South Indian spicychicken curry made with chicken cooked in freshly ground masala. This chicken gravy from Chettinad cuisine is so aromatic and flavorful that you will love tomake it again. You can serve it with steamed rice or rice based accompaniments such as appams , dosas, idiyappams, adais and idlis.
Prep Time15 minutesmins
Cook Time20 minutesmins
Total Time35 minutesmins
Course: Main
Cuisine: Chettinad, Indian
Servings: 4people
Calories: 260kcal
Author: Preeti
Equipment
Heavy bottom pan
Ingredients
For marinating the chicken
500gramChicken
¼teaspoonTurmeric powder
Salt to taste
1tablespoonLemon juice
For Chettinad masala
2tablespooncoriander seeds
1teaspoonfennel seeds
1teaspooncumin
1.5teaspoonblack peppercorns
2blades of mace
1-inchcinnamon
4cloves
2green cardamoms
½star anise
2black stone flowerkalpasi
5dried red chilies
½cupcoconut
For the gravy
1bay leaf
2onions
1spring curry leaves
2 tomatoes
coriander leaves
Instructions
Step - 1 Marinating the chicken
In a mixing bowl, combine chicken with turmeric powder, salt and lemon juice. Set it aside for 30 minutes.
Step-2 Making Chettinad masala
Heat a pan over low-medium heat.
Add all the ingredients mentioned under Chettinad masala (except coconut).
Roast it, stirring continuously until the whole spices are aromatic. The color of the spices will start to change. Immediately remove it to a plate.
Next, roast dry coconut until golden. Remove and set this aside on the same plate.
Let all the roasted ingredients cool down to a room temperature.
Transfer them to a mixer/grinder jar.
Add water and grind it to a fine paste. Chettinad masala is ready.
Step - 3 Making the curry
Heat 2 tablespoon of oil in the same pan over medium heat.
Add bay leaf and sauté for 30 seconds.
Next, add onions and curry leaves. Saute until the onions starts to become golden.
Add ginger-garlic paste and cook until raw smell from ginger and garlic leaves.
Add tomatoes and salt. (Be careful - already added salt while marinating the chicken.)
Cook until tomatoes are soft and pulpy.
Add the marinated chicken. Combine and cook until the color of chicken turns from pink to white.
Add the chettinad masala and combine. If necessary add little water.
Combine and cook until the masala comes to a boil.
Now, add water to adjust the consistency of the gravy. Cover and cook until the chicken is completely cooked.
Chettinad Chicken Curry is ready to serve. Garnish with some coriander leaves. Serve hot with Chapati or Roti or Steamed rice.
Video
Notes
Marinate the chicken for at least 30 minutes to an hour in the refrigerator. It makes the chicken soft and juicy.
Please follow the exact measurements of ingredients to make Chettinad masala. Any ingredient if exceeded can spoil the entire gravy. This measurement will give perfect spiciness to the curry.
Roast all the spices on low to medium heat. Do not roast it on high or else the masala will burn and taste bitter.
You can roast the ingredients to make Chettinad masala in advance. Let it cool down completely. Transfer it to a zip-lock bag. Freeze it. Stays good for a month. Whenever needed, just add water and grind to a fine paste. Make the chicken curry.
Adjust the spice level as per your taste. The spicy kick to the curry comes from black pepper. You can reduce the number of black peppercorns to reduce the spiciness. Also, de-seed the red chilies before adding them to the masala.
Dried red chilies differ in spiciness. So add as per your taste. Also, make sure to select the red chilies that are spicy but will not give red color to the dish.