Naadan Kozhi Curry a.k.a Traditional Kerala Chicken Curry

Who does not love a good naadan kozhi curry? I'm talking brilliant balance of spices mingling in tenderly cooked chicken and letting off just a hint of coconutty goodness And as if that wasn't enough, this curry pairs extremely well with plain white rice, kerala parotta, chapathis, dosais, Appams, you name it. The list of ingredients may look a tad long, but it really isn't much and you'll be glad you tried it. So go on, you know you want to :)

1) For the marinade: 

Chicken (with bone) - 1 kg

Chili powder -  1 tablespoon

Turmeric -  1/2 tablespoon

Pepper - 1/2 tablespoon

Chicken Masala - 1/2 tablespoon

2) For the masala:

-Onions (sliced) - 2 big

-Green Chilis (slit) - 3 

-Ginger - 1 inch

-Garlic - 4 pods

-Garam masala - 1 tablespoon

-Curry Leaves - 3 sprigs

-Mustard - 1 teaspoon

-200 ml thick coconut milk
-Oil for tempering/sauting

2  a)To be fine ground and dry roasted:

-Cinnamon - 1 inch

-Cardamom - 2 pods

-Clove - 5

-Jeera powder - 1 teaspoon

-Chicken masala powder - 1 tablespoon

-Marinate the chicken in the mix of ingredients mentioned in 1) for at least half an hour. In the meanwhile, get the masala mentioned in 2) prepped.

-Heat oil, sputter mustard and curry leaves.

-Add sliced onion and sauté till transparent. Pound the ginger and garlic into a paste and add to onions. Add green chilis and sauté for 6-7 minutes.

-Add ground spices mentioned in 2 a) and cook till the masala has been cooked.
 -Add marinated chicken, half cup water and salt to taste and cover and cook for fifteen minutes.

-Add coconut milk and cook for another 5 minutes on low flame.
- Switch off the flame and leave it covered for 5 minutes, before devouring in copious amounts.
 

Desi Grilled Chicken

This is a desi twist to the regular Arabic/Mediterranean  grilled chicken, in that it uses desi spices. Needless to say, it is a rocker of a chicken dish, with lots of oomph value and yet easy on the calories. Add to that how fuss-free it is to prepare, it really should be on all our repertoires for being the easiest 'wow' chicken dish.

-1 whole chicken (less than 1.5 kg)

For the marinade:

-1/2 teaspoon Tuemeric powder

-2 teaspoons Chili powder

-1 teaspoon Coriander powder

-1/2 teaspoon Ground pepper

-1 1/2 teaspoon Garam masala

-1/8 teaspoon Grated nutmeg

-2 1/2 tablespoons thick yogurt

-5 pods of crushed garlic

-3 tablespoons olive oil

-salt to taste

-Mix together all the ingredients for the marinade, and massage it into the chicken. Remember to make cuts on the sides (thighs, breasts etc) of the chicken, so that the masala seeps in and you get flavor in every bite.

-Keep the chicken to rest and  marinate in the roasting tray, for 6 hours (the longer the better, but a minimum of 6 hours). For the chicken to cook evenly, make sure you slice along the middle (but do not cut all the way through). and that is the butterfly cut. Lay it spread eagle in the tray.
-Preheat oven to 180 C (top and bottom coils on).
-Pop the chicken into the oven on the middle rack. Cook for 40 minutes or till fully cooked. Remember to turn over halfway through.

Serve hot with a spritz of lemon, choice of rotis or naans and a serving of salad.

