomatoes chopped fine
- 1 tsp chilli powder (optional)
- 1 kg chicken (you can use a whole chicken cut into bits or leg or breast pieces)
- Salt to taste
- 2 tsps lime juice
- Chopped coriander leaves to garnish
Preparation:
- Heat a heavy pan or skillet on a medium flame and roast the poppy, coriander, cumin and fennel seeds, dry red chillies, cinnamon, cardamom, cloves and coconut for 3-4 minutes. Remove from flame and allow to cool. Grind the mixture into a coarse powder in a clean, dry coffee grinder.
- Mix the ginger and garlic pastes with this powder and keep aside.
- In another deep pan, heat the oil and add the curry leaves. When they stop spluttering, add the sliced onions and fry till they are light brown.
- Add the spice paste and star anise and fry for another 2-3 minutes.
- Add the tomatoes and chilli powder and stir well to mix all the ingredients.
- Add the chicken, cover and simmer till it is tender.
- When the chicken is done add lime juice, mix well and turn off the flame.
- Garnish with coriander leaves and serve.
