Chettinad Chicken

"Chettinad Chicken" is an authentic, traditional fierry curry from Chettinad Cuisine. A very good spicy curry that tastes great & goes well with all kinds of Indian main courses.

Chettinad cuisine is the cuisine of the Chettinad region of Tamil Nadu state in South India. It is one of the spiciest and the most aromatic in India and is famous for its use of a variety of spices (mostly used in preparing non-vegetarian food).

Many South Indian people crave to taste the food of Chettinad. You can find hell lot of Chettinad Restaurants & Hotels in Tamil Nadu. Though there are many, only one or two brings out that authentic taste of Chettinad Kitchen.

I'm proud enough to say that I'm from Chettinad region & culture (atleast for the food..haha),..Me being from the Chettinad, very late to post this recipe here in my blog..

Ingredients

Chicken - 500 gms (skinned, boneless)
Big Onion - 1 (chopped)
Tomato - 1 (chopped)
Garlic pods - 10 (small)
Fennel Seeds(Sombu thool) Powder - 1/2 tsp
Lime Juice - 1 tsp
Salt - little

To Marinate
Turmeric Powder - 1/4 tsp
Ginger Garlic Paste - 1/4 tsp
Curd - 1/2 tbsp
Home made Sambhar Powder - 1 tsp
Salt - for marination alone

To Grind
Ginger - a small piece
Cumin seeds - 1/4 tsp
Fennel Seeds - 1/2 tsp
Small onions - 7
Garlic pods - 5
Green Chilli - 1
Dry Red Chilli - 1
Chilli powder - 1 1/2 tsp
Coriander powder - 3 tsp
Grated Coconut - 3 tbsp
Cashewnuts - 3 or 4

To Season
Oil - 3 tbsp
Clove - 1 or 2
Cardamom - 1
Cinnamon - 1 (small piece)
Bay Leaf - 1 (small leaf)
Fennel seeds - 1/2 tsp
Mint leaves - 10
Curry leaves - little

Procedure
(1) Add the items given in "To Marinate" to the Chicken & leave it aside for half-an-hour
(2) Make a thick fine paste of items given in "To Grind"
(3) Heat Oil in a Pan & add items given in "To Season" one-by-one
(4) Add the chopped onions, little salt & saute till it turns transparent
(5) Add the small whole garlic pods and saute for 2 min
(6) Now add the finely chopped tomatoes and saute till it gets smashed
(7) Cook till it leaves out oil & then add the grinded paste in a medium flame
(8) Saute the paste till the raw smell is off
(9) Allow it to cook till it leaves out enough oil
(10) Now add the marinated chicken to the cooked onion tomato & grinded paste gravy
(11) Add little water if at all required as Chicken would leave out enough water
(12) Cook the Chicken in the gravy with a medium flame for 15 min and saute it once in a while
(13) Add the Fennel Seeds powder and fresh curry leaves to the gravy
(14) Increase the flame to high and cook for 3 min, so that the water in the gravy is dried up
(15) Cook the gravy in a low flame for another few min, till you the oil separates out

(16) Add little lime juice and transfer the gravy to a serving dish
(17) Serve it hot with lemon wedges, mint leaves and onion slices