Tamarind Ghee Roasted Chicken

I hope we had you at the title. Tamarind Ghee Roasted Chicken. So you guys get a savory something in this blog after a long time, Yay! This is an offering from the not-so-active-in-blogosphere-but-extremely-active-in-the-kitchen husband. Being the person he is, it is very difficult to get him to sit down and write a post. The nagging (a nice word for threatening in this case) paid off when he finally did it. Apparently this recipe is worthy of it. and i agree. A delish and a very very different chicken dish, it blew all of our socks off. People who know me well enough know my proximity for all flavors tangy bordering on sour. So tamarind used right is a magic word. and ghee. how can you go wrong with ghee? Couple this Mangalorean delicacy with some steaming hot rice and curd, and man, do you have a winner. Thanks Nisha for sharing! :) Recipe adapted with changes from here.
P.S: A confession: i'm not overjoyed about the pics and i have come to the conclusion that i'm a mere mortal made of weaker stuff. i don't have the resilience to resist the smell of ghee and tamarind wafting around to  gather my senses and focus on clicking pictures. So there, i said it. now, enjoy! :D

For Marination:
Chicken - Half a Kilo (cut into big pieces)
Lemon juice - from 1 lemon
Turmeric powder - 1/2 tsp
Yogurt - 4 tablespoons
Salt - to taste

Ingredients:
Kashmiri chilli powder - 2 tablespoons
Dry red chillis - 2
Peppercorns - 1 teaspoon
Coriander seeds - 1/2 tablespoon
Cumin seeds - 1/4 teaspoon
Fenugreek seeds - 1/4 teaspoon
Garlic-pods - 10, peeled
Tamarind paste - 1/2 teaspoon diluted in 2 tablespoons water
Curry Leaves
Coriander leaves to garnish
Ghee - 5 tablespoons

How you go about it:

To begin with marinate the chicken with lime juice, turmeric and curd and keep aside for an hour minimum. The more the better.

In the mean time, dry roast the red chillies, peppercorns, cumin powder, coriander powder and fenugreek seeds for a couple of minutes until the aroma starts to hit you. Once its cooled, add the tamarind paste and garlic pods and grind into a fine paste.

Heat 2 tablespoons of ghee in a pan and cook the marinated chicken until 3/4th done. Now drain the chicken and its juices into another bowl and into the same pan add 3 tablespoons of ghee and sputter some curry leaves and cook the paste until the oil begins to separate. The smell is heavenly, so keep an eye on the pan and make sure it does not burn.

Now add the chicken and the stock into the pan and cook for another 5 minutes, until the water is all drained and the chicken is completely cooked. I wouldn't mind if the chicken begins to stick to the bottom of the pans bit. Scraping that masala off the pan has to be the most delicious part of the dish. Garnish with coriander and serve.

Relish with steamed rice and yogurt! - that's my favorite combination.

P.S: I'm assuming you wont need to be reminded about licking the bowl.

Mint Chicken Skewers

This is a chicken entrée you can prepare and plate up in a jiffy. And chicken-ey it is. and when i say chicken-ey, I mean juicy, tender, and flavoursome.

Ingredients:
Boneless Chicken - 12/15 cubes
Ginger - 1 teaspoon
Mint (Pudina) - 1 teaspoon
Curd - 2 teaspoons
Pepper powder - 1 teaspoon
Red chili powder - 1 teaspoon
Salt to taste

 

 

Marination:

-For the marinade, you will have to mix all the ingredients mentioned above and marinate the meat for 60-90 minutes.
-Preheat oven to 180C. I recommend you heat only the coils on top or pre-heat it on grill mode.

Required tools/utensils:
-3 Skewers (You get these eco-friendly, use 'n throw, convenient bamboo skewers in stores)

Process:
-Skewer the chicken cubes on to the bamboo skewers and cook for 20 minutes. Make sure you turn the skewers every 5 minutes so that the chicken is evenly cooked. Apply unsalted butter to glaze each time you turn the chicken.

-Serve the chicken with mint chutney or sweet sauce (Thai sweet sauce, Tomato sweet sauce, Chili sweet sauce etc are options).

Tips:
Use 2 teaspoons of buttermilk along with the marinade, this will make the chicken really juicy.
Use chopped ginger rather than ginger paste, biting into it gives it additional flavour.
Served best as an appetizer on the skewers for the (:P) and and goes really well with a drink.

Bon Appetit!