It's been sometime I've posted a Chicken curry recipe here. We tend to buy mutton and beef more than chicken and on the rare occasions that we buy chicken, I stick with the tried and tested recipes. So I decided the next time, I get chicken, I'll try a different recipe.
Since it's been sometime, I was looking for an extravagant recipe. I wanted to try something very different from the usual fare and that's how I ended up with this one. It didnt disappoint me on the “difference” quotient. This recipe is very different from the ones I've tried in the past.
As I've said it's very extravagant in all sense, for starters, it uses Ghee and that too a good amount. The taste is also kinda over the top, the flavours are pretty sharp, there is nothing mild about this dish. We loved the different flavour of this chicken recipe, especially with Neer Dosa.
A quick research tells me, this recipe is from Kundapur region, close to Mangalore. It doesn't use your standard ingredients like onion and tomato and it uses ingredients like tamarind and jaggery, something quite unusual for a Chicken curry.
We really enjoyed this dish with Neer Dosa, so if you are looking for a different taste, make sure to try out this chicken recipe. I do hope you enjoy the flavour explosion. It has a fiery red colour, a spicy and tangy taste with a very subtle sweetness.
You can see more Chicken recipes here and here.
Here is the recipe…
Marinate cleaned chicken pieces with yogurt, chilli powder, turmeric powder. lemon juice, crushed ginger & garlic (1/2 tbsp each) and salt for 1 – 2 hrs or refrigerate overnight…
Heat 2 tsp ghee in a frying pan and add black pepper corns, fenugreek seeds, cloves, cumin, fennel, coriander seeds. Fry in low flame for 2-3 mins.Add dry red chilli and fry for a min or till it plumps…
Add crushed garlic (1-1.5 tbsp) and fry for 1-2 mins. Add tamarind pulp. Mix well. Remove from fire and let cool completely…
Add 3-4 tbsp water to the spice mixture and grind this to a fine paste…
Heat 1 tbsp ghee in a wide and deep pan and add curry leaves and marinated chicken pieces, along with the marinade. Mix well. Once the chicken starts to change colour, cover and cook for 20-24 mins. Make sure to check in between and give a stir…
Once the chicken is almost cooked, separate the chicken pieces and gravy and keep aside…
In the same pan, add 3 tbsp ghee. Add curry leaves and ground masala. Fry on lowest flame for 7-8 mins or till the raw smell of the masala goes (refer notes)…
Once the masala is fried well, add 1 tbsp Kashmiri chilli powder, if using. Fry for 1-2 mins…
Add cooked chicken pieces and mix well…
Add gravy, jaggery / sugar mix and bring to boil. Reduce flame to lowest . Cover and cook for 5 mins on low flame. Remove from fire…
Recipe adapted from here and here
Recommended Side Dishes: Neer Dosa, Ghee Rice, Jeera Rice, Veg Pulao, Coconut Rice and Plain Rice
Ingredients
- 850 gms Chicken (measured after cleaning, cut into med – large size pieces)
For marination
- 3/4 cup Whisked yogurt (170 gms packet)
- 1 tsp Chilli powder
- 1/2 tsp Turmeric powder
- 1 tbsp Lemon juice
- 1/2 tbsp Crushed ginger & garlic (each)
- Salt
For masala
- 6 Dry red chilli (with seeds)
- 1/2 tsp Black pepper corns
- 6 Fenugreek seeds
- 4 Cloves
- 1/4 tsp Cumin
- 1/4 tsp Fennel
- 1.5 tbsp Coriander seeds
- 1 -1.5 tbsp Crushed garlic
- gooseberry size Tamarind (soaked in 2-3 tbsp warm water)
- 1 tbsp Kashmiri chilli powder (optional)
- 2 tsp Jaggery / sugar
- 4 tbsp + 2 tsp Ghee
- Salt
- Curry leaves
Instructions
- Marinate cleaned chicken pieces with yogurt, chilli powder, turmeric powder. lemon juice, crushed ginger & garlic (1/2 tbsp each) and salt for 1 – 2 hrs or refrigerate overnight.
- Heat 2 tsp ghee in a frying pan and add black pepper corns, fenugreek seeds, cloves, cumin, fennel, coriander seeds. Fry in low flame for 2-3 mins. Add crushed garlic (1-1.5 tbsp) and fry for 1-2 mins. Add dry red chilli and fry for a min or till it plumps. Add tamarind pulp. Mix well. Remove from fire and let cool completely.
- Add 3-4 tbsp water to the spice mixture and grind this to a fine paste.
- Heat 1 tbsp ghee in a wide and deep pan and add curry leaves and marinated chicken pieces, along with the marinade. Mix well. Once the chicken starts to change colour, cover and cook for 20-24 mins. Make sure to check in between and give a stir.
- Once the chicken is almost cooked, separate the chicken pieces and gravy and keep aside.
- In the same pan, add 3 tbsp ghee. Add curry leaves and ground masala. Fry on lowest flame for 7-8 mins or till the raw smell of the masala goes (refer notes). Once the masala is fried well, add 1 tbsp Kashmiri chilli powder, if using. Fry for 1-2 mins.
- Add cooked chicken pieces and mix well. Add gravy, jaggery / sugar mix and bring to boil. Reduce flame to lowest . Cover and cook for 5 mins on low flame. Remove from fire.
- Let the curry settle for half an hour for the flavour to settle in.
Notes
Kashmiri chilli powder is added only to give a bright colour to the gravy, so you can skip it if you dont have it.
I fried the ground masala on the smallest burner to make sure it doesn't get burnt.
You can add more ghee to cook chicken and later on while cooking the masala too. I've seen some recipes using 3/4 cup ghee or so, so you can always add more ;)
