Nadan Chicken Curry

Hellooo, it's been sometime right? Well, there is no particular reason for this break, let's just say, I was feeling lazy ;)

Happened to cook chicken after a long time, say 2-3 months. Since it's been such a long time, I wanted to make something traditional, and zeroed in on this recipe. This curry has a very rich and creamy gravy with a nice flavour coming from the masala and coconut milk.

I'll go straight to the recipe this time and we will catch up in detail in the next post, ok?

If you are interested in more Chicken recipes, please check out our Chicken ebooklet.

Recommended side dishes: Palappam, Idiyappam, Kallappam, Puttu, Vattayappam, Ghee Rice, Chapathi

Here goes the recipe…

Marinate cleaned chicken pieces with salt, pepper powder and vinegar. Grind together ingredients listed from coriander powder – water, to a smooth paste…

Step 1- Nadan Chicken Curry
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Heat oil and add sliced onion. When it turns golden – dark brown, add crushed ginger garlic and green chilli. Cook for 3-4 mins…

Step 2- Nadan chicken Curry
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Add ground masala and cook till oil starts appearing, say 2-3 mins. Add sliced tomato and mix well…

Add marinated chicken pieces, salt and cubed potato. Mix well.  Add medium thick coconut milk…

Mix well and bring it to a boil. Reduce flame and cover and cook chicken till it's done…

Step 5 - nadan Chicken Curry
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Add thick coconut milk and stir well. Continue to cook on low flame for 5-7 mins and remove from fire. Add the fried small onion and curry leaves…

Step 6 - Nadan Chicken Curry
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Recipe adapted from Vanitha Magazine

Nadan chicken Curry Recent 234x300 1
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Nadan Chicken Curry

Print Pin
Course: Side Dish
Cuisine: Indian, Kerala, Keralan, South Indian
Author: Maria Jose Martin

Ingredients

  • 800 gms Chicken (cut into small – medium size pieces (measured after cleaning))
  • 1 tsp Pepper powder
  • 1 tsp Vinegar
  • 2 tbsp Coriander powder
  • 1/2 tsp Turmeric powder
  • 1 tsp Fennel seeds
  • 1 tsp Garam masala
  • 6 Small onion / shallots
  • 2 tsp Chopped garlic
  • 3 tbsp Water
  • 3 medium Onion (sliced)
  • 1 tbsp Crushed ginger and garlic (each)
  • 4-6 Green chilli (slit lengthwise)
  • 1 med – big Tomato (sliced)
  • 1 medium Potato (cubed)
  • 1 3/4 – 2 cups Medium thick coconut milk
  • 1/2 cup Thick coconut milk

To temper

  • 1 tsp Mustard seeds
  • 8 Shallots / small onion (sliced)
  • 2 Dry red chilli
  • Curry leaves
  • Oil (I used coconut oil)
  • Salt

Instructions

  • Marinate cleaned chicken pieces with salt, pepper powder and vinegar. Grind together ingredients listed from coriander powder – water, to a smooth paste.
  • Heat oil and add sliced onion. When it turns golden – dark brown, add crushed ginger garlic and green chilli. Cook for 3-4 mins. Add ground masala and cook till oil starts appearing, say 2-3 mins. Add sliced tomato and mix well.
  • Add marinated chicken pieces, salt and cubed potato. Mix well. When chicken pieces start changing colour, add medium thick coconut milk. Mix well and bring it to a boil. Reduce flame and cover and cook chicken till it's done, 20-25 mins.
  • Add thick coconut milk and stir well. Continue to cook on low flame for 5-7 mins and remove from fire.
  • In a small pan, heat the oil and crackle the mustard seeds. Add sliced small onion, dry red chilli and curry leaves. Fry till the small onion turns golden brown. Add this to the chicken curry.

Notes

The gravy tends to thicken as it rests, so adjust the consistency accordingly. The curry tastes great the next day, since the flavour is settled by that time. Add a little water while reheating the curry.
The original recipe uses duck instead of chicken, so you can also use duck for this recipe. If you are using duck, use more vinegar while marinating. Also the cooking time will be a bit longer.
The original recipe uses more coriander powder, if you like a strong coriander taste, you can add 3 tbsp coriander powder, instead of 2 tbsp.
Since salt is added while marinating chicken, be careful when you add it to the masala.
You can do the tempering in ghee, if you like.
Tried this recipe? Let others know by…mentioning @mariasmenu or tagging #mariasmenu
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16 thoughts on “Nadan Chicken Curry”

  1. Hi Maria

    Thank you for all the wonderful recipes. My husband and I have given up eating chicken. Would this recipe still work if I used pork? Thank you very much

    Reply
  2. Hi Maria,
    I’m a huge fan of yours. Been following you since 2014 when my father-in-law moved in with us. I wanted to keep him happy and your moru curry (with raw banana) is something he kept asking me to cook over and over. When we moved to the UK, he went back to Kerala and the day before, he bought some raw bananas and curd and asked me to cook it once more so that he could learn from me! I sent him the link to your blog and screenshots of the recipe. :) He doesnt need the recipe these days; he’s learnt it by heart.

    I made this chicken curry yesterday and it was amazing even though I skipped the coconut milk since I didn’t have it then. My kids (aged 6 and 2) loved it too. It’s super mild, creamy and delicious! Thank you keep up the good work.

    Reply
    • Hi Jumi,

      Thank you so much for taking time to leave a comment here, appreciate it very much! So happy to hear that you’ve been a long-time reader and the recipes work well for you. It’s a pleasure to know that the recipes work for both generations :)

      Cheers
      Maria

      Reply
  3. The recipe looks interesting. What does “Grind together ingredients listed from coriander powder” means. Does it mean grinding it with all the other dry ingredient?

    Reply
  4. Maria … I’ve been following all your recipes for sometime now.. being a doctor didn’t get to learn much of cooking from my mom or grandma- two excellent cooks … and I was sad coz my kids don’t get to eat like I did… since I started following ur recipes I get to cook almost like they did …the same old memories come my way and my kids…moru curry, thoran and everything… Thankyou… stay safe

    Reply
    • Hi Minnu,

      Thank you so much for your lovely comment! It’s a great honor to know that the recipes on the blog help to recreate (at least in a small way) your mom/grandma’s cooking. Thanks for your wishes and you too take care.

      Cheers
      Maria

      Reply
  5. Thank you Maria for this detailed and precise recipe (measures are spot on!). I cooked it for dinner today, missing the flavours of Kerala, and both my wife and I found it very pleasing. Didn’t even need any tweaking!

    Reply

